Excellent survey of the misrepresentations in mass media and of some of the truth about Long Covid/PASC, rich with links.

"In the last year alone, new studies have indicated that: 1) the prevalence of Long Covid may be much higher than assumed; 2) Long Covid is costing the world’s economy billions; and 3) some autoimmune symptoms of Long Covid can be transferred from humans into mice via autoantibodies.

"You won’t find many articles about these studies and breakthroughs in national corporate media. Instead, you will find lengthy articles arguing that Long Covid is a psychological condition—that mass psychogenesis is a better explanation for millions of newly chronically sick people (and animals) than the Covid virus."

. . .

"National corporate media have created a controversy—”is Long Covid a real medical disease?”—which never existed in any serious form among the experts who research Covid, instead of investigating the actual nuanced debates in that field, like whether viral persistence drives symptoms. These media have given credibility to writers eager to entertain the supposed controversy, while marginalizing writers who start from the premise, widely shared among actual researchers, that Long Covid is a medical disease.

"There is a similar trend in the media when it comes to trans issues, as FAIR (12/1/25) previously reported. The media consider sources to be “neutral” when they aren’t “deeply involved in the issue,” which excludes both medical experts and people actually receiving gender-affirming care."

#LongCovid

https://fair.org/home/media-wont-stop-psychologizing-long-covid/

"The mask on your face keeps the blood off your hands."
--Kananaskinyeti on some other microblogging sites

#CovidIsNotOver
#MaskUp

reposting this behind a CW

Another report from MN from a friend of a friend, a US Citizen:

I am a US citizen from Minneapolis. Yesterday, while doing legal observation, ICE stopped their cars to harass my friend and me. They sprayed pepper spray into the vent of our vehicle. We held our hands in the air and told them we were not obstructing, that the car was in park and they were free to drive forward and away. There was no active immigration raid. They returned to their cars, and drove forward a bit, then decided to stop again. They surrounded us, smashed the windows of our car, opened the doors (they were unlocked), ripped my friend and I out of the car and arrested us on charges of obstruction.
I was put in an unmarked SUV, separated from my friend. As I was put in the back seat an ICE agent tore the whistle off my neck and said “I’ll be taking this, I might need it later.” My phone was knocked out of my hand while being arrested. As we drove away I asked the driver and the passenger if they wouldn’t mind buckling my seatbelt, as they were driving erratically. I was ignored. I asked them if I could have the handcuffs loosened, as I was losing circulation, and was told no. At one point the passenger realized his own driver's license was in the backseat next to mine, and tried to surreptitiously grab it without me seeing it.
We were taken to the Whipple federal building, where I saw dozens of brown people being processed in an unheated garage. I was frisked, told of my charges, and saw buses and vans being prepped. I later learned that these were being filled with detainees and driven to the airport for deportation. As we were led in, I noticed that the building was very busy. I got the impression that one of the 2 agents bringing me around was being trained. At multiple points throughout my stay, government agents were unable to open doors, not sure where they were meant to be going, and overall confused and overwhelmed. They couldn’t figure out how to use the building phones, or complained about a lack of cell service preventing them from checking the internet or making calls.
The people in the cells were extremely scared. We heard people screaming "let me out!", crying, wailing and terrified screams. There were cells with as many as 8 people. I have no way of knowing how long they have been there, if they were allowed any contact with the outside world, or if they were being brought food or water. Most people were staring at the ground with almost no energy. I was not allowed to talk to anyone imprisoned. I distinctly remember seeing a desperate woman. She was staring at the ground with her head in her hands crying, hopeless, while her friend or family member sat on a bathroom seat observed by 3 men.
My friend and I were put in an area for "USCs," which we eventually learned meant US citizens, separated by gender. We were imprisoned for 8 hours, during which my friend was never allowed a phone call. I was allowed to call my wife and tell her where I was. During my interview with Special Agent William and Special Agent Garcia, they asked me to empty my pockets. When I pulled out gloves, Agent William said those were meant to be taken when I was processed, and complained about having to fill out the form again. He frisked me once more, where he found glass in my pocket from when our car window was shattered. He filled out the form listing my personal items again, but put the wrong date. I was read my rights, I pleaded the fifth and was led back to my cell.
Food, water, and bathroom breaks were extremely difficult to acquire. I would ask over the intercom provided in the cell for a bathroom break, be told someone was on their way, then ask again 20 minutes later, be told someone was on their way, wait another 20 minutes, etc. Eventually they either turned off the intercom or it stopped working, because no one would respond. I could get water and bathroom breaks by pounding on the glass when someone happened to walk by and beg them directly. Hours would go by without anyone checking on us. I am vegan and the only food they offered were turkey sandwiches, fruit snacks with gelatin, and granola bars with honey. I eventually ate a granola bar out of hunger.
I was in the cell alone for between 1 and 2 hours, then another man was put into my cell, whose shirt was ripped open from his arrest, and an injured toe, who was carried aggressively into an unmarked car during his arrest. After about 4-5 hours, another man was brought in who had a cut on his head from his arrest. He told me he was tackled by 4 or 5 agents during his arrest. At no point was he offered medical assistance.
Later I was told that a lawyer was here to see me, and I was able to speak with him in a visitation room. The special agent told me that the door could not be closed all the way, so it was cracked during my interaction with my lawyer. I got the impression that they were not used to having lawyers present, and were trying to follow procedure as best they could. I asked an agent if the other detainees were allowed lawyers and was not answered.
At one point, 3 men from the department of Homeland Security Investigations brought me into a cell. They insinuated that they could help me out. After inquiring several times what exactly they meant they finally told me that they could offer undocumented family members of mine legal protection if I have any (I don’t), or money, in exchange for giving them the names of protest organizers, or undocumented persons. I was shocked, and told them no.
Finally, after hours of detention, I was told to follow an agent. At no point was I told whether or not I was being charged, or where I was going, but I was led out of the building. I asked if I could use a phone to call my wife to pick me up, and was told I could not. After pleading for several minutes eventually Special Agent William let me use his phone to call my wife. As I was escorted off the property by government agents, I was told to turn right. I was escorted to the protest area, where 5 minutes later, tear gas was deployed and I was struck by a paint ball gun. I was not protesting, I was simply being released without charges after an 8 hour detention. I was on the other side of the street, as instructed by the agents that released me and the agents shouting orders over a bullhorn. A passerby who was tear gassed was panicking and having an asthma attack, so I helped her find a medic to get her an inhaler. I used a stranger's phone to co-ordinate pickup, and was picked up by my wife.
During my detention I knew that I was being released. I knew that as a citizen of the United States I have legal protection. The hundred or so other people being detained had no such protection. At this time I don’t need your help, it is the families that are being separated, abused, terrorized, harassed and killed that need your help. If this is happening to me, an American citizen born in the United States, then what is happening to the people in here that have no one calling lawyers on their behalf? That have no constitutional rights to due process? What is happening to the people that they will never be released to see their families, go to their jobs, or walk through their city ever again?

