[News] Post a Political News Story

Ongoing discussion of the political news of the day. This thread is for 'smaller' stories that don't call for their own thread. If a story blows up, please start a new thread for it.

I’ve gone through some of what he’s going through. It’s real and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

He probably did a rapid benzo taper (mine was over 10 months and even then it almost killed me) and then when he saw how that felt he got desperate.

Having tons of YouTube and Patreon money, rather than doing what the rest of us in this situation do and go online and find support groups, he decided only Russian doctors could help him.

The guy obviously has odious politics, but benzo withdrawal is horrific. He’s walking a sad and lonely path now. One where all his “buck up” and “clean up your room” stuff will not be nearly enough to help him.

DSGamer wrote:

The guys obviously has odious politics, but benzo withdrawal is horrific. He’s walking a sad and lonely path now. One where all his “buck up” and “clean up your room” stuff will not be nearly enough to help him.

Which is, quite sincerely, one of the problems with his philosophy--it doesn't have room for things like depression or trauma, and instead glorifies free will and forcibly imposing order. (It doesn't sound like his daughter is exactly helping things either, between the all-meat diet and taking him to Russia.)

One thing disability advocates often point out is that unless you die suddenly and young, most of us will deal with some level of disability, whether through injury or old age. So beyond the moral reason for helping other people, its quite likely that you yourself will eventually benefit. Peterson is the flip side of that, someone whose lack of compassion ultimately trapped him within his own philosophy. He's become the weak thing that he focused his attention on hating because it is weak. It's sad. Both for him, and for his followers who are caught in a similar trap.

'QAnon' conspiracy theory creeps into mainstream politics

This could equally well go in "The Internet Was A Mistake" but since it's bleeding into mainstream Republican discourse, i'll put it in here.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — President Donald Trump was more than halfway through his speech at a rally in Milwaukee when one of his hand gestures caught the eye of a supporter standing in the packed arena.

The 51-year-old woman believed the president had traced the shape of the letter “Q” with his fingers as a covert signal to followers of QAnon, a right-wing, pro-Trump conspiracy theory. She turned to the couple on her right and excitedly asked, “Did you see the ‘Q’?”

“He just did it?” asked Diane Jacobson, 63, of Racine, Wisconsin.

“Was that a 'Q'?" added Jacobson's husband, Randy, 64.

“I think it was,” replied their new friend, Chrisy. The Geneva, Illinois, resident declined to give her last name in part because she said she wanted to avoid negative “attention."

The Jacobsons met Chrisy and her husband, Paul, hours earlier in the line to get into the Jan 14 rally. The couples bonded over their shared interest in QAnon, which centers on the baseless belief that Trump is waging a secret campaign against enemies in the “deep state” and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic pedophiles and cannibals.

What started as an online obsession for the far-right fringe has grown beyond its origins in a dark corner of the internet. QAnon has been creeping into the mainstream political arena for more than a year. The trend shows no sign of abating as Trump fires up his reelection campaign operation, attracting a loyal audience of conspiracy theorists and other fringe groups to his raucous rallies.

Trump has retweeted QAnon-promoting accounts. Followers flock to Trump’s rallies wearing clothes and hats with QAnon symbols and slogans. At least 23 current or former congressional candidates in the 2020 election cycle have endorsed or promoted QAnon, according to the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, which compiled online evidence to support its running tally.

Conspiracy theorists aren't the only fringe characters drawn to Trump rallies. The Oath Keepers, an anti-government group formed in 2009 after President Barack Obama's election, has been sending “security volunteers” to escort Trump supporters at rallies across the country.

University of California, Davis history professor Kathryn Olmsted, author of a book called “Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11,” said it's unclear whether QAnon has attracted more believers than other conspiracy theories that have intersected with U.S. politics.

“What's different now is that there are people in power who are spreading this conspiracy theory,” she said, adding that Trump's conspiracy-minded rhetoric seems to fire up part of his base. “Finally, there is someone saying they're not crazy.”

What Happens When QAnon Seeps From the Web to the Offline World

A city council member in California took the dais and quoted from QAnon, a pro-Trump conspiracy theory about “deep state” traitors plotting against the president, concluding her remarks, “God bless Q.”

