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reasonsforhope · 5 months ago

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"For the first time in decades, public health data shows a sudden and hopeful drop in drug overdose deaths across the U.S.

"This is exciting," said Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute On Drug Abuse [NIDA], the federal laboratory charged with studying addiction. "This looks real. This looks very, very real."

National surveys compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already show an unprecedented decline in drug deaths of roughly 10.6 percent. That's a huge reversal from recent years when fatal overdoses regularly increased by double-digit percentages.

Some researchers believe the data will show an even larger decline in drug deaths when federal surveys are updated to reflect improvements being seen at the state level, especially in the eastern U.S.

"In the states that have the most rapid data collection systems, we’re seeing declines of twenty percent, thirty percent," said Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, an expert on street drugs at the University of North Carolina.

According to Dasgupta's analysis, which has sparked discussion among addiction and drug policy experts, the drop in state-level mortality numbers corresponds with similar steep declines in emergency room visits linked to overdoses.

Dasgupta was one of the first researchers to detect the trend. He believes the national decline in street drug deaths is now at least 15 percent and could mean as many as 20,000 fewer fatalities per year.

"Today, I have so much hope"

After years of wrenching drug deaths that seemed all but unstoppable, some researchers, front-line addiction workers, members of law enforcement, and people using street drugs voiced caution about the apparent trend.

Roughly 100,000 deaths are still occurring per year. Street drug cocktails including fentanyl, methamphetamines, xylazine and other synthetic chemicals are more poisonous than ever.

"I think we have to be careful when we get optimistic and see a slight drop in overdose deaths," said Dan Salter, who heads a federal drug interdiction program in the Atlanta-Carolinas region. "The last thing we want to do is spike the ball."

But most public health experts and some people living with addiction told NPR they believe catastrophic increases in drug deaths, which began in 2019, have ended, at least for now. Many said a widespread, meaningful shift appears underway.

"Some of us have learned to deal with the overdoses a lot better," said Kevin Donaldson, who uses fentanyl and xylazine on the street in Burlington, Vermont.

According to Donaldson, many people using fentanyl now carry naloxone, a medication that reverses most opioid overdoses. He said his friends also use street drugs with others nearby, ready to offer aid and support when overdoses occur.

He believes these changes - a response to the increasingly toxic street drug supply - mean more people like himself are surviving.

"For a while we were hearing about [drug deaths] every other day. When was the last one we heard about? Maybe two weeks ago? That's pretty few and far between," he said.

His experience is reflected in data from the Vermont Department of Health, which shows a 22 percent decline in drug deaths in 2024.

"The trends are definitely positive," said Dr. Keith Humphreys, a nationally respected drug policy researcher at Stanford University. "This is going to be the best year we've had since all of this started."

"A year ago when overdose deaths continued to rise, I was really struggling with hope," said Brad Finegood, who directs the overdose crisis response in Seattle.

Deaths in King County, Washington, linked to all drugs have dropped by 15 percent in the first half of 2024. Fatal overdoses caused by street fentanyl have dropped by 20 percent.

"Today, I have so much hope," Finegood said.

-via NPR, September 18, 2024. Article continues below with an exploration of the whys (mostly unknown) and some absolutely fucking incredible statistics.

Why the sudden and hopeful shift? Most experts say it's a mystery

While many people offered theories about why the drop in deaths is happening at unprecedented speed, most experts agreed that the data doesn't yet provide clear answers.

Some pointed to rapid improvements in the availability and affordability of medical treatments for fentanyl addiction. "Expansion of naloxone and medications for opioid use disorder — these strategies worked," said Dr. Volkow at NIDA.

"We've almost tripled the amount of naloxone out in the community," said Finegood. He noted that one survey in the Seattle area found 85 percent of high-risk drug users now carry the overdose-reversal medication.

Dr. Rahul Gupta, the White House drug czar, said the drop in drug deaths shows a path forward.

"This is the largest decrease on record and the fifth consecutive month of recorded decreases," he said.

Gupta called for more funding for addiction treatment and healthcare services, especially in Black and Native American communities where overdose deaths remain catastrophically high.

"There is no way we're going to beat this epidemic by not focusing on communities that are often marginalized, underserved and communities of color," Gupta said.

"Overdose deaths in Ohio are down 31 percent"

Indeed, in many states in the eastern and central U.S. where improvements are largest, the sudden drop in drug deaths stunned some observers who lived through the darkest days of the fentanyl overdose crisis.

"This year overdose deaths [in Ohio] are down 31 percent," said Dennis Couchon, a harm reduction activist. "The deaths were just plummeting. The data has never moved like this."

"While the mortality data for 2024 is incomplete and subject to change, Ohio is now in the ninth consecutive month of a historic and unexpected drop in overdose deaths," said the organization Harm Reduction Ohio in a statement.

Missouri is seeing a similar trend that appears to be accelerating. After dropping by 10 percent last year, preliminary data shows drug deaths in the state have now fallen roughly 34 percent in the second quarter of 2024.

"It absolutely seems things are going in the right direction, and it's something we should feel pleased about," said Dr. Rachel Winograd, director of addiction science at the University of Missouri St. Louis, who also noted that drug deaths remain too high.

"It feels wonderful and great," said Dr. Mark Levine, head of the Vermont Health Department. "We need encouraging data like this and it will help sustain all of us who are actively involved in trying to have an impact here."

Levine, too, said there's still "plenty of work left to do."" ...

Dasgupta, the researcher at the University of North Carolina, agreed more needs to be done to help people in addiction recover when they're ready.

But he said keeping more people alive is a crucial first step that seemed impossible only a year ago.

"A fifteen or twenty percent [drop in deaths] is a really big number, an enormous impact," he said, calling for more research to determine how to keep the trend going.

"If interventions are what's driving this decline, then let's double down on those interventions."

-article via NPR, September 18, 2024

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allthecanadianpolitics · 2 months ago

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Fentanyl is increasingly behind opioid overdose deaths in Canada, according to new government data.

The national health agency on Monday reported that nearly 50,000 people in the North American country died from opioid overdose deaths from January 2016 to June 2024.

During that period, fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid sometimes prescribed for pain relief, accounted for 49,105 of the deaths.

Meanwhile, the proportion of fentanyl deaths has increased, according to the data, accounting for 79 percent of opioid deaths so far this year. That is a 39 percent increase since 2016.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

#drugs #fentanyl #cdnpoli #canada #canadian politics #canadian news #canadian

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 months ago

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 26, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Nov 27, 2024

Today presented a good example of the difference between governance by social media and governance by policy.

Although incoming presidents traditionally stay out of the way of the administration currently in office, last night, Trump announced on his social media site that he intends to impose a 25% tariff on all products coming into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” Trump claimed that they could solve the problem “easily” and that until they do, “it is time for them to pay a very big price!”

In a separate post, he held China to account for fentanyl and said he would impose a 10% tariff on all Chinese products on top of the tariffs already levied on those goods. “Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he added.

In fact, since 2023 there has been a drop of 14.5% in deaths from drug overdose, the first such decrease since the epidemic began, and border patrol apprehensions of people crossing the southern border illegally have fallen to the lowest number since August 2020, in the midst of the pandemic. In any case, a study by the libertarian Cato Institute shows that from 2019 to 2024, more than 80% of the people caught with fentanyl at ports of entry—where the vast majority of fentanyl is seized—were U.S. citizens.

Very few undocumented immigrants and very little illegal fentanyl come into the U.S. from Canada.

Washington Post economics reporter Catherine Rampell noted that Mexico and Canada are the biggest trading partners of the United States. Mexico sends cars, machinery, electrical equipment, and beer to the U.S., along with about $19 billion worth of fruits and vegetables. About half of U.S. fresh fruit imports come from Mexico, including about two thirds of our fresh tomatoes and about 90% of our avocados.

Transferring that production to the U.S. would be difficult, especially since about half of the 2 million agricultural workers in the U.S. are undocumented and Trump has vowed to deport them all. Rampell points out as well that Project 2025 calls for getting rid of the visa system that gives legal status to agricultural workers. U.S. farm industry groups have asked Trump to spare the agricultural sector, which contributed about $1.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2023, from his mass deportations.

Canada exports a wide range of products to the U.S., including significant amounts of oil. Rampell quotes GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, as saying that a 25% tax on Canadian crude oil would increase gas prices in the Midwest and the Rockies by 25 cents to 75 cents a gallon, costing U.S. consumers about $6 billion to $10 billion more per year.

Canada is also the source of about a quarter of the lumber builders use in the U.S., as well as other home building materials. Tariffs would raise prices there, too, while construction is another industry that will be crushed by Trump’s threatened deportations. According to NPR’s Julian Aguilar, in 2022, nearly 60% of the more than half a million construction workers in Texas were undocumented.

