Double dose of bad news--the loss of OPOL and Bernie
I too am saddened by the loss of OPOL. And hopefully he has respite from the earthly concerns which shape us all. His loss will affect something hard to measure, the influence of a political stance, founded in compassion and its twin empathy, which will no longer be heard or read. Memories, can be powerful, altering behavior of those sharing those memories; and without even realizing that behavior has been altered in others exposed such a world scheme. This is a theme, which might be called utopia, in which people really did respond to stress "with the better angels of our souls". We can achieve a glimpse of utopia perhaps but we shall never achieve anything remotely resembling such an ideal. Humans are inherently flawed. Perhaps this is the true nature of original sin: not that we have sinned just by being born but because in our lives we are all capable of sin and all of us do sin.
Rejoice in having known OPOL and his gifts to us, sanity, moderation, consideration.
Stents and Stasis
Consider the political death of Bernard Sanders. I am considering it and am not happy about it. Bernie should have had the chance to finish his second run for presidency, even though the PTB would never let him win. Now, he has lost.
But, you protest concerned that the event may not at all been serious physiologically.
Says who?
And why is this not Bernie's race ender?
So here's a bit of cardio-pathophysiology--a fine topic for a political blog. Well, let's get to the heart of the matter.
Cardiac chest pain: There are basically two types: the simpler one is due to decreased coronary artery blood flow which does not cause tissue death. The resultant pain is called angina pectoris, which amazingly enough means chest pain.
The worse kind of cardiac chest pain is due to myocardial infarction when heart muscle (the myocardium) actually does die. There are differences in total area impacted and location of the damage. Conduction system damage can cause harmful arrhythmias. Arrhythmias can also occur in ischemia (low blood flow without myocardial damage).
Stents are semi-rigid/semi-flexible tubes made of metal or polymers which prop open the walls of an artery. In order for a stent to function properly, the artery must be cleared of as much debris as possible plus have good outflow to the area beyond the obstruction.
Like secrets from the Pentagon, I doubt that we in the general public will get to know the true extent of Bernie's attack. He might be better than new post-stent--or might have lost quite a bit of functioning cardiac tissue, which will not recover despite the stent.
Is Bernie's Primary bid over? In my view, it is. His "heart attack" (even if it is really only an simple anginal attack) will exclude him from the minds of many voters, including those considering voting for him. It is "the appearance" of disease, rather than simply the presence of disease which will do him in, even if he lives twenty more years. The Repugnants will use the word "heart attack", shall I say, liberally. But don't think for one moment that the still-circling sharks in the Klown Kavalcade will take the opportunity to play up the ill-health/ageism aspect.
JoJo is already sensitizing the populace to age-related physical failings (dementia), to say nothing of his moral corruption. With the major candidates of both parties in their seventies, this event will renew the pressure on release of medical information--not just for Biden and Sanders, but likely Warren and Drumpf.
Trump's base doesn't care about the nuances of heart disease etc. Bernie's hard-core boosters won't be deterred either. But likely, the majority of Americans will be concerned. Many will write of Bernie and Biden off as sick geezers who should retire (or in Joe's situation, get exclusive booking at Club Fed).
If EW gains from this, her gains will be muted by some loss of support for her too simply on the ageism/perceived liability to illness.
I have written previously about how Hildebeast is planning to jump into the race. Paradoxically, Bernie's downfall will likely doom her re-entry into campaigning. She was none too healthy physically during 2016. People, especially those not #stillwithHER, remember this also.
In sum, the geriatric wing of Dem aspirants for the Oval Office may have been dealt a fatal blow by the ongoing Biden follies and the acute illness of Bernie. Who does that leave?
This even could really open the contest beyond imagining. The Camel, Spartacus, Tulsi, Yang, Beetlejuice and Jooolian get new chances. Maybe De Blasio jumps back in. Who knows. I sure don't.
I will vote for Bernie if he gets the nomination but I now think odds against this are 2,000,000 to 1.
Comments
A likely prognosis for me, too.
I disapprove of this system of government. With a isolated misinformed hillbilly populace it's a danger to the world.
The hillbilly populace
has almost always been isolationist in the way Washington counseled. It is the military and our warmongering leaders that are the problem; not the populace. The people of the US have never wanted war; they just get drug into it.
Democracy is the Problem
And it is getting worse Now that nations can so successfully brainwash the population using their authority over modern technologies. Combine that with misinformed, uneducated, mentally unfit voters who know nothing of the world.
As Issac Asimov put it:
The corrupt psychopaths now own and operate the "vote" and the "choices." The Constitution made it easy for them. The Russia Hoax should have made that clear. If you watched Elizabeth Warren at the Democratic Convention in 2016, You would have seen how easily she was sucked in by the Russian Hoax — a total pushover. She gave a speech that could only have been delivered by the biggest sucker on the stage. Either that, or she is a CIA asset.
But it doesn't matter.
If the first priority of any nation is NOT to build healthy, educated, well informed, secure, and well adjusted citizens — then a Democracy is a fast-track for corruption and control by the ideologically obsessed and the power-mad — via their media monopolies and their brainwashed voters.
The next administration will be CIA operated. They've stopped fooling around.
@Pluto's Republic If I recall it
If I recall it was Winston Churchill who said democracy is the worst kind of government except for all the rest.
If you think about the average IQ of the US, which is about 99, half the people are under that. To expect the lower half not to be manipulated by those in the higher half is not realistic. To expect education to remedy that problem is also against what all the data on IQ shows. You can complain about it all you want, but you are not going to change people's DNA.
Letting those in the lower half of IQ participate in the government, is the price of democracy. But it seems to worked better than every other alternative we have yet devised.
Sorry.
Those old arguments are way past their expiration date.
Our species is evolving, and so are political dynamics. We can do much, much better.
But I appreciate the time you took to write that response, and it may help someone who reads it.
@Pluto's Republic So you think
So you think our species is evolving? Please elucidate. Because if you can't you are just blowing smoke up everyone's ass.
Epigenetics
Active inheritable evidence-based evolution of the brain, written in the DNA.
Will not make the difference needed
With a world IQ of 82, only genetic modification by implantation of intelligence genes that are not-inheritable will work. But have no fear, the Chinese are working on it.
Think we have hijacked the thread though. My post below, apparently not viewed by anyone is that Sanders had a myocardial infarction.
Doctors Now Saying Sanders Had a Myocardial Infarction
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/464462-sanders-leaves-hospital-aft...
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