A man spouting QAnon beliefs about child sex trafficking swung a crowbar inside a historic Catholic chapel in Arizona, damaging the altar and then fleeing before being arrested.

And outside a Trump campaign rally in Florida, people in “Q” T-shirts stopped by a tent to hear outlandish tales of Democrats’ secretly torturing and killing children to extract a life-extending chemical from their blood.

What began online more than two years ago as an intricate, if baseless, conspiracy theory that quickly attracted thousands of followers has since found footholds in the offline world. QAnon has surfaced in political campaigns, criminal cases, merchandising and at least one college class. Last month, hundreds of QAnon enthusiasts gathered in a Tampa, Fla., park to listen to speakers and pick up literature, and in England, a supporter of President Trump and the Brexit leader Nigel Farage raised a “Q” flag over a Cornish castle.

Most recently, the botched Iowa Democratic caucuses and the coronavirus outbreak have provided fodder for conspiracy mongering: QAnon fans shared groundless theories online linking the liberal billionaire George Soros to technological problems that hobbled the caucuses, and passed around bogus and potentially dangerous “treatments” for the virus.

About a dozen candidates for public office in the United States have promoted or dabbled in QAnon, and its adherents have been arrested in at least seven episodes, including a murder in New York and an armed standoff with the police near the Hoover Dam. The F.B.I. cited QAnon in an intelligence bulletin last May about the potential for violence motivated by “fringe political conspiracy theories.”

Matthew Lusk, who is running unopposed in the Republican primary for a Florida congressional seat and openly embraces QAnon, said in an email that its anonymous creator was a patriot who “brings what the fake news will not touch without slanting.” As for the theory’s more extreme elements, Mr. Lusk said he was uncertain whether there really was a pedophile ring associated with the deep state.

“That being said,” he added, “I do believe there is a group in Brussels, Belgium, that do eat aborted babies.”

Gremlin wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

The guys obviously has odious politics, but benzo withdrawal is horrific. He’s walking a sad and lonely path now. One where all his “buck up” and “clean up your room” stuff will not be nearly enough to help him.

Which is, quite sincerely, one of the problems with his philosophy--it doesn't have room for things like depression or trauma, and instead glorifies free will and forcibly imposing order. (It doesn't sound like his daughter is exactly helping things either, between the all-meat diet and taking him to Russia.)

One thing disability advocates often point out is that unless you die suddenly and young, most of us will deal with some level of disability, whether through injury or old age. So beyond the moral reason for helping other people, its quite likely that you yourself will eventually benefit. Peterson is the flip side of that, someone whose lack of compassion ultimately trapped him within his own philosophy. He's become the weak thing that he focused his attention on hating because it is weak. It's sad. Both for him, and for his followers who are caught in a similar trap.

Totally.

One of the dispiriting things about the discourse on Twitter and Reddit today has been all the people doubting Peterson’s story or attributing it to him being “crazy”.

As described in the article what he’s going through is fairly textbook and exactly what many of us have experienced. Minus going to Russia and being induced into a coma.

Peterson’s personally philosophy is obviously dangerous, because it doesn’t take seriously the wide gamut of human experience. This is an opportunity for the left to point out the hypocrisy and failings of his philosophy while also attempting some understanding of what he’s going through, because it might be them or a loved one someday.

DSGamer wrote:

Totally.

One of the dispiriting things about the discourse on Twitter and Reddit today has been all the people doubting Peterson’s story or attributing it to him being “crazy”.

As described in the article what he’s going through is fairly textbook and exactly what many of us have experienced. Minus going to Russia and being induced into a coma.

Peterson’s personally philosophy is obviously dangerous, because it doesn’t take seriously the wide gamut of human experience. This is an opportunity for the left to point out the hypocrisy and failings of his philosophy while also attempting some understanding of what he’s going through, because it might be them or a loved one someday.

And yet conservatives will argue to their deaths that the U.S. has "the best healthcare in the world," and yet we have Peterson, who could probably afford to go anywhere in the world for his healthcare, going to Russia of all places.

I have to wonder if maybe some of Peterson's perspectives may change after undergoing this horrific experience and feeling like he had to leave the country to get his condition properly treated.