Construction company officials are begging Trump to leave their workers alone. Deporting them “would devastate our industry, we wouldn’t finish our highways, we wouldn’t finish our schools,” the chief executive officer of a major Houston-based construction company told Aguilar. “Housing would disappear. I think they’d lose half their labor.”

Former trade negotiator under George W. Bush John Veroneau said Trump’s plans would violate U.S. trade agreements, including the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) that replaced the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement that Trump killed. The USMCA was negotiated during Trump’s own first term, and although it was based on NAFTA, he praised it as “the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law. It’s the best agreement we’ve ever made.”

Trump apologists immediately began to assure investors that he really didn’t mean it. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posted that Trump wouldn’t impose the tariffs if “Mexico and Canada stop the flow of illegal immigrants and fentanyl into the U.S.” Trump’s threat simply meant that Trump “is going to use tariffs as a weapon to achieve economic and political outcomes which are in the best interest of America,” Ackman wrote.

Iowa Republican lawmaker Senator Chuck Grassley, who represents a farm state that was badly burned by Trump’s tariffs in his first term, told reporters that he sees the tariff threats as a “negotiating tool.”

Foreign leaders had no choice but to respond. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum issued an open letter to Trump pointing out that Mexico has developed a comprehensive immigration system that has reduced border encounters by 75% since December 2023, and that the U.S. CBP One program has ended the “caravans” he talks about. She noted that it is imperative for the U.S. and Mexico jointly to “arrive at another model of labor mobility that is necessary for your country and to address the causes that lead families to leave their places of origin out of necessity.”

She noted that the fentanyl problem in the U.S. is a public health problem and that Mexican authorities have this year “seized tons of different types of drugs, 10,340 weapons, and arrested 15,640 people for violence related to drug trafficking,” and added that “70% of the illegal weapons seized from criminals in Mexico come from your country.” She also suggested that Mexico would retaliate with tariffs of its own if the U.S. imposed tariffs on Mexico.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau did not go that far but talked to Trump shortly after the social media post. The U.S. is Canada’s biggest trading partner, and a 25% tariff would devastate its economy. The premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, seemed to try to keep her province’s oil out of the line of fire by agreeing with Trump that the Canadian government should work with him and adding, “The vast majority of Alberta’s energy exports to the US are delivered through secure and safe pipelines which do not in any way contribute to these illegal activities at the border.”

Trudeau has called an emergency meeting with Canada’s provincial premiers tomorrow to discuss the threat.

Spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington Liu Pengyu simply said: “No one will win a trade war or a tariff war” and “the idea of China knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality.”

In contrast to Trump’s sudden social media posts that threaten global trade and caused a frenzy today, President Joe Biden this evening announced that, after months of negotiations, Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and France, to take effect at 4:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday. “This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden said.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel shortly after Hamas’s attack of October 7, 2023. Fighting on the border between Israel and Lebanon has turned 300,000 Lebanese people and 70,000 Israelis into refugees, with Israel bombing southern Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah’s tunnel system and killing its leaders. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,000 people and injured more than 13,000, while CBS News reports that about 90 Israeli soldiers and nearly 50 Israeli civilians have been killed in the fighting. Under the agreement, Israel’s forces currently occupying southern Lebanon will withdraw over the next 60 days as Lebanon’s army moves in. Hezbollah will be kept from rebuilding.

According to Laura Rozen in her newsletter Diplomatic, before the agreement went into effect, Israel increased its airstrikes in Beirut and Tyre.

When he announced the deal, Biden pushed again for a ceasefire in Gaza, whose people, he said, “have been through hell. Their…world is absolutely shattered.” Biden called again for Hamas to release the more than 100 hostages it still holds and to negotiate a ceasefire. Biden said the U.S. will “make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza with the hostages released and the end to the war without Hamas in power.”

Today’s announcement, Biden said, brings closer the realization of his vision for a peaceful Middle East where both Israel and a Palestinian state are established and recognized, a plan he tried to push before October 7 by linking Saudi Arabia’s normalization of relations with Israel to a Palestinian state. Biden has argued that such a deal is key to Israel’s long-term security, and today he pressed Israel to “be bold in turning tactical gains against Iran and its proxies into a coherent strategy that secures Israel’s long-term…safety and advances a broader peace and prosperity in the region.”

��I believe this agenda remains possible,” Biden said. “And in my remaining time in office, I will work tirelessly to advance this vision of—for an integrated, secure, and prosperous region, all of which…strengthens America’s national security.”

“Today’s announcement is a critical step in advancing that vision,” Biden said. “It reminds us that peace is possible.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #American History #justice #bribes #billionaires #rule of law #plunder #economic madness #tariffs #deportation

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covid-safer-hotties · 5 months ago

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Also preserved on our archive

Report suggests potential excess mortality in the general population of up to 3% for the US by 2033 and 2.5% in the UK, the longest period of elevated peacetime excess mortality in the US Key driver of excess mortality is the lingering impact of COVID-19; both as a direct cause of death, and as a contributor to cardiovascular mortality

Reducing the impact of COVID-19 on elderly and vulnerable populations will be key to excess mortality returning to zero Zurich, 16 September 2024 – Four years after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries are still reporting elevated all-cause excess mortality compared with pre-pandemic levels. According to Swiss Re Institute's report The future of excess mortality after COVID-19, if the ongoing impact of the disease is not curtailed, excess mortality rates in the general population may remain up to 3% higher than pre-pandemic levels in the US and 2.5% in the UK by 2033.

Paul Murray, CEO L&H Reinsurance at Swiss Re says: "COVID-19 is far from over. The US reported an average of 1500 COVID-19 deaths a week for 2023 – comparable to fentanyl or firearm deaths.[1] If this continues, our analysis suggests a potential scenario of elevated excess mortality extending over the next decade. However, excess mortality can return to pre-pandemic levels much sooner. The first step is to get COVID under control, with measures such as vaccinations for the vulnerable. Over the longer term, medical advancements, a return to regular healthcare services, and the adoption of healthier lifestyle choices will be key."

Excess mortality is a measure of the number of deaths above an expected level in a given population. Typically, all-cause excess mortality should be around zero, as the major causes of death remain relatively stable over the long-term baseline assumption.

Fluctuations in excess mortality tend to be short-term, reflecting developments such as a large-scale medical breakthrough or the negative impact of a large epidemic. However, as society absorbs these events, excess mortality should revert to the baseline.

With COVID-19 this has not been the case and all-cause excess mortality is still above the pre-pandemic baseline. In 2021, excess mortality spiked to 23% above the 2019 baseline in the US, and 11% in the UK[2]. As Swiss Re Institute's report estimates, in 2023, it remained significantly elevated in the range of 3–7% for the US, and 5–8% for the UK.

If the underlying drivers of current excess mortality continue, Swiss Re Institute's analysis estimates that excess mortality may remain as high as 3% for the US and 2.5% for the UK by 2033.

The primary driving factor of both current and future excess mortality is respiratory disease (including COVID-19 and influenza), with other causes including cardiovascular disease, cancer and metabolic illnesses. The cause of death split varies by a country's reporting mechanism.

Optimistic scenarios require healthcare and medical advancements

Swiss Re's report examines an optimistic scenario where excess mortality rates return to pre-pandemic levels as early as 2028. In this scenario, medical advances, such as weight loss injectables and cancer developments such as personalised mRNA vaccines, combine with a drop in the impact of COVID-19 and healthier lifestyle choices. Indirect impact of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality

The interplay between COVID-19 and cardiovascular death rates is significant for excess mortality. The virus itself has a direct impact because it contributes to causes of death such as heart failure. Further, COVID-19 has had an indirect impact via the disruption to healthcare systems – a factor which emerged in the pandemic years. This disruption has led to a backlog of essential cardiac tests and surgeries, meaning that conditions such as hypertension have been underdiagnosed and therefore not treated. Implications for insurers

Excess mortality in the general population is an important indicator for insurers, as shifts in the major causes of death may require a reassessment of additional risk in their mortality portfolios. The current levels of excess mortality are of concern. However, there are a range of tools available for insurers and reinsurers to manage this trend. Specific actions include adapting the underwriting philosophy, risk appetite, and mortality assumptions in pricing and reserving. Insurers can be proactive in targeting prevention programmes for policyholders, helping them in the joint effort to support longer, healthier lives.

How to order this study:

The future of excess mortality after COVID-19 is available in electronic format from Swissre.com.