Please take care of yourselves, your family, and your community. I am safe and healthy, if you feel compelled to help, please offer your help to the Immigrant Defense Network at https://immigrantdefensenetwork.org/. If you know someone detained by ICE, call or text CAIR-MN at 612-206-3360 for 24/7 legal intake.”

#MN #ICE

Repost from a friend of a friend:
“Friends outside of MN please read. Im sharing a post written by a personal friend and medical doctor:
Friends outside MN, you need to know what is happening here. Everyone knows that ICE shot and killed a woman here on Wednesday. But that’s not the only thing that’s going on:
- ICE agents are cruising areas with immigrant-owned businesses, and kidnapping patrons and employees alike. Yesterday they abducted two US citizen employees at a suburban Target, one who was begging them to allow him to go get his passport to show them.
- ICE is going door to door in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, asking residents where their immigrant neighbors live. Read that again. If it sounds like something out of your high school history textbook, that’s because it is.
- ICE is targeting schools and school buses. They pepper sprayed teenagers and abducted two school staff members at the high school up the street from me on Weds. Police are literally escorting school buses to ensure children can get to school and home safely. The Minneapolis Public Schools have moved to virtual learning for the next 4 weeks because it’s unsafe for children or teachers to physically come to school.
- They are targeting hospitals and clinics. Patients are scared and are canceling their appointments or just not showing up. Kids are missing their checkups and vaccines, folks aren’t getting their cancer care, etc.
- They are smashing windows in cars and homes.
- ICE is increasingly picking up Native Americans—again, targeting folks based on skin color alone.
- They are arresting and beating legal observers. A friend of a friend had her arm broken yesterday. Folks are showing up at local hospitals, brought in in ICE custody, with severe injuries that are absolutely inconsistent with mechanism of injury reported by ICE. (Think: patient appears to have been beaten unconscious, while ICE agent says he slipped and fell.)
I can’t emphasize enough that these ICE agents do not have warrants. There are 2,000+ agents here and they are simply hunting for anyone that’s not white. It doesn’t matter if you’re a citizen or a green card holder, they will kidnap you first and ask questions later.
But the community is fighting back.
- Protests are happening every day.
- Community groups have been leading know-your-rights sessions for months, often to packed venues.
- Whistles are being distributed by the thousands, carried on keychains and worn on coat zippers, always at the ready to be blown in warning if ICE is spotted.
- Drivers are following ICE vehicles, blaring their horns in warning.
- Businesses are locking their doors even while open to keep employees and customers safe. As I type this, I’m standing guard at the locked door of our neighborhood burrito joint while I wait for my takeout order, so the employees can focus on their jobs. The place is packed with neighbors supporting this small business.
- Anti-ICE signs are posted everywhere. The community is making it crystal clear that ICE is not welcome here.
- Parents and neighbors are standing guard outside schools, organizing carpools, and escorting kids to and from school on foot.
- Parents of kids in Spanish-immersion daycare (there are a LOT of these daycares here!) are keeping their kids home so the teachers don’t have to take the risk of coming to work.
- Churches and community groups are holding fundraisers to buy and deliver groceries to families who don’t feel safe leaving home.
- Mutual aid money is going out to folks who can’t make rent because they can’t work or because a breadwinner was abducted, or who need a warm place to stay after their home’s windows were smashed.
THAT is what is happening here. This fight is ongoing and it’s horrifying to watch. But we are not backing down. To my friends in other cities and states, don’t think for a minute that this won’t happen in your town. It will. Be ready. Learn from us, as we have learned from Portland and Chicago and New York. Fight back. Don’t let us get to the last line of Martin Niemoller’s poem.”
-Grant Boulanger