In this case I think the Russia trip was him getting desperate and seeking exotic care. There isn’t really a great treatment for benzo withdrawal. The best treatments are available in the US or Canada and he could easily afford them. I don’t think the lesson here is about how we have bad healthcare or coverage.

He has universal healthcare as a Canadian AND he can afford private healthcare on top of that. And even then he got terrible care, because doctors don’t truly understand dependency like this.

To me there’s no political lesson here until we see what he does with the newfound experience of being vulnerable and desperate.

Gremlin wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

The guys obviously has odious politics, but benzo withdrawal is horrific. He’s walking a sad and lonely path now. One where all his “buck up” and “clean up your room” stuff will not be nearly enough to help him.

Which is, quite sincerely, one of the problems with his philosophy--it doesn't have room for things like depression or trauma, and instead glorifies free will and forcibly imposing order. (It doesn't sound like his daughter is exactly helping things either, between the all-meat diet and taking him to Russia.)

One thing disability advocates often point out is that unless you die suddenly and young, most of us will deal with some level of disability, whether through injury or old age. So beyond the moral reason for helping other people, its quite likely that you yourself will eventually benefit. Peterson is the flip side of that, someone whose lack of compassion ultimately trapped him within his own philosophy. He's become the weak thing that he focused his attention on hating because it is weak. It's sad. Both for him, and for his followers who are caught in a similar trap.

I honestly wonder if part of the appeal of such a "philosophy" is the fact that aging Baby Boomers have been dismantling the social safety net for decades only after they have milked the very last of its utility. This leaves folks of younger generations soberly evaluating that there won't be much left for them in a social contract that demands that they look after a generation that did its level bets to f*ck them over and blame them for it. Given the circumstances, there is some, albeit misplaced, appeal to letting the "olds" die in the woods or on park benches.

bekkilyn wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Totally.

One of the dispiriting things about the discourse on Twitter and Reddit today has been all the people doubting Peterson’s story or attributing it to him being “crazy”.

As described in the article what he’s going through is fairly textbook and exactly what many of us have experienced. Minus going to Russia and being induced into a coma.

Peterson’s personally philosophy is obviously dangerous, because it doesn’t take seriously the wide gamut of human experience. This is an opportunity for the left to point out the hypocrisy and failings of his philosophy while also attempting some understanding of what he’s going through, because it might be them or a loved one someday.

And yet conservatives will argue to their deaths that the U.S. has "the best healthcare in the world," and yet we have Peterson, who could probably afford to go anywhere in the world for his healthcare, going to Russia of all places.

I have to wonder if maybe some of Peterson's perspectives may change after undergoing this horrific experience and feeling like he had to leave the country to get his condition properly treated.

Reading between the lines of that article, he was likely drug-seeking from multiple providers and it caught up to him in a big way.

Reaper81 wrote:
bekkilyn wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Totally.

One of the dispiriting things about the discourse on Twitter and Reddit today has been all the people doubting Peterson’s story or attributing it to him being “crazy”.

As described in the article what he’s going through is fairly textbook and exactly what many of us have experienced. Minus going to Russia and being induced into a coma.

Peterson’s personally philosophy is obviously dangerous, because it doesn’t take seriously the wide gamut of human experience. This is an opportunity for the left to point out the hypocrisy and failings of his philosophy while also attempting some understanding of what he’s going through, because it might be them or a loved one someday.

And yet conservatives will argue to their deaths that the U.S. has "the best healthcare in the world," and yet we have Peterson, who could probably afford to go anywhere in the world for his healthcare, going to Russia of all places.

I have to wonder if maybe some of Peterson's perspectives may change after undergoing this horrific experience and feeling like he had to leave the country to get his condition properly treated.

Reading between the lines of that article, he was likely drug-seeking from multiple providers and it caught up to him in a big way.

Another Rush Limbaugh.

Paleocon wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:
bekkilyn wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Totally.

One of the dispiriting things about the discourse on Twitter and Reddit today has been all the people doubting Peterson’s story or attributing it to him being “crazy”.

As described in the article what he’s going through is fairly textbook and exactly what many of us have experienced. Minus going to Russia and being induced into a coma.

Peterson’s personally philosophy is obviously dangerous, because it doesn’t take seriously the wide gamut of human experience. This is an opportunity for the left to point out the hypocrisy and failings of his philosophy while also attempting some understanding of what he’s going through, because it might be them or a loved one someday.