#mask up #covid #pandemic #covid 19 #wear a mask #public health #coronavirus #sars cov 2 #still coviding #wear a respirator #long covid

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darkmaga-returns · 2 months ago

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The C19 disease caused by the airborne SARSCOV2 virus is reported to have killed 7 million people from 700 million “cases” over its five years of existence.

Coronavirus Graphs: Worldwide Cases and Deaths - Worldometer

We now know that the number of “cases” is a fiction, borne of a bogus RT-PCR test – probably more than 90% of case diagnoses were false.

Countries like Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Japan managed to avoid the first year of the scamdemic, 2020, by restricting all social interactions – denying life to their citizens. Germany and Japan chose not to use end of life treatments to euthanize those identified as “cases“ with “treatments” like Remdesivir, Midazolam, morphine and fentanyl – and the ventilators/respirators that prevented the “infected” from breathing on medics.

The number of C19 “cases” and deaths with C19 present exploded from 85 million at end of 2020 with around 2 million deaths reported in 2020 - with C19 present using the bogus RT-PCR test.

Note the WHO issued instructions – based on the bogus RT-PCR test – to treat all deaths with a positive test as a C19 death.

Our World in Data reports that 80% of the world’s 8 billion people received 13.7 billion injections.

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beardedmrbean · 1 month ago

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Mexico isn't the sole source of fentanyl, its president said Tuesday at a news conference for the country's anti-drug campaign, just weeks after threats from President-elect Donald Trump to impose tariffs over drug trafficking.

"So far, we have not found that precursors arrive, because most of the precursors come from Asia, and that the whole process is manufactured here in Mexico," President Claudia Sheinbaum said. "The laboratories that have been dismantled in our country are mainly for methamphetamine or crystal (meth)."

Sheinbaum stressed that her government was committed to combating illegal drug distribution. In recent weeks, Mexican authorities have announced several major seizures of fentanyl — a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin — as well as chemical precursors. Officials said last month that the seizure of over a ton of fentanyl pills was the biggest in the country's history.

At the news conference, Sheinbaum said that while there are concerns about fentanyl in Mexico, the problem isn't as widespread as it is in the United States where it has been linked to tens of thousands of overdose deaths.

Trump, who will begin his second term on Jan. 20, said he intends to levy 25% tariffs on Mexican exports if the country fails to contain flows of drugs and migrants.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says that Mexican cartels are "at the heart" of a synthetic narcotics crisis in the United States.

The powerful Sinaloa Cartel "dominates the fentanyl market through its manipulation of the global supply chain and the proliferation of clandestine fentanyl labs in Mexico," it said in its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment.

The cartel has been "producing bulk quantities of fentanyl since at least 2012," the DEA said.

Outgoing U.S. ambassador Ken Salazar said at a news conference on Monday that he had no doubt the drug was manufactured in Mexico.

"I know what's happening, that there is fentanyl in Mexico, and I also know that it is produced here," he said.

In a 2024 interview with "60 Minutes," Mexico former president Andrés Manuel López echoed Sheinbaum's stance.

"Fentanyl is produced in the United States, in Canada, and in Mexico. And the chemical precursors come from Asia," Manuel López said.

Backup link

#nunyas news

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transparentgentlemenmarker · 11 months ago

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Aux États-Unis en 2021, les overdoses ont tué autant que le diabète et la maladie d'Alzheimer

Selon des données publiées par les autorités sanitaires américaines, le pays a enregistré 107 000 morts par surdose de drogue en 2021, un record. En 2024 le gouvernement américain souhaite notamment mettre l'accent sur les pratiques dites de "réduction des risques", comme la distribution de naloxone un antidote capable de réanimer une personne en train de faire une overdose, des tests permettant de vérifier la présence ou non de fentanyl, ou les programmes d'échanges de seringues usagées par des propres. L'amélioration de l'accès aux traitements tels que la méthadone ou la buprénorphine est également mise en place. According to data published by American health authorities, the country recorded 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021, a record. In 2024 the American government wishes in particular to emphasize so-called "risk reduction" practices, such as the distribution of naloxone, an antidote capable of resuscitating a person having an overdose, tests to verify the presence or not of fentanyl, or programs to exchange used syringes for clean ones. Improving access to treatments such as methadone or buprenorphine is also being implemented

#drogue #usa #fentanyl #nalaxone

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berat-yalaz · 11 months ago

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I MISSED YOU A LITTLE MORE TODAY:

I do not expect everybody to read this. If it's an issue, please just scroll on. It will be dealt with vaguely enough in follow up paragraphs and threads that the main points will be clear without it. This para, and the one that follows, are a bit depressing and deal with some very triggering topics that not everyone will want to read. That's completely okay and I understand if you scroll past. And whilst I know this is role play and it's supposed to be an escape where people don't have to deal with this shit, writing about it is important to me. But I do so fully understanding it's not for everyone's consumption. So please do what's best for you. I never intended to become this attached to Berat, but I also never intended him to be such a reflection of myself. The combination of depression and addiction that I put into his biography is devastating and life ruining and a difficult hurdle to overcome, and the reason it's the most personal and painful one I've ever written is because I understand how that feels. I also understand how the pain of loss compounds it day after day, and makes dealing with both almost impossible. I don't want to not write about this, because the struggle is so fundamental to his character that avoiding it would feel like a cop out. Not everything has a happy end. Not everybody makes it out the other side, because life isn't always as kind as it should be. That said, I want to make clear before the para, because the end is both vague and obviously foreshadowed: his upcoming death is not intentional on his part. The heroin is laced with fentanyl and he has no idea. But in a way, that seemed an even more fitting end than making it a purposeful choice. Still, proceed with caution for these two please. Next one will be from Ayaz later. Thank you. Date: March 16th, 2024. Warnings: Implied future drug use, severe depression, thoughts bordering on un-aliving oneself, precursor to overdose, precursor to character death. I tried to keep it vague, but it hints at a bad time.

How little would she think of him now?

It wouldn’t be unwarranted, of course, after all he’d done. After the pain he’d caused those he would so vehemently say meant the world to him.

Didn’t mean the idea hadn’t hurt, though.

“I missed you a little more today.”

It’d been a consistent routine; for those words, that admission, to be the last to leave him before he sought sleep. Survived one more day without her. This time, though, as Berat ventured further into the rundown and disorganised mess of a flat, he picked up the photograph of the woman in question from its home on the mantelpiece. Even the most beautiful smile in the world, the kindest eyes looking right back at him, couldn’t stop the hurt today. Neither were a match for the gnawing in his chest, and the guilt buried so deep in his gut he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d eaten…

It’d been three weeks since Kerem had found out about him and Nevra.

Three weeks since he’d dared leave his home.

Three weeks since even Nazli had stopped trying.

And he deserved that, you know. He deserved to lose the only person who’d stuck by him through his darkest moments, because eventually, everyone had to run out of chances. Berat didn’t know whether it was the personal betrayal of Kerem that’d pushed her over the edge, or the fact he’d chosen the woman who’d been indirectly responsible for his downfall in the first place—a Rutherford sympathiser, to twist the knife—but she’d drawn a line, and he’d heard it loud and clear.

This time, he wasn’t worth the struggle.

And that was okay. And Berat didn’t blame her. And maybe it would have saved them all a whole lot of pain if she’d just made that same realisation a few years earlier.

The man flipped the pristine wooden frame he now held in his hands, carefully turning the clasps at the back so he could remove the photograph held within. Berat wasn’t sure he’d ever been bold enough to do so since he’d put it there; so scared of damaging one of the few tangible reminders he had left that he could only ever want to observe from a distance. Maybe that was a lesson he should’ve carried through into life, too. To not risk irreparably marring precious and beautiful things he’d never fucking deserved in the first place.

He was holding it, then. A piece of paper in his hands all he had left.

And he was glad today that she was gone so she didn’t have to see him like this.

They all told him they wanted him to be happy, but he’d never asked it to find him the way it had. Life was cruel like that, he supposed. With one hand it gave, and the other, it took away so much. So why didn’t happiness ever seem to be an ultimatum for anybody else? Berat had never sought out Nevra expecting to love her the way he did, and he’d sure never done so with the intention of hurting his best friend. But for a man whose life had been so devoid of meaning and good and anything worth trying to be a better fucking person for, how could he not want for it?

You won’t let yourself be happy. And for a long time, that was because he didn’t feel he deserved to feel happiness in a life without Ceren.

But now he wanted for that relief with the only person who’d made him feel worthy since, and the brutal reality was that it meant walking all over somebody else’s in the process.

Did Kerem have the same dilemma when he’d found Emine?

Ayda, when she’d left him?

