The opioid crisis won’t be solved because a workable solution has to be two-pronged. On the one hand, pharmaceutical companies need to be smacked down hard and kept in check. And Republicans will resist that to the death. On the other hand, drug cartels need to be prevented from flooding the country with heroin from across the border. And Democrats will resist even recognizing that this is happening.
The “solution” both sides compromised on is to hand over the addicts into a lifelong bondage to the same [fucking evil disgusting piece of vile shit monsters fuck them from here to the moon] pharmaceutical companies that got them addicted in the first place. The pharmaceutical companies switch the addicts from the oxycodone or fentanyl that will kill them very soon to suboxone and Co that will keep them just as addicted but alive to keep bringing in profit.
When you hear about victories in the war on opioids, that’s all it means. Taxpayer money is going straight into the pockets of pharma CEOs to keep crowds of people eternally addicted.
Everybody is so in denial about this that it’s scary.
Clarissa's Blog 
News:
Horror of Cologne hostage situation revealed: ‘Syrian’ had pledged allegiance to ISIS, doused captive woman with petrol and strapped home-made BOMB to her when police shot him
Woman taken hostage at a pharmacy at Cologne train station in Germany
Man lit a molotov cocktail in McDonald’s – injuring girl, 14 – and said he was ISIS
…
Officers found ID of 55-year-old Syrian citizen ‘likely to be the suspect’s’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6280671/Man-held-woman-hostage-Cologne-train-station-Syrian-said-hes-ISIS.html
Did your German hosts and other Germans ever mentioned any problems of integration at the conference?
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Academics? In the Humanities? You gotta be kidding me. The only immigrants it’s ok to dislike are those from the FSU. :-)))
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// Academics? In the Humanities? You gotta be kidding me.
I wonder what Germans on the street think about the issue. They cannot all be happy.
// The only immigrants it’s ok to dislike are those from the FSU. :-)))
Yes, that’s partly why I have unpleasant reaction when you criticize Russian-speaking immigrants. Aren’t many of them Jews too, btw?
In the 90ies, there were nasty stereotypes about FSU immigrants in Israel too. One girl at school asked me in Hebrew whether we had cockroaches in our house (I didn’t understand the question then), and she was a nice girl in general. I googled “cashier Luba” and found note 13 from an interesting book
“Russian Jews on Three Continents: Identity, Integration, and Conflict”
https://books.google.co.il/books?id=bCAxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT225&lpg=PT225&dq=cashier+luba&source=bl&ots=r8wACeksH0&sig=__w6yluHFeMYl6v6WVL-yIY-Uy4&hl=ru&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiz95SPjpDeAhUCJVAKHeGZD9kQ6AEwAXoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=cashier%20luba&f=false
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The main object of dislike are the Volga Germans. I honestly have no idea what problem anybody could have with them.
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“I wonder what Germans on the street think about the issue. They cannot all be happy.”
Lots of ordinary Germans are unhappy about immigration and that’s very obvious if you read the comment section on any relevant German langauge news article.
You can also look at the election results of the AfD, the very vocal anti-immigrant party. The party was only founded in 2013, but they got 12% in the last national elections and they now hold seats in 15 out of the 16 state parliaments. And they will get seats in the 16th when it holds elections at the end of this month, current polling puts them at around 12% in that race.
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// The only immigrants it’s ok to dislike are those from the FSU. :-)))
Wait, they are Jewish … coincidence or explanation?
I may sound paranoid now, but a simple explanation is often the right one.
// Academics? In the Humanities? You gotta be kidding me.
I do not understand why studying literature would automatically make one desirous of admitting millions of foreigners from very different cultures into one’s nation state. I think it is the climate within the Humanities which makes academics with different opinions afraid of expressing them.
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If you are asking why there is so much groupthink in academia, the answer is that being an original thinker is a lonely business. 🙂 It’s easier to conform.