And yet conservatives will argue to their deaths that the U.S. has "the best healthcare in the world," and yet we have Peterson, who could probably afford to go anywhere in the world for his healthcare, going to Russia of all places.

I have to wonder if maybe some of Peterson's perspectives may change after undergoing this horrific experience and feeling like he had to leave the country to get his condition properly treated.

Reading between the lines of that article, he was likely drug-seeking from multiple providers and it caught up to him in a big way.

Another Rush Limbaugh.

What?

I just explained how this is a real thing that I suffered from as well.

In case you’re curious what the experience is like and don’t want to listen to me, CNN recently covered this in their This is Life series.

DSGamer wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:
bekkilyn wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Totally.

One of the dispiriting things about the discourse on Twitter and Reddit today has been all the people doubting Peterson’s story or attributing it to him being “crazy”.

As described in the article what he’s going through is fairly textbook and exactly what many of us have experienced. Minus going to Russia and being induced into a coma.

Peterson’s personally philosophy is obviously dangerous, because it doesn’t take seriously the wide gamut of human experience. This is an opportunity for the left to point out the hypocrisy and failings of his philosophy while also attempting some understanding of what he’s going through, because it might be them or a loved one someday.

And yet conservatives will argue to their deaths that the U.S. has "the best healthcare in the world," and yet we have Peterson, who could probably afford to go anywhere in the world for his healthcare, going to Russia of all places.

I have to wonder if maybe some of Peterson's perspectives may change after undergoing this horrific experience and feeling like he had to leave the country to get his condition properly treated.

Reading between the lines of that article, he was likely drug-seeking from multiple providers and it caught up to him in a big way.

Another Rush Limbaugh.

What?

I just explained how this is a real thing that I suffered from as well.

I mean the whole drug seeking behavior inside the context of condemning "morally weak" people in a facade of adherence to a cult of self reliance.

Paleocon wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:
bekkilyn wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Totally.

One of the dispiriting things about the discourse on Twitter and Reddit today has been all the people doubting Peterson’s story or attributing it to him being “crazy”.

As described in the article what he’s going through is fairly textbook and exactly what many of us have experienced. Minus going to Russia and being induced into a coma.

Peterson’s personally philosophy is obviously dangerous, because it doesn’t take seriously the wide gamut of human experience. This is an opportunity for the left to point out the hypocrisy and failings of his philosophy while also attempting some understanding of what he’s going through, because it might be them or a loved one someday.

And yet conservatives will argue to their deaths that the U.S. has "the best healthcare in the world," and yet we have Peterson, who could probably afford to go anywhere in the world for his healthcare, going to Russia of all places.

I have to wonder if maybe some of Peterson's perspectives may change after undergoing this horrific experience and feeling like he had to leave the country to get his condition properly treated.

Reading between the lines of that article, he was likely drug-seeking from multiple providers and it caught up to him in a big way.

Another Rush Limbaugh.

What?

I just explained how this is a real thing that I suffered from as well.

I mean the whole drug seeking behavior inside the context of condemning "morally weak" people in a facade of adherence to a cult of self reliance.

I am not saying, nor did I say, people aren't misdiagnosed or that people can't become addicited to benzos after even a short period use.

Here's an idea: this topic is personal to someone who posts here a lot. It's okay to steer the conversation towards that end of the debate and let the deplorables get their digital comeuppance--which they'll never see with it being in a supposed 'safe space' like this--at some other time and in some other place.

cheeze_pavilion wrote:

Here's an idea: this topic is personal to someone who posts here a lot. It's okay to steer the conversation towards that end of the debate and let the deplorables get their digital comeuppance--which they'll never see with it being in a supposed 'safe space' like this--at some other time and in some other place.

No one owns the narrative over misdiagnosis, medical malfeasance, or addiction.

I, personally, have experienced all of those things and continue to experience or cope with those things.

I also, for some unfathomable reason, have a professional career in mental health.

So, I see and live both sides.

Reaper81 wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:

Here's an idea: this topic is personal to someone who posts here a lot. It's okay to steer the conversation towards that end of the debate and let the deplorables get their digital comeuppance--which they'll never see with it being in a supposed 'safe space' like this--at some other time and in some other place.