The slow, year-long retreat he’d made from them hadn’t been an accident, and surely they must have realised that by now. It hadn’t been because he didn’t care, or because he was so scared one of them would pick up on the signs that they’d catch him in a lie. It wasn’t self-preservation, it wasn’t self-pity, and it wasn’t a choice to move on. It was because he couldn’t fucking stand himself anymore. The mere sight of what looked back at him in the mirror fucking repulsed him. So why should they have been forced to endure him, too?

Even his mother felt the sting of distance. Because where his conscience apparently lacked so far as Kerem was concerned, he couldn’t put her through the pain of witnessing her son descend into yet another downward spiral.

The woman had suffered his poor choices for long enough.

Berat removed his phone from his pocket. Replaced it, slowly and carefully so as not to damage the edges or risk a fold, with the photograph of Ceren.

Oh, she deserved so much better than where they were going.

But he didn’t want to do it without her.

Didn’t want to do any of this without her, really.

He finally glanced down at his phone. The lock screen was littered with messages from people he was too ashamed to respond to; friends, family, people who’d been waiting for him to fuck up again. Because they all were. Even the ones who’d never admit it aloud because they liked him just enough to pretend they had faith he could do better. Kerem was one of them. Whilst he might’ve loved his friend, Berat could always see it in his eyes; gaze somewhere between disappointed and pitying. But none of them had expected something like this.

But neither had he, and that seemed to be lost on them.

One name stood out from all the others, and for a brief moment, he smiled. He smiled in spite of all that’d happened, in spite of his nausea, in spite of the exhaustion, in spite of feeling so trapped that he still couldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel he’d forced himself into.

Nevra.

Wondering where he was, no doubt.

‘I love you.’

And that message he carefully typed out with unsteady hands wasn’t a warning sign in itself when he told her as much every chance he got. Told her with the sincerity and gratitude of a man who’d never thought he’d say the words again and mean them like this.

Because Berat did love her.

Hadn’t meant to. Hadn’t wanted to. Couldn’t help it, though.

A part of him had known from the start that there was never going to be a happy ending for them. Never going to be a ‘them’ for the long haul at all and he’d tried to make her understand that before they got too deep. His reluctance to deal with their situation, to be open about what was happening, to speak with Kerem so they didn’t have to keep living a lie had been frustrating for a woman who deserved better. Certainly, deserved more than he could ever give. But his aversion to confronting his choices had less to do with cowardice and more to do with fear of losing the one person in his life who made breathing a little easier.

Fear of losing this beautiful and unexpected thing he didn’t deserve, but was too selfish to give up.

Yet now, he realised none of it mattered. He was going to lose it all, regardless.

Maybe that was okay, though. Maybe he’d just deal with it like he always did.

Maybe he’d just fucking suffocate under the weight.

Maybe he’d die.

Berat reached into a glass dish to grab a handful of fifties. The Turk could hardly be ashamed of stooping so low as to pawn a sentimental watch after all he’d done. It was too small a guilt to scratch the surface. A small mercy, he supposed.

He put out extra food for the dogs. Extra water, too.

Left the television on so they’d at least have the illusion of company until his mum showed up to take them for breakfast in the morning.

Berat didn’t know when he’d make it back, but he was hoping it’d be a while.

Long enough to take the edge off. Long enough to stop feeling.

“I’ll be there soon,” he reminded her out loud as his hand slipped in to feel for the photograph in his pocket.

If only someone would just let him.

#self para #tw drugs #tw depression

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yourreddancer · 2 months ago

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Heather Cox Richardson

November 26, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Nov 27

Today presented a good example of the difference between governance by social media and governance by policy.

Very few undocumented immigrants and very little illegal fentanyl come into the U.S. from Canada.

Transferring that production to the U.S. would be difficult, especially since about half of the 2 million agricultural workers in the U.S. are undocumented and Trump has vowed to deport them all.

Rampell points out as well that Project 2025 calls for getting rid of the visa system that gives legal status to agricultural workers. U.S. farm industry groups have asked Trump to spare the agricultural sector, which contributed about $1.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2023, from his mass deportations.

She also suggested that Mexico would retaliate with tariffs of its own if the U.S. imposed tariffs on Mexico.

Trudeau has called an emergency meeting with Canada’s provincial premiers tomorrow to discuss the threat.

According to Laura Rozen in her newsletter Diplomatic, before the agreement went into effect, Israel increased its airstrikes in Beirut and Tyre.

“I believe this agenda remains possible,” Biden said. “And in my remaining time in office, I will work tirelessly to advance this vision of—for an integrated, secure, and prosperous region, all of which…strengthens America’s national security.”

“Today’s announcement is a critical step in advancing that vision,” Biden said. “It reminds us that peace is possible.”

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misfitwashere · 3 months ago

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November 26, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 27

Today presented a good example of the difference between governance by social media and governance by policy.

Very few undocumented immigrants and very little illegal fentanyl come into the U.S. from Canada.

Trudeau has called an emergency meeting with Canada’s provincial premiers tomorrow to discuss the threat.

According to Laura Rozen in her newsletter Diplomatic, before the agreement went into effect, Israel increased its airstrikes in Beirut and Tyre.

“Today’s announcement is a critical step in advancing that vision,” Biden said. “It reminds us that peace is possible.”

—

#heather cox richardson #letters from an american

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halloweenvalentine1997 · 5 months ago

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Scars Inside Pictures by Vivica Salem

In May of 2024, a month of rebirth and bright sky, I felt like a scar inside a tarnished gold picture frame. Forever captured, capsizing inside a life I did not choose. I long for somewhere halcyon and idyllic. Violet lights, a place without teeth in the center of its heart.

I’m an adult still living with my parents. I’m a felon who is not allowed to live anywhere else. Many apartment applications were denied, despite the pettiness of my felonious behavior. In May, I was obsessed with a man I shall not name. His perfect self on Instagram filled my rotting soul with iridescent butterflies, even though he doesn’t live in my awful hometown and I’ve never met him. I saw him on TV.

I have no interest in dating the men who live around me. The people I’ve wanted to fuck are either dead or famous. In the middle of May, I sent hatemail to the official website of this man I was obsessed with. What I told him (out of jealousy and spite) is too barbaric to describe. Afterwards, I quickly fled the house I grew up in.

I walked past flowers and traffic lights and picture windows until I reached downtown at the bottom of the hill. I found the park with a creek running through it like a liquid spine. It is adjacent to one of the local hospitals, Sacred Heart Medical Center. The world blurred and became liquid salt in my eyes as I allowed myself to rest for a moment. I decided to relapse on methamphetamine, my former drug of choice. Before that relapse, I had been clean from it for two years.

So I went to an old haunt of mine, the freight train bridge by the men’s homeless shelter. I bought ten dollars worth of meth outside the 7-Eleven. I smoked several hits off a pipe with multiple people. We all had the same goal in mind: getting high off of hard drugs. I even tried some fentanyl for the first time. A partially crushed tablet that I smoked out of a meth pipe. I could not tell what color the pill had been originally because of the night and dim moon. I laughed in a gravel lot like a wolf, hallucinating. I felt so happy I could die.

I meandered around town for two days, unable to collapse and feel any of the sedating effects of fentanyl. After all, I did lace it with meth, which keeps one awake for a long amount of time. I tried to fall asleep at the women’s homeless shelter and prayed for the devil to take me, feeling no fear of what could be lingering beyond my tenuous life. I wanted to sever every tie that binds me. The obsession I had with that man was not the only event in my life to push me so far over the edge.

I might as well crawled out of a chamber in hell, somewhere that reminds people of names like Dante, Satan, Lucifer. I wanted to crawl out of that chamber in order to chase eternal peace and heavenly firmaments. Is it possible for the dead to haunt outer space? I longed to find out if I could inhabit a star.

Since I had medication to take that I did not bring downtown with me, I took the bus back to my parents’ house. I became violently sick and admitted myself into the E.R. In the waiting room, I was told my blood pressure was normal and that my organs didn’t appear to be failing. I didn’t come as close to death as I thought I would. I found a bench and curled up in a fetal position on it, unafraid of death as the voices and electronic beeps and swishing double doors whirled around me. I passed out willing to fade.

Later, I awoke in a room in the back of the E.R., an IV drip attached to my elbow. I can’t remember how I was escorted into that room from the bench in the waiting room. I don’t know if they had to wheel me there, or if I sleepwalked. I instantly recalled what happened with the internet and the drugs, along with a vision I had while I was unconscious. I was in a red hallway with white doors. At the end, a dead man I’ve loved a long time (who died before I was born) was at the end the hallway, a perfect picture framed by a doorway. The sky was behind him. I didn’t die. I woke up instead.

