U.S. Formally Withdraws from World Health Organization

I consider that quite evil as it’s not evidence based and undermines actually good, useful medicine. Just as I would/do consider anyone trying to increase take up of homeopathy in poorer parts of the world to be evil.

In the case of China and TCM there appear to be nationalist and financial motives.

It just seems like such an undermining move to prop up an industry that anyways relies on distrust of established scientific and medical systems

2. Ayurvedic and TCM largely refers to those things which haven't undergone clinical trials to understand their efficacy as prescribed medicines. Anything from that sphere which is clinically proven to work and is dispensed as prescription medicine just becomes part of medicine. It's not about "stealing" or whatever, it's about whether people should be given proven effective medicines or hopefully effective medicines, the former being what we should promote globally

might have had? Ha, you should read up a bit on Jimmy Carter.

> A generation from now this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.

That was him when he put solar panels on the roof of the White House, which Ronnie Ray-Gun removed and sent to a museum.

I also blame the republicans for turning elections more and more into polarized shit slinging personalized attacks instead of policy based arguments, and I'd argue that this really took off in the Clinton era, and then got really bad under Obama/Trump.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/29/uselections200...

At the same time, there are things you can do besides voting. Maybe you already know or do these things, but just putting it out there... You can call your representatives (and they might actually listen, if you're a Democrat in California), you can donate to candidates in other races if you have the means (there are probably going to be some pretty consequential senate races this year), you can join a protest (peacefully, and especially if you don't have any dependents).... And who knows, maybe none of these things will make a difference in the end, but I think the bottom line is that if you truly care about some of these things that are happening right now in the US, it's better to find ways to act on your convictions than to stay frustrated and fume online.

Just my 2 cents.

You do not seem to understand how America's position in the world has been used to benefit the country in a massive way post world war II. You can throw that position away, that's your privilege, but the result will be a much smaller economy in which your costs for various items will go up rather than down because a lot of money will no longer flow to the USA.

The amounts you are paying for healthcare, medication etc are not coupled to that but are coupled to your broken political system. You could fix that easily enough but neither the democrats nor the republicans have ever followed that path because you (plural) have been deluded into thinking that that is socialism.

Reducing the USA's standing in the world is not going to fix your political problems but is going to harm your economy in a massive way. The position you are taking here is not consistent and whether you voted for Trump or not is not relevant because it effectively carries water for him: this is precisely the kind of thing that an uninformed Trump supporter would say.

I'm not sure you're disagreeing with GP.

And even if you think this is the right move, it's important to acknowledge that it's for all the wrong reasons.

I always find it so weird to assume such things are done out of good heart. The US has always been dependent on their ability of world wide power projection, because that's a level that always works. Through 'America first', in the next years the US will experience a decline of beneficial trade deals and US-interest friendly foreign politics. It's net negative for everybody except China and Russia to some degree.

> I also want Americans to get the same deal Europeans and Canadians get on prescription drugs.

That's not about foreign politics though. If you didn't want Billionaires to get richer, you shouldn't vote for one of them being the president.

Then you should fix your laws. Like, until a year or two ago Medicare was forbidden from negotiating drug prices. Coupled with the absurdity of direct to consumer advertising of drugs (only allowed in the US and New Zealand), plus your massively complicated health care system, it's a recipe for disaster.

On the world police thing, I'm definitely sympathetic, but this was something your government did for a mix of selfish and altruistic reasons, and the consequences of not doing it will be bad in some ways for Americans. I do think that Europe/EU need to step up here, and it looks like we're finally doing this. I'd also note that of the current potential world police (US, Russia, China) you guys are the least worst.

I fear you're interpreting what I'm saying the wrong way.

Imagine you have two children. As with any loving parent, doing what you can to support your children is paramount.

One of your children has substance abuse issues and has been struggling to keep a job and the other is running a few successful bookstores in a vacation town and recently got married.

Of course you don't have favorites. And of course you will do what you need to do to make each child successful.

But one of those children you're going to spend a lot more time thinking and worrying about than the other. But that does not mean you're not taking your job supporting either of them seriously.

I'm saying I'm getting real tired of thinking about which rehab center is best and googling the effects of barbiturates, if you know what I mean.

Biden removed troops from Foreign Wars, Donald Trump does the opposite and instead pretends he stopped 8 wars or something.

This is just poor memory. Us Americans are notorious for this, unfortunately.

There are a number of places where there are superficial differences, and those differences are important to people of color, trans people, etc, but the Dems are always looking for reasons to make a right turn. They track the Republicans who actively move right and create a small space a relative distance from their position.

The Democrats are better at dressing things up and making it look like they're the good guys when they do the same stuff.

We are in a reorientation of American policy. Trump isn't doing this without consent from our elites, the same people that fund the Democrats who suspiciously aren't fighting it.