No one owns the narrative over misdiagnosis, medical malfeasance, or addiction.

I, personally, have experienced all of those things and continue to experience or cope with those things.

I also, for some unfathomable reason, have a professional career in mental health.

So, I see and live both sides.

If you see something is important to a member of a very small community where everyone knows each other, it's okay to let someone own the narrative for a couple of posts. It's okay to let it go.

If you have personal experience with this and it's important to you to express yourself too, then that's another matter.

It's okay to talk to people in language that doesn't sound like legalese. I mean, personally I would prefer if the debates here were conducted on the level of abstract thought experiments, but since they're not, you know, it's okay to be more understanding with each other.

cheeze_pavilion wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:

Here's an idea: this topic is personal to someone who posts here a lot. It's okay to steer the conversation towards that end of the debate and let the deplorables get their digital comeuppance--which they'll never see with it being in a supposed 'safe space' like this--at some other time and in some other place.

No one owns the narrative over misdiagnosis, medical malfeasance, or addiction.

I, personally, have experienced all of those things and continue to experience or cope with those things.

I also, for some unfathomable reason, have a professional career in mental health.

So, I see and live both sides.

If you see something is important to a member of a very small community where everyone knows each other, it's okay to let someone own the narrative for a couple of posts. It's okay to let it go.

If you have personal experience with this and it's important to you to express yourself too, then that's another matter.

It's okay to talk to people in language that doesn't sound like legalese. I mean, personally I would prefer if the debates here were conducted on the level of abstract thought experiments, but since they're not, you know, it's okay to be more understanding with each other.

Great, sounds good.

Edit: I'll PM you.

Edit 2:

I see you felt the need to block my PM because you misconstrued either the tone or text of my PM.

I apologize that you felt that I was being a dick in my PM.

Thanks, Cheeze. For what it’s worth, I won’t be bothered if you all go to town on Peterson as a politics figure. I’m just attempting a slight bit of education on what he’s going through instead of lazy trash talking.

The last few years many members of this community have made an attempt, sometimes halting, to try and understand people with different experiences than theirs. I look at this issue in the same light. You can either listen to what I’m saying and try to understand something you don’t understand or you can refuse to learn. I, obviously, think we’re all better off when we try to understand things we don’t know. It can lead to growth.

I’m not asking this on behalf of Jordan Peterson. I’m asking on behalf of myself and other people with exotic medical conditions that are misunderstood by society.

I don’t want to say much more than that. I’m trying to be careful, because there are also people for whom benzodiazepines are absolutely necessary medication. And many people don’t experience what I did and apparently Jordan Peterson did. We think there’s a genetic component to why some experience withdrawal worse.

Anyway, I sincerely don’t want to drag that part out, just please take a moment to try to understand the issue. There are plenty of things to pile on Jordan Peterson for. In this case namely that his own philosophy he’s been selling people will do him no good in this situation.

Reaper81 wrote:
cheeze_pavilion wrote:

Here's an idea: this topic is personal to someone who posts here a lot. It's okay to steer the conversation towards that end of the debate and let the deplorables get their digital comeuppance--which they'll never see with it being in a supposed 'safe space' like this--at some other time and in some other place.

No one owns the narrative over misdiagnosis, medical malfeasance, or addiction.

I, personally, have experienced all of those things and continue to experience or cope with those things.

I also, for some unfathomable reason, have a professional career in mental health.

So, I see and live both sides.

I definitely don’t own it. Of course. The “another Rush Limbaugh” stuff is pretty terrible, though. Dependency is not the same thing as addiction and not all cases are the same.

I’d be curious about your experience with dependency or treating it. There are definitely people who use Xanax to get high. From all descriptions that wasn’t Peterson. He went on Klonopin, a longer acting benzodiazepine, because of the stress of his wife being treated for cancer.

I personally know many people, as I’ve already said, that never abused the medication. They never engaged in pill seeking. They just took it as prescribed and found themselves in a jam all of a sudden. This can happen with SSRIs as well. There are entire support groups for people who don’t do well on Prozac or Paxil.

Spoilering for possible triggering content

Spoiler:

If you watch the video I posted you’ll notice a throughline of suicide or thoughts of suicide.