I called my father and asked him to pick me up. While him and me chatted with one of the nurses, I thought I saw someone familiar to me peering into the room from the doorway. He retreated from it instantly. What is he doing here? I thought. My life is so fucked up.

Once I was revived, I didn’t have any persisting symptoms of a drug overdose. Four months later, I’m not going to chase a fentanyl high again, because I’m glad I survived in the end. I haven’t done meth since then, either. I cannot allow myself to die like a prisoner behind a fence of concertina wire, in a box like a gerbil festering with rage.

I guess every obsession I’ve had with someone has died by now. I feel like being misanthropic and nihilistic is an ideal way of life. I want to avoid humans and disappear into isolated nature. Gone like a wisp of cigarette smoke, but still alive without a trace of me to be found.

#prose #9-19-24

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dustedmagazine · 1 year ago

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Jonathan Shaw's Year in Review: Another year of pissed-off music (and some that’s somehow not so pissed), for the freaks, and the lovers, and the ghosts

2023 threatened for some months to be a marginally less awful mess than the several years before it, but then came autumn, and the Cop28 Conference turned into a massive lobbying event for the fossil fuels industry; and Geert Wilders pulled off his dismaying political success in the Netherlands; and the paranoid style in American politics was further entrenched (witness MTG’s juice as a figure of national political import and Mike Johnson holding the House gavel); and Gaza was reduced to blood-soaked rubble; and there is the ever-increasing, mind-flaying certainty that yes, 2024 will be dominated in the States by a presidential race between two completely unacceptable choices: a frail Boomer largely coasting on the fact that he is not his principal rival for the office, and that principal rival, whose absurdity increases in direct proportion to the hazard of his petulant, narcissistic rage.

No wonder much of the music on this list is so steeped in fury, contempt and sorrow for the continuing idiocy and grinding horror of the human condition. Some of that music is memorably grim, or ferocious, or both. See the records below by Gravesend, Lucifixion and Spirit Possession, all of which cut viscerally violent paths through your senses. Eardrums are subjected to scorched-earth treatment. I dig it.

But those aren’t the only feeling tones available on records I listened to a lot this year (still the dominant metric for how records get on this list: How often did I play them?). On “Bananas,” a great song from Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, Will Oldham’s gentle strumming and the song’s duet of hushed vocals dramatize lovemaking, to achingly gorgeous effect. On “Quiet World,” the best track on Home Front’s excellent Games of Power, the band commits to the sad-boy, New Romantic postpunk that some of their other songs flirt with a good deal less certainly. And while no one would ever wish to accuse the Sleaford Mods of anything other than sardonic smarts, “The Rhythms of Class” may be as close to pop music as the band has ever gotten, and it’s a terrific tune.

So maybe that’s why Gel’s Only Constant got so much play in my world this year: it’s “hardcore for fucking freaks,” as the band likes to insist, and it rips. But that’s not its only tone. The songs are also affirming, like the hand on your back at the edge of the pit that doesn’t shove but seeks to steady you on your pins. You can hear plenty of anger in the songs, but it’s not the sort that sends you out to score coke or oxy (more likely it'll mostly be fentanyl—careful out there, kids) or prompts you to set fire to random objects in the public square. It’s music to dance to, along with the other freaks, and to gather and sing in support of something you believe in. And thank goodness there is still great punk rock that wants us to feel that.

So Only Constant is presented below, first, as the album I am most grateful for this year, and all the other records are alphabetical by artist.

Gel—Only Constant (Convulse Records)

What’s better than those first 50 seconds of “Honed Blade”? To my ears, this year, nothing.

BIG|BRAVE—nature morte (Thrill Jockey)

Noisy, beautiful and idiosyncratic songs of love, desperation and death. The band finds new ways to create shapes with sound, and tunes out of those shapes.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy—Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You (Drag City)

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Simultaneously spare and lush, poetical and direct, wooden and fleshed. It’s the best record he’s made in some years.

Gravesend—Gowanus Death Stomp (20 Buck Spin)

Like a dip in the Gowanus Canal, this record is cold, corrosive and really, really bad for you. Not all of Brooklyn is for hipsters.

Home Front—Games of Power (La Vida Es un Mus)

Synth-rich postpunk meets the macho multi-voiced choruses of Oi! and the unthinkable happens: the songs are really, really good.

Lucifixion—Trisect Joys of Pierced Hearts (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

Icy, satanic black metal that’ll strip you down to the bones, and it’ll grin while doing so. Weirdly, you may grin, too.

Retirement—Buyer’s Remorse (Iron Lung Records)

Overly adventurous consumers might have some buyer’s remorse if this record slips impulsively into their carts on a Bandcamp Friday, but smart punks sure won’t. Fast, nasty, hammering, anti-capitalist hardcore.

Sleaford Mods—UK Grim (Rough Trade)

More songs slagging Idles, Brexit, Tories and Labour, but as ever, the Mods make it all sound fresh. Angry, exhausted and jaded, but still fresh. Neat trick. Good record.

Spectral Lore—11 Days (I, Voidhanger)

Originally released as a straight-to-digital charity fundraiser, 11 Days has been packaged as a CD by I, Voidhanger and put back into circulation. Unusually political for Spectral Lore, the record sonically represents the journey thousands of migrants have taken across the Mediterranean, only to face the current racism and ethno-nationalisms proliferating through Europe. It’s harrowing stuff.

Spirit Possession—…Of the Sign (Profound Lore)

Utterly nutty, memorably antic, acid-drenched black metal. Like a bad trip, but you’ll be sort of disappointed when it ends.

Special shout-out to Mitski for “My Love Mine All Mine,” a great song that is, as a friend pointed out to me, both pop and the real thing—in spite of which the broader culture has embraced it. And also this:

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They’re both gone now, but we still have their songs, and memories of them like this one. O’Connor’s weird, inbent charisma is hugely effective here, and she is so, so lovely. But it’s MacGowan’s song, and while he wrote it a bit earlier (when he and Cait O’Riordan were both still in the Pogues; she sings on the excellent version of the tune that made it onto Sid and Nancy’s soundtrack), it’s bittersweet that the last great song he ever recorded and released was a love song. A song in which the power of love is registered by the extent to which one is “haunted” by its “ghost,” and hence also by its death—that’s MacGowan to the core, and we’ll never get another songwriter like him.

Down with fascism, smash all nationalisms, turn the music up.

Jonathan Shaw

#dusted magazine #yearend 2023 #jonathan shaw #gel #big brave #bonnie prince billy #gravesend #home front #luxifixion #retirement #sleaford mods #spectral lore #spirit possession #shane macgowan #sinead o'connor #mitski

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battleangel · 5 months ago

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2 NFL Player Deaths Under 35 — NEXT!

Let's get to the first death that occurred in May 2024.

The next and final death I am going to discuss happened one month prior in April 2024.

First of all, did you catch that?

Both players' deaths were under six months ago. This year.

Did you hear about either one?

And, even if you did during the off season, they have both been swept under the collective rug with 300+ other NFL CTE corpses now that the regular season is underway.

The first death is Ray Lewis Jr.'s, Hall of Fame Ravens Linebacker's, son Ray Lewis III, at 28.

He technically wasn't an NFL player but he did play professionally at the indoor arena level as well as playing at Miami University.

Ray Lewis’ (Hall of Fame Ravens Linebacker) son, Ray Lewis III,died at 28 this May of an accidental drug overdose.

He had Stage II CTE.

He started tackle football at age 5.

He played college football at his father's, Ray Lewis', alma mater, for the Miami University Hurricanes then he pursued a career in professional indoor arena football.

Google:

"Lewis’ family stated in the years leading up to his death, Lewis experienced issues with memory, was extremely forgetful & exhibited erratic, sporadic behavior & impulsivity.

His mother suspected he was battling CTE."

His autopsy report revealed an accidental cause of death due to a mixture of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, alcohol & anti-anxiety pills.

His father remains just as indoctrinated into the cult of football after his sons CTE induced accidental drug overdose at 28:

“We are proud to honor Ray Rays legacy by teaching OUR YOUTH about football SAFETY while sharing & supporting research on CTE.”

The emphasis with the capitalization added by me to convey my utter and complete total disgust — safety???????????????????????????

The mother had a totally different & sane take:

“Little did I know when I put my son in tackle football at age 5, I ran the risk of burying him 22 years later. I would have done things different now knowing the risks. We need to wait until our babies are at least 14 to allow them to play tackle football. It breaks my heart that you have to die to get a diagnosis for this disease.”

