Day: March 19, 2024

Closing Thought–19Mar24

I live on the Gulf Coast and part of our economy is that of seafood….the industry down here has taken many hits in the past twenty years….Katrina crapped on our seafood, then came Deepwater Horizon oil spill another dump on our seafood….then there is the Spillway that when opened screws our oyster industry then there is the influx of foreign seafood flooded the markets….like I said many hits and then came one last shot at killing our seafood industry……

A new report from researchers at the Cooper University Hospital in New Jersey suggests that necrotizing fasciitis may no longer be as rare as previously assumed, no thanks to climate change and global warming

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a rapid-spreading, life-threatening bacterial disease that destroys the fascia, the tissue under the skin surrounding muscles, fats, and blood vessels. It is caused by a species of bacteria known as Group A streptococcus, also called “flesh-eating bacteria”, and Vibrio vulnificus. These bacteria thrive in warm salt and brackish waters, alternatively entering the body through open wounds or oral ingestion. 

Recent statistics show that necrotizing fasciitis affects about 1 in every 250,000 people in the United States per year [2]. In some other parts of the world where the climate is warmer, it may affect as much as 1 in every 100,000 per year. NF has been termed a “very rare” disease due to these low frequencies of occurrence, but global warming may be causing the increase. 

This recent report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that those statistics may be on the verge of going higher as world waters are getting warmer [3]. Flesh-eating bacteria species (especially Vibrio) thrive in unusually warm waters, and according to the report from the CUH, the few cases of necrotizing fasciitis studied have mostly arisen from the Southeastern U.S coast, the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico. 

Experts Warn That ‘Flesh-Eating’ Bacteria May Be Spreading To Seafood, Beaches Due To Climate Change

It just does not pay to be a fisherman on the Gulf Coast anymore….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That TikTok Ban

Let’s talk about this piece of brilliant BS.

There is a major story going on right now about the social media site, TikTok….and Congress gets involved….

A bill that could see TikTok banned in the US if its Chinese owner doesn’t sell the app passed the House as expected on Wednesday, with a vote of 352-65. It now goes to the Senate, where its fate is less certain; Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hasn’t yet committed to taking the bill to the floor. President Biden has said he’ll sign the bill if it makes it through Congress. Nearly half of all Americans use TikTok, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese firm ByteDance. If the bill were to pass and be signed into law, ByteDance would have 165 days to divest from the social media app or see it banned in US app stores and by web hosting services.

The AP describes lawmakers’ concerns: “that ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the US any time it wants. The worry stems from a set of Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.” Standout quotes from the bill’s passage:

  • From GOP Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers: “We have given TikTok a clear choice. Separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP [the Chinese Communist Party], and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences. The choice is TikTok’s.”
  • From Democrat Nancy Pelosi, per NBC News: This is “not an attempt to ban TikTok. It’s an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe—a winner, a winner.”
  • From Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, per the Guardian: “I have more insight than most into the online threats posed by our adversaries. But one of the key differences between us and those adversaries is the fact that they shut down newspapers, broadcast stations, and social media platforms. We do not. We trust our citizens to be worthy of their democracy.”

This has been a nagging subject for some time now….back and forth….but all of a sudden it is a major problem that needs fixing.

What’s the rush?

The purported threat of TikTok to U.S. national security has inflated into a hysteria of Chinese spy balloon proportions, but the official record tells a different story: U.S. intelligence has produced no evidence that the popular social media site has ever coordinated with Beijing. That fact hasn’t stopped many in Congress and even President Joe Biden from touting legislation that would force the sale of the app, as the TikTok frenzy fills the news pages with empty conjecture and innuendo.

In interviews and testimony to Congress about TikTok, leaders of the FBI, CIA, and the director of national intelligence have in fact been careful to qualify the national security threat posed by TikTok as purely hypothetical. With access to much of the government’s most sensitive intelligence, they are well placed to know.

The basic charge is that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, a Chinese company, could be compelled by the government in Beijing to use their app in targeted operations to manipulate public opinion, collect mass data on Americans, and even spy on individual users.

TikTok Threat Is Purely Hypothetical, U.S. Intelligence Admits

It seems to me that Biden was getting lost of bad press because of his handling of the Middle East situation and he needed a diversion from his bad policies and what better way to do this than come up with a ‘national security’ problem?

Timing is everything.

Is this TikTok thing truly a problem?

Is this a first amendment thing?

I need not worry about my data for I do not use TikTok for anything….other than a post.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”