A large number of people I’ve known have taken their lives, the pain in withdrawal is so bad. It’s basically your entire nervous system coming back online after being suppressed chemically.

I personally got close on 3 different occasions. I can’t rule out not considering it in the future. I’m lucky to be here.

Point is, it’s a serious medical condition that some of us experience much differently than others who take benzos. I’m happy to respectfully talk about experiences of dependency, but that’s not where the conversation was.

On reddit, of all places, the entire comments section on the post for this story was filled with comments about how benzo withdrawal is horrific and none of them would wish it on their worst enemies. Many people using that exact language. Subreddits outside the Peterson echo chambers are generally quite harsh on him, if you were unaware.

And he didn't go to Russia because the US healthcare business or Canadian healthcare system failed him somehow, he went there to do a get-through-withdrawal-quick solution that caused seizures and has likely permanently disabled him. There's a reason the US or Canadian doctors wouldn't do this procedure.

There are doctors in Canada and the US who will force you to go cold turkey. Primary care physicians.

No reputable addiction center will put you through rapid detox, which it looks like he wanted after the reputable ones in North America wanted to treat him with adjunct medication.

DS, this is a sincere question, how do you define addiction and dependency?

Reaper81 wrote:

DS, this is a sincere question, how do you define addiction and dependency?

Dependency is when you take a medication as prescribed by your doctor. No extra pills or deviations and when you try to quit it you find out your body is dependent on it chemically. To quit you have to gradually taper off or substitute other medications so your body / mind can get used to having less and eventually none of the medication.

Addiction is when you’re either physically dependent or psychologically dependent and you seek the medication primarily for recreational purposes.

The difference, as I see it, is the behavioral component of seeking more of a drug for recreational purposes.

The reason people in benzodiazepine (or SSRI) dependency circles prefer the term dependency is because in many cases they never sought to get high. They took the medication as prescribed. Did the therapy, etc. and without knowing it ended up dependent.

I think the reason people who become dependent on psychiatric medication reject the term addiction is because they weren’t seeking to get high. They weren’t taking extra medication. They were following doctor’s orders. It’s obviously very complex on the ground and I admit the terms get complicated and intermingled. I don’t take much offense to that personally.

I know from personal experience that the behavioral component just isn’t there with benzos for many of us. In fact, we don’t really notice the difference until we try to quit them.

That is very helpful, thank you. I will keep that in mind in future conversations.

I'd forgotten that Peterson is Canadian, so half of my post a ways above is probably moot. Oops! Even so though, I still do wonder (provided he recovers) if this experience will end up changing some of his views.

Now to shift gears just a bit about DS's concerns, I've been getting the feeling as I've been reading that there are at least two different conversations going on concerning Peterson. DS has been emphasizing the trials of dependency, and some others are focused more on Peterson's political views, and these different things are getting all mixed up and causing tension and perhaps some misunderstanding between people.

Anyway, I do hope people who are struggling with dependency are able to get the treatments they need whether in Canada, the U.S., Russia, or anywhere else. It distresses me to hear that the reason Peterson went to Russia was out of some (misplaced?) hope that he could take shortcuts that may have drastic results to his health.

DSGamer wrote:

This can happen with SSRIs as well. There are entire support groups for people who don’t do well on Prozac or Paxil.

Spoilering for possible triggering content

Spoiler:

If you watch the video I posted you’ll notice a throughline of suicide or thoughts of suicide.

A large number of people I’ve known have taken their lives, the pain in withdrawal is so bad. It’s basically your entire nervous system coming back online after being suppressed chemically.

I personally got close on 3 different occasions. I can’t rule out not considering it in the future. I’m lucky to be here.

I was on Prozac for years until around late 2018 when it just stopped working. It was gradual enough that I didn't realize it, but severe enough of a difference that my wife could tell.

I sure as hell noticed when I stopped taking it and my doc and I started trying replacements.

Spoilering for the same reason as DSG:

Spoiler:

I definitely struggled many times in 2019 with suicidal impulses. I was always in enough rational control that my mental "circuit breaker" kept me from making any concrete plans or attempting anything, but I don't like to think about what might have happened if I didn't have that switch still available to short-circuit the worst thoughts. I still have those intrusive thoughts even now, and I don't know when they're going to fully stop.