This only happened four months ago in May and I didnt hear one word about it before today and I only came across it today because I regularly research the effects of tackle football, the consequences of repetitive subconcussive head impacts & concussions & the NFL's, NCAA's & Pop Warner's continued deception & subterfuge dating back 100 years to the literal 1930's that repetitive SUBconcussive head impacts, NOT concussions, are the cause of degenerative neurological conditions & disorders like CTE, Parkinson's disease, ALS, Alzheimers, dementia & Lewey Body Disease.

So, I am always researching and coming across something which is the only reason I saw anything today regarding Ray Lewis' son dying of an accidental drug overdose and being posthumously diagnosed with Stage II CTE at the age of 28.

The delirium of a new NFL season is already upon us and, as we approach Week 3, there is already the requisite breathless reporting, endless storylines, drama & spectacle that accompanies each and every single season of football.

Even Hall of Fame linebacker for the Ravens, Ray Lewis', son dying of an accidental drug overdose & being diagnosed with Stage II CTE during the off season this May barely made a blip on our collective NFL obsessed radar and it clearly wasn't even an afterthought by the time the NFL season got underway a mere four months later earlier this month in September.

Nothing stops the NFL machine — not even the CTE induced accidental overdose death of one of the leagues most famous & recently voted greatest linebacker of all time's 28 year old son.

The show always goes on.

Sickeningly, depravedly, mind numbingly, thoughtlessly, inhumanely, unfairly & unjustly.

But the show does goes on.

It always does in the NFL.

Nothing seemingly ever stops the non-stop allure and spectacle of the game.

Google:

"Ray Lewis III told The Baltimore Sun that he hoped to follow in his fathers footsteps:

“One day, I do dream of making it to the NFL. But I also have a dream of making a difference in peoples lives outside the football field.”

He died before the age of 30!

He died alone per the police report surrounded by anti-anxiety pills & a used drug needle!

Is the sport of football worth that much?

What makes people question football?

Does anything make us collectively stop and question ourselves and our rabid obsession & compulsive desire to endlessly consume a sport that is endlessly consuming its own players?

Or is it just, on to Chiefs Falcons Sunday night?

Well, I have a question amongst all the early NFL season hoopla, hyperbole & mass hysteria.

Football IS mass hysteria.

Why does anyone have to DIE to learn a LIFE lesson???

Ray Lewis III started tackle at age 5.

23 years of tackle football started at the absolute youngest & insanest age allowed by Pop Warner.

Dead at 28 from the sport of football which absolutely should have been included as an underlying cause of death on his death certificate.

It wasnt but it absolutely should have been.

In every case where the individual dies and is diagnosed with CTE — whether it was a drug overdose, accident, suicide, heart attack, etc. — CTE absolutely should be listed, not as the immediate cause, but definitely as an underlying cause of death.

And right next to CTE it should say — "Caused by X years of participation in tackle football".

But it won't, will it?

Because of the NFL, its farm system the NCAA & its feeder system, Pop Warner.

The $1 billion concussion settlement doesnt even cover CTE!

Players with CTE & their families only get payments under the settlement if they also had dementia symptoms along with their CTE diagnosis.

The NFL is cruel & sociopathic.

So, trust that the record breaking $13 billion that the NFL generated in revenue last season protects them from ever having to actually give a damn.

And certainly, prevents death certificates from being filled out honestly.

And prevents the American Academy of Pediatrics from recommending that 5 year old children — like Ray Lewis III — don't endure 336 head impacts a season on average in youth tackle football.

How is permanent brain damage safe for children?

All the hallmarks of CTE, including the symptoms & dangerous attempts to self-medicate leading to an untimely death, are present in the last years of Ray Lewis III's life as well as in his tragic death at 28.

The highly vaunted ironically titled “life lessons” imparted from “the game of football” often leaves its male participants fucking DEAD — just a small little detail always overlooked by footballs’ most rabid acolytes, fanatics & especially current & former participants, as well as the most hyped ambassadors of the game, who like Ray Lewis III's father & newest Fox analyst Tom Brady, are often the loudest & most unapologetic proponents, defenders & proselytizers of "the game".

You can learn the SAME exact lessons without fucking dying young & early for no fucking reason!

Basketball. Baseball. Track. Volunteering. Marathons. Debate teams. Chess. Reading clubs. Hiking. Camping. Rock climbing. Lifting weights. Travel. Solitude. Meditation. Vow of silence. Fasting. Minimalism. Frugality. Chastity. Abstinence. Restrictive food consumption. Analog living without digital or electronic devices. Esotericism. Spiritual enlightenment. Total environmental quietude - no music, podcasts, youtube, streaming, TV, movies, videogames, no sound noise or aural distractions. Being a magician, illusionist or mentalist. Aerialism. Fire breathing. Acrobatics. Dance. Acting. Singing. Writing. Poetry. Painting. Drawing. Illustrations. Screenplays. Improv. Comedy. Breakdancing. Street performance. Abstract art. Conceptual & performance art. Philosophy.

This is a very partial & incomplete list but certainly gets my point across.

I am purposely leaving off soccer until they get rid of heading the ball and ice hockey until they remove checking against the boards as that has led to players in both sports being posthumously diagnosed with CTE. Wrestling, with its takedowns, has also resulted in athletes being posthumously diagnosed with CTE. Mixed martial arts & boxing have all the same issues as football in terms of CTE so I have not included either sport in my above list. Lacrosse also causes many repetitive subconcussive head impacts so it is not included in the above list.

There are SO many different endeavors one can pursue in life that can discipline the mind, challenge the self, sharpen the will & resolve, instill perseverance & steadfastness.

I reject the disgusting militaristic & hegemonic notion that boys & men can only learn these lessons by pulverizing their bodies, battering their brains & destroying their minds through the “game” of football which, if you make it to the top echelon of the sport at the NFL level, leaves 1/3 of its participants per the NFL’s own actuaries with a neurological condition or disorder like CTE, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, ALS, dementia & Lewy Body Dementia.

You don't have to DIE to learn a LIFE LESSON!

Football is a true cult.

So, that was the first off season football death with a player under 35 that occurred this off season in May 2024.

Let's discuss the second one that occurred a month prior, in April 2024.

Literally, only five months ago.

And it's already been disappeared by the viscera and spectacle of the NFL which washes away its' own dead participants.

Will Tua & Damar be added to the hundreds of the ever growing list of dead NFL players killed by the sport of football?

Tune into NFL Game Day Morning this Sunday to hear Eisen, Mooch, Irv & Warner breathlessly analyze, debate, breakdown & discuss!

Vontae Davis was a former Pro Bowl linebacker for the Colts, Bills & Dolphins.

Vontae's brother, Vernon, is also a former Pro Bowler as well as a Super Bowl winner.

Vontae was found dead alone inside of his mansion in April 2024 slumped over unconscious inside of his gym at 35.

While there was never a cause of death released to the public, per The Daily Mail, Vontae's ex-wife Meg Harpe, claimed that it was "100% CTE" and that there was definitely more to the story via a text message she sent to the publication.

Vontae's brother, Vernon, confirmed to the media that Vontae never did drugs and was the owner of a holistic wellness spa and had a team of chiropractors and massage & stretch therapists constantly at his mansion.

While Vernon was dismissive of CTE claims telling reporters that there was no way to diagnose that in a living person, Vontae himself admitted in an interview with CNN that he was concerned he had CTE and cited it as one of the reasons for his abrupt retirement from the NFL during halftime of a game.

In the CNN interview, Vontae claimed that he experienced an “out of body, spiritual moment” on the sidelines that led to a profound realization that football no longer aligned with his well being which caused him to abruptly retire from the league in the locker room at halftime.

While no cause of death was released to the public, the police did state there were no signs of a break in or foul play.

However, if we go back about a year prior to Dontae's death, there is a very familiar at this point decline and downward spiral in his personal life which makes me believe he did have CTE.

In January 2023, Dontae Davis was arrested in a DUI incident where he slammed his Tesla into a stationary truck injuring the owner who had been attempting to change a flat tire.

Dontae had just left a night club and was found asleep on the literal side of the road outside of his vehicle by police.

The same year in 2023, Dontae also divorced his wife, Megan Harpe, of eight years.

Additionally, Dontae faced two lawsuits in 2023, one from his father as he was in Dontae's vehicle during the DUI incident and a second from a vendor regarding non-payment issues for one of Dontae's businesses.

We have seen this precipitous decline before in football players suffering from CTE.

Dontae was a 10 year NFL veteran & multi Pro Bowl winner.

Dontae intercepted Tom Brady twice — once while guarding Randy Moss — Peyton Manning & Brett Favre once.

Dontae was a multipreneur who wisely invested his NFL millions into two businesses, a holistic wellness spa & a luxury chauffeur business.