At the conference, we had a representative of the Spanish colleagues who very methodically provided a ton of statistics to rebut some of the favorite assertions of academics. You should have seen how angry they got. I asked him to give me his documents, and he was kind to oblige because I love to rely on actual data and not my fantasies. But that’s rare.
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\ who very methodically provided a ton of statistics to rebut some of the favorite assertions of academics.
What assertions are those? You keep hinting but never reveal.
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It’s just that it’s boring for non-specialists. One was that the generation of retirees saved the rest of the population during the crisis by financially propping up their adult unemployed children. This is based on the stereotype of a close-knit Mediterranean family, which no longer exists in reality.
This is fascinating to me because I know several novels that revolve around this idea, and now it turns out it’s not even true. See, it’s boring. 🙂
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Another one is that the progressive Podemos is pro-women, when statistics demonstrate the opposite. And so on.
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On another topic, I am waiting for “HBO to Premiere MY BRILLIANT FRIEND”.
// The eight-episode drama series MY BRILLIANT FRIEND will debut SUNDAY, NOV. 18 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), with the second episode debuting MONDAY, NOV. 19 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT); other episodes will debut subsequent Sundays and Mondays at the same time.
You said the novels were good, but I haven’t read them. Instead, waiting for the series and wanted to share in case you would be glad to watch.
Another series which I have recently enjoyed watching was:
“Anne with an E is a Canadian drama television series based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and adapted by Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Moira Walley-Beckett.”
The landscapes were breathtaking and alone made the watch worthwhile. Such beauty. The actors were good too.
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Other news – we soon have municipal elections in all Israeli cities and there are some controversies:
// Banners of the Bayit Yehudi party calling against assimilation appeared Tuesday in the central city of Ramla where Arabs and Jews coexists, sparking provocation In the midst of the upcoming municipal elections in the city.
The banner shows a young woman wearing a hijab with the caption: “Hundreds cases of assimilation and nobody cares—tomorrow it can be your daughter. Only a strong Bayit Yehudi will keep Ramla Jewish.”
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5372714,00.html
(The banner can be seen in the linked article.)
In addition, there is a potential escalation going on:
// Gaza rocket hits Be’er Sheva home, IAF retaliates
Seven people treated for shock, including mother and three children who were in the house when it was hit; three others lightly hurt while running for shelter during early-morning rocket alert siren; defense minister closes border crossings, reduces Gaza fishing zone.
And, the last but not the least:
// Suspected hate crime in Sweden
After being called a ‘dirty Jewish cow’, home of Swedish-Jewish politician is set ablaze; Leaders of Jewish community in country call upon the authorities to take firm steps against the rising anti-Semitism; ‘Not sure Jews have a future here,’ Jewish community heads add.
…
This is the second such event in Lund—a famous university city located 20 kilometers away from Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, which has the highest rate of anti-Semitic incidents.
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5370144,00.html
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I agree that we need to crack down on pharmaceutical companies and stop drugs from coming across the border. But I think you yourself have said that where there’s a demand, there will be a supply. To fully tackle the problem we need treatment and we need to prevent people from turning to drugs in the first place. What exactly all that should look like is a matter of debate (I agree that it shouldn’t be a lifelong opioid prescription.)
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Absolutely. This is so true. Anybody who has been to West Virginia, for instance, can understand why there is such an issue with opioids. The conditions of life, the hopelessness, that’s what compounding the issue.
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Well, this is of course one of the reasons the YMCA was created. In Scandinavia, the youth evening programs, the programs for seniors, the availability of healthcare, etc., etc., exist in part to offer positive alternatives to drug abuse and mayhem, people will tell you straight out.
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Court: US student in BDS case allowed to stay in Israel
Supreme Court rules American student Lara Alqasem can stay and study in Israel, despite past BDS ties; ruling overturns lower court decision backing government; Lawyers: Free speech victory; Deri: a disgrace.
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5374418,00.html
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This is honestly a non-issue to put all other non-issues to shame.
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Relevant article:
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/critics-question-methadone-usage-as-patient-numbers-soar-in-canada
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