It took a while to find a replacement to get my anxiety and depression back into a manageable state, but fortunately it's another SSRI. I can't even imagine how much worse it must be for people taking and coming off of benzos.

I don't know anything about this Peterson person, so not speaking to that news whatsoever. Just giving another personal account to support the point DSG is making.

*Screams in BUILD AFFORDABLE HOUSING*

Sometimes, I think my 90-minute+ commute is frustrating, and then I remember California.

It's 2:30 a.m. in the Central California farm town of Salida, and the only sound is the tech bus pulling into an unmarked lot surrounded by barbed wire. Men and women in work boots board in the moonlight. Next stop is 11 miles away in Manteca, and then it's another 55 miles to Fremont on the San Francisco Bay, where — an hour and a half hour later — the 4 a.m. shift at the Tesla factory starts.

Welcome to life on Silicon Valley's new frontier. When tech companies first introduced private shuttles for their employees more than a decade ago, they served the affluent neighborhoods in San Francisco and the Peninsula. Now the buses reach as far as the almond orchards of Salida and the garlic fields of Gilroy.

Tech companies have grown tight-lipped about the specifics of their shuttle programs in the wake of high-profile protests in San Francisco. But Protocol was able to locate enough stops for company shuttles to confirm that some tech shuttles now drive all the way out to the Central Valley, an agricultural hub once a world away from the tech boom on the coast.

"That just tells you the story of the Bay Area," said Russell Hancock, president and CEO of regional think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. "We're going to be in these farther-flung places, and that's our reality because we're not going to be able to create affordable housing."

Tech shuttle sprawl speaks to the unique pressures that the industry has put on the region. High tech salaries have driven up housing prices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco and the East Bay, forcing white- and blue-collar workers alike to move farther away from their jobs. The crisis is compounded by anti-development politics that make it hard to build new housing and patchwork public transit systems that make it difficult for commuters to get to work without driving.

The mismatch between jobs and housing has become so extreme that Google and Facebook have proposed building thousands of apartments or condos on their own campuses.

In the meantime, those companies — plus Tesla, Apple, Netflix, LinkedIn, Genentech and others — are trying to solve the problem with long-distance buses. They all now offer shuttle service to at least the extended suburbs of the East Bay, according to interviews and reports Protocol consulted. Their longest routes now stretch north across the Golden Gate Bridge, south to the surf town of Santa Cruz, and east to the Central Valley — a total service area approaching 3,000 square miles.

f*ck Trump, seriously.

Native burial sites blown up for US border wall

Native American burial sites in Arizona have been blown up by construction crews building the US-Mexico border wall, according to lawmakers and tribal leaders.

Authorities confirmed that "controlled blasting" has begun in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a Unesco recognised natural reserve.

Raul Grijalva, a Democrat congressman, called the destruction "sacrilegious".

The government failed to consult the Tohono O'odham Nation, he said.

Environmental groups also warn of the damage being done to the local underground aquifer, as well as to migrating wildlife in the remote desert region about 115 miles (185km) west of Tucson.

Officials say the aim of the project is to construct a 30ft-tall (9m) steel barrier that runs for 43 miles on the national park land.

And the kicker... thanks, W.

The Trump administration has been able to build sections of the US-Mexico border wall on public land due to the 2005 REAL ID Act, which gives the federal government the right to waive laws that conflict with US national security policy.

In their bid to build the wall, the White House has waived dozens of laws - including ones that protected Native American graves, endangered species, and the environment.

Sounds like the plot of the next Poltergeist movie.
But in all seriousness, another thing to throw on the pile of "f*ck trumpisms"

This article makes me super extra furious because cities in the bay area have ridiculously high tax bases thanks to tech industry real estate. They could afford extravagant public transit systems better than pretty much anywhere. And yet BART became such a decaying relic that Santa Clara County decades ago said f*ck it and built their own light rail. Which doesn't connect to BART. And there are standard rail lines that go all the way along the west side of the bay, extending both north and south. ARGH.

On the other hand, my knowledge is 20 years old. They have probably given tax breaks to every company sitting on their land now.

On the other other hand, nope, they still have massive property tax income.