Dontae was also working on a documentary about how he and his brother rose from impoverished backgrounds, with parents who suffered from drug addiction & alcoholism, enduring violence & trauma as they witnessed their uncle shoot their father, to become multi Pro Bowl NFL veterans with Vernon winning a Super Bowl.

Dontae was also committed to holistic wellness and did not even like to take OTC medication and stopped taking Toradol during his time in the league once he researched the long term consequences.

Dontae started his holistic wellness spa because he was committed to helping others heal in a holistic and integrative sense.

Dontae was also unafraid to follow his heart even when faced with enduring the backlash of millions of angry Bills fans demanding to know why he had supposedly "quit on the team".

Imagine you are an NFL player, a veteran who just turned 30 after having your third groin surgery, on a $5 million prove it deal with the Buffalo Bills.

Would you have the courage to walk out during halftime if you had had an epiphany on the sidelines as Vontae said he did?

From Vontae's Instagram post & personal tweet:

”I have been doing what my body has been PROGRAMMED to do”.

Tackling & running drills from Pop Warner to the Pros are Pavlovian whistle blowing conditioning brainwashing exercises of repetitive brutalistic violence!

Decades of tackling & hitting drills that literally brainwash these men as children to commit acts of violence upon one another. Its fucking creepy & dystopian as fuck if you really think about it. It is extremely militaristic but these are kids participating in these violent repetitive brain damaging tackling and hitting drills so it is even more dystopian — 5, 7, 9, 11, even 13 years old — they are legally minors, they are not adults!

They are children!

Why are they endlessly hitting each other in creepy violent militaristic drills with Pavlovian whistle blowing?

How else do you get them to override their bodys natural self defense mechanisms?

How else do you get them to turn off their natural self preservation instincts, go out there and hit somebody!

From Vontae's Instagram post & personal tweet:

“Its more important to me and my family to stop sacrificing myself for this game and to walk away healthy than to continue to embrace the WARRIOR MENTALITY and limp away when its too late”.

Warrior mentality is nothing but the brainwashing I described above.

Vontae simply told Coach McDermott that he was "done", removed his jersey and pads, walked out of the locker room and drove home.

Predictable backlash, personal insults & attacks & unmitigated fury ensued among some of Vontae's former Bills teammates, NFL analysts, team journalists and ofcourse the ever rabid and demanding "fans".

Why did Vontae describe this self-realization to CNN as an "out of body experience"?

Because he woke up from a literal lifetime of brainwashing to commit mindless violent acts since he was a child — tackling & hitting drills normalized in America's brutalistic militaristic culture — very publicly during a game at halftime.

And he had the courage not to suppress his realization & to remove his jersey — the ultimate talisman & almost mystical symbol representing all he had broken his body & bashed his brain for since he was a child in Pop Warner — the NFL team jersey with team logo proudly emblazoned on solid bold bright team colors — decades of brainwashing & Pavlovian conditioning — & he walked out of the stadium a free Black man — there is nothing more dangerous to the NFL and to the white supremacist capitalistic exploitative racist mass incarcerating colonialist AmeriKKKa.

The lifelong brainwashing that started when Vontae was a child had been short-circuited by his own self actualization.

ESPN.com:

“But his mind felt far away — like he was going through the motions in a game he had spent decades playing.”

Vontae sat on the bench on the sidelines then he realized what was happening.

His mind had finally caught up with his body.

Mentally, he was finished.

Vontae felt scared and vulnerable and wasn't sure what to do — all he knew was that he couldn't return to the field. He needed to get away.

“Im done.” Vontae told his defensive coordinator.

He removed his Bills jersey & pads & texted his wife.

“Babe, Im done. Im hanging up my cleats. I dont want to put my body through this anymore.”

Vontae called his brother Vernon who was in the Redskins locker room at halftime.

The brothers never called each other during games so Vernon answered right away.

“Im retired.” Vontae said.

Vernons heart sank. “Are you joking or are you serious?”

“…Im tired.” Vontae replied.

ESPN.com:

Dontae says, in the moment when he realized football was no longer his purpose, he felt overwhelmed but he trusted himself and left the field.

“It was honestly one of the best decisions I've made in my life.”

Dead at 35.

His ex-wife who he divorced last year that he was married to for 8 years said he “100% had CTE” and “there was more to the story” of his death.

No official cause of death was ever released to the public despite a full autopsy being done.

It does not appear that Vontae's brain was ever donated to be tested for CTE despite Vontae himself telling CNN in an interview that he feared he had CTE and it was one of the reasons for his sudden and abrupt retirement from the NFL.

10 years in the NFL. 3 years at Illinois. 4 years in high school. Multiple years in youth tackle football.

As a cornerback, all of those hits, all of those collisions, all of those head impacts, all of that violence adds up.

And, given the fact that he was running two successful businesses, had been married for nearly a decade, had wisely invested his NFL earnings and was extensively traveling before his life began to unravel a little more than a year before he was found dead alone in his mansion...

How many times do we have to see this movie?

Do you honestly think that Vontae Davis didn't die at 35 — just like Ray Lewis' son did at 28 — from the sport of football?

Or do you just not give a damn?

The sport of football with all its attendant spectacle, pageantry, glamour, allure, gloss, shine, breathless anticipation, endless storylines, drama, exhilarating highs, adrenaline rushes and of course the vicarious thrill of the violence along with the constant dehumanization of the players and minimization of the brutality of the sport by every analyst, color commentator, sideline reporter and journalist gives you a license not to give a damn.

The violence is sanitized and Photoshopped for your viewing pleasure and enjoyment.

Don't forget to order a large Papa John's along with your CTE drug overdoses and deaths under 35.

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 months ago

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Bramhall

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 14, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Nov 14, 2024

Two snapshots today illustrate the difference between the economic—and therefore the societal—visions of the Biden-Harris administration and of the incoming Trump administration.

The Biden-Harris administration today released numbers revealing that over the past four years, their policies have kick-started a boom in the creation of small businesses across the country. Since the administration took office, entrepreneurs have filed more than 20 million applications for new businesses, the most of any presidential term in history. This averages to more than 440,000 applications a month, a rate more than 90% faster than averages before the pandemic. Black business ownership has doubled, and Hispanic business ownership is up by 40% since before the pandemic.

The administration encouraged that growth with targeted loans, tax credits, federal contracts, and support services. Small businesses are major job creators and employ about 47% of all private sector employees.

President Joe Biden rejected the “neoliberalism” of the previous 40 years that had moved about $50 trillion dollars from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. Those embracing that theory maintain that the government should let markets operate without regulation, concentrating wealth among a few people who will invest it more efficiently than they can if the government intervenes with regulations or taxes that hamper the ability of investors to amass wealth.

Biden and Harris returned the U.S. to the model that both parties had embraced until 1981: the idea that the government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights. That system had reduced extremes of wealth in the U.S. after the Great Depression and given most Americans a path to prosperity.

Biden’s policies worked, enabling the U.S. to recover from the pandemic more quickly than any other country with a modern economy, sending unemployment to historic lows, and raising wages faster than inflation for the bottom 80% of Americans.

It has also had social effects, most notably today with the announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the U.S. is seeing a historic drop in deaths from the street drug fentanyl. From June 2023 to June 2024, deaths dropped by roughly 14.5%, translating into more than 16,000 lives saved. Experts say the drop is due to better addiction healthcare, the widespread availability of the opioid reversal drug naloxone, and lower potency of street fentanyl.

If the record of the extraordinary growth of small businesses in the past four years is one snapshot, the other is a social media post from yesterday, in which former pharmaceutical executive Vivek Ramaswamy noted that the government spends $516 billion a year on “programs which Congress has allowed to expire.” “We can & should save hundreds of billions each year by defunding government programs that Congress no longer authorizes,” he wrote.

Bobby Kogan, who worked in President Joe Biden’s Office of Management and Budget and on the Senate Budget Committee, explained that Congress often authorizes spending as “temporary” in order “to encourage Congress to revisit it to update various parts of the bill, such as eligibility, benefits, etc.” But Congress can still fund the programs in appropriations bills.

Kogan noted that the largest program currently operating under expired authorization is veterans’ medical care.

Trump and his advisors embrace the neoliberalism Biden rejected. Rather than invest in the economy to create opportunities for middle-class Americans and those just starting out, they want to slash the existing government to free up more capital for investors.

Trump has tapped the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who invested at least $132 million in cash in Trump’s campaign as well as the in-kind gift of the support of X, and former pharmaceutical executive Vivek Ramaswamy to run a “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, named for Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency.

According to the Washington Post’s Jeff Stein, Elizabeth Dwoskin, Cat Zakrzewski, and Jacob Bogage, people around Musk say the group is intended to “apply slash-and-burn business ideologies to the U.S. government.” Musk has vowed to slash “at least” $2 trillion from the federal budget and has warned it will create “hardship.”

That the people embracing this plan see a world in which a few elites run things showed in today’s social media post by the “DOGE.” The post called for “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting. If that’s you, DM this account…. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”

Such cuts would be enormously unpopular, and in the Washington Post yesterday, Stein, Dwoskin, Zakrzewski, and Bogage reported that Trump’s aides are exploring ways to enact dramatic cuts to the government without congressional approval. Key among those is simply refusing to release the money Congress appropriates for programs Musk and Trump want to cut. This is known as “impoundment,” and Congress made it illegal in 1974 after President Richard Nixon tried to shape the government to his wishes by refusing to fund congressional programs he opposed.

Trump tried to do this quietly in 2019 by refusing to release the money Congress had appropriated for Ukraine to fund its fight against Russian incursions until Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky smeared Biden. When the threat came to light, the House of Representatives impeached Trump. Although the Senate ultimately acquitted Trump, according to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) all the Republican senators agreed he had done as the House charged.

Now Trump’s team apparently hopes that a pliant Supreme Court will declare the 1974 Impoundment Control Act unconstitutional, permitting Trump—or Vice President J.D. Vance, should Trump not be able to fulfill his term—to shape the government without consulting Congress.

Because of the 2024 presidential election, Trump will soon be able to return the country to the neoliberal vision of the 40 years before Biden, supercharging it with the help of unelected billionaire Elon Musk, who recently claimed the title of being the “George Soros of the right,” a reference to the liberal philanthropist who has been the bogeyman of right-wing pundits.

But it’s not at all clear that Americans actually want that supercharged neoliberalism. As vote counts are continuing, it has become clear that Trump’s victory was slim indeed. New numbers from Nate Silver suggest he will not clear 50% of voters.

At the same time, a new study out today from Data for Progress showed that people who paid “a great deal” of attention to political news voted for Vice President Kamala Harris +6, while those who paid “none at all” went +19 for Trump.

Many of those voters got their information from social media or right-wing websites, but one of those today underwent a historic change. The satirical news outlet The Onion bought right-wing radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s InfoWars at auction. Jones’s property was up for sale because juries found him guilty of defamation and awarded his victims about $1.5 billion in damages. After the 2012 shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that killed 26 students and teachers, Jones insisted the event was a hoax designed to provide an excuse for gun safety regulations. He and his supporters harassed the victims’ families for years.

Jones appeared to be trying to keep control of InfoWars by having a company associated with him buy it up under the terms of the bankruptcy and restore it to him. But Sandy Hook families worked with The Onion to keep it from returning to Jones’s hands. Jones is screaming that the sale that took it away from him was a conspiracy. The company associated with him, First United American Companies, is already protesting the sale in court.

Jones rose to prominence in 1993, when he dropped out of community college to start a talk radio show that warned the government was making war on Americans. His shtick echoed the anti-communist grifters of the post–World War II years that promised small donors that their contributions could stop the creeping communism in the United States. Jones became popular enough that he went on to found InfoWars, which made him rich from the sale of nutritional supplements. The theme of InfoWars was that “There’s a war on for your mind!” and that only people like him could deliver the truth.

But his lies cost him a billion dollars, and now, noting that “InfoWars has shown an unswerving commitment to manufacturing anger and radicalizing the most vulnerable members of society,” The Onion has bought his website, which it plans to relaunch in January as a parody of Jones and a site that promotes gun safety legislation. But the chief executive officer of The Onion, Ben Collins, told Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: “It’s not just [Jones], it’s the people on Instagram trying to get you to drink raw milk; it’s the [multilevel marketing] people trying to get you to join a scam…. Those people have outsize impact in our completely bifurcated and balkanized media environment.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Bramhall #heather cox richardson #Letters from an American #incoming #InfoWars #economic vision #economic policy

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jamesgierach · 9 months ago

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DEA 2024 NATIONAL DRUG THREAT ASSESSMENT MISSES THE BOAT

by James E. Gierach

The recently released National Drug Threat Assessment misses the boat. The report says:

“DEA’s top priority is reducing the supply of deadly drugs in our country and defeating the two cartels responsible for the vast majority of drug trafficking in the United States. The drug poisoning crisis remains a public safety, public health, and national security issue, which requires a new approach.

“The shift from plant-based drugs, like heroin and cocaine, to synthetic, chemical-based drugs, like fentanyl and methamphetamine, has resulted in the most dangerous and deadly drug crisis the United States has ever faced,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “At the heart of the synthetic drug crisis are the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels and their associates, who DEA is tracking world-wide. The suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and money launderers all play a role in the web of deliberate and calculated treachery orchestrated by these cartels. DEA will continue to use all available resources to target these networks and save American lives.”

DEA “TOP PRIORITY”: Reduce drug supply?

Has the DEA and its leadership learned nothing over the 63 years of America’s War on Drugs? Has it not learned that whatever the drug (cannabis, heroin, crack cocaine, LSD, PCP, ecstasy, meth or fentanyl) DRUG PROHIBITION IS A BOON TO DRUG PRODUCTION, INVENTION, TRAFFICKING, ADDICTION, OVERDOSE, DEATH, ORGANIZED CRIME and VIOLENCE.

The supply-side tactics of interdiction, surveillance, crop-spraying, border-policing, undercover detective work and confidential-informant buying DO NOT REDUCE SUPPLY.

Drug prohibition is like Rumpelstiltskin Magic that guarantees more drugs, uncontrolled and unregulated, everywhere. See “The Silver Bullet Solution: Is it time to end the War on Drugs?” (Guadium, 2023) by James E. Gierach.

The DEA is right about one thing: more drugs (more drugs appearing based upon its insistence on the prohibition of drugs) increases the risk to “public safety, public health, and national security.”

Unfortunately, and equally obviously, the DEA does not know what to do about it. Drug poisoning from drug prohibition requires a “new approach.” How about legalized drugs, regulated markets, government inspection, dealer licensing, fixed places of business, regulated hours and health warnings. Recall how poisoning and crime from unregulated alcohol was stopped with legalized alcohol markets, not more unwanted, unworkable Prohibition.

Today, a century later: Same societal prohibition sickness; same societal fix. LEGALIZE DRUGS.

Second “DEA OVERSIGHT”: More of the same (continued prohibition) from the DEA will not help.

The DEA thrives on its drug-prohibition mandate. It plays Drug War, Monopoly Money and Cops and Robbers with the Sinaloa and Jalisco drug cartels. The result is more new synthetic drugs that DEA agents ever dreamed when plant-drugs were the prohibited enemy.

The 2018 Shadow Report (Marie Nougier, “A Taking Stock: a Decade of Drug Policy, a Civil Society Shadow Report,” International Drug Policy Consortium, 2018, p. 27, http://fileserver.idpc.net/library/Shadow_Report_FINAL_ENGLISH.pdf) is a study basically asking, “What has the World War on Drugs done for us lately?” The report was prepared by the well-respected International Drug Policy Consortium using United Nations drug use and drug-invention statistics.

The Shadow Report noted that during the preceding ten-year period analyzed, drug cartels had invented 803 new synthetic drugs. It’s fair to say, drug prohibition policy never before ever produced more new mind-altering, synthetic drugs in any previous ten-year historical period of human life. Again, “The Silver Bullet Solution:…”supra, explains how and why drug prohibition, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s mandatory-minimum, drug-sentencing laws and constitutional ex post facto laws converged to create an unexpected and unintended deluge of new synthetic drugs.

It’s 2024. Time to end the lost War on Drugs. Half-measures (legalized beer, legalized marijuana, or Oregon-styled drug decriminalization) will only further delay what society needs: full-dose, LEGALIZED, REGULATED and CONTROLLED DRUGS.

Let the DEA pack up and go home. Let DEA agents, and other federal and state law enforcement agents and officers, keep their drug-war winnings and drug-policing pensions, a significant part of America’s trillion-dollar drug-war spending. But let society out from under the worst public in the history of mankind—DRUG PROHIBITION, common denominator to a dozen crises and problems: “Violence, Gangs, Guns, Drugs, Policing, Mass Incarceration, Racism, Immigration, Human Rights, Healthcare, AIDS, and Corruption.” (“The Silver Bullet Solution:…,” supra.)

Palos Park, Illinois

May 9, 2024

#drugprohibition #gierach #drug legalization #unodc #harm reduction #cnd #overdose #crime #violence #drug policy

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