#Minneapolis #ICE #MN

Text of Powell's statement:

Good evening. On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June. That testimony, concerned, in part, a multi-year project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings. I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No one, certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve is above the law. But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration's threats and ongoing pressure. This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings. It is not about Congress's oversight role.
The Fed, through testimony and other public disclosures, made every effort to keep Congress informed about the renovation project. Those are pretexts.
The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates, based on our best assessment of what will serve the public,
rather than following the preferences of the President. This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead, monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation. I have served at the Federal Reserve under four administrations, Republicans and Democrats alike. In every case, I have carried out my duties without political fear or favor, focused solely on our mandate of price stability and maximum employment. Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats. I will continue to do the job the Senate confirmed me to do with integrity and a commitment to serving the American people. Thank you.

#FederalReserve #USpol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckGHaBLSn4

MYTH: ICE agents lack proper training.

FACT: Most have been racists their entire lives.

#ICE #Onion

https://theonion.com/ice-raids-myth-vs-fact/

At first glance, I really loved this, but on reflection, I think the frog should be looking much more cheerful. Not sure about the flag bandana.

#Portland #PDX #Frog #FreedomFrog

a message from the folks at KBOO.fm:

By now I'm sure most of us in the radio world have been informed of the closing of CPB, and we've all been feeling varying degrees of shock, outrage, and sadness at this news. It's easy to feel hopeless when looking at the road ahead, but community media has weathered many storms before, and we're prepared to weather this one as well.

We at KBOO put together this guide to help you as radio fans and supporters keep informed about what's happening, and learn how you can support public media during this time. While CPB was an incredible asset to community media, KBOO has always been primarily supported by our membership, and we're prepared to stay on the air as long as you keep listening.
 
WHAT IS CPB?
 
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or CPB, is a private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

CPB is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting and the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services.

CPB’s mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, high-quality content and telecommunications services. It does so by distributing more than 70% of its funding to more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations.

The Public Broadcasting Act Requires CPB to fund the development of content that addresses the needs of underserved audiences, especially children and minorities. CPB also funds multiple digital platforms used by thousands of public media producers and production companies throughout the country.

In addition, CPB funds infrastructure that delivers public media content and emergency alerts to local stations, which are then responsible for delivering content to their audiences and public safety partners.”

*Via cpb.org
 
CPB BY THE NUMBERS
 
386 radio grantees, representing 1,216 public radio stations (including KBOO!)
158 television grantees, representing 365 public TV stations
245 of the total 544 radio and TV grantees are considered rural
99% of Americans have access to public media
More than 70% of CPB’s federal funding goes directly to local public media stations

*Via cpb.org

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO CPB?

For the first time since the CPB’s creation, congress voted to rescind over $9 billion in funding for CPB grants previously approved for funding local public media stations, and shortly after that, we learned that CPB will shut down at the end of September.

More than 70% of CPB funding goes to 1500+ locally operated public radio and TV and radio stations across the United States, including numerous PBS and NPR stations. Additionally, CPB provides the biggest single source of funding for program development, research and technology for public radio and TV.

Trump and his allies have argued that public media is “unfair to conservatives and a waste of taxpayer money”, and have expressed that they believe public media is biased against his administration.

Trump has called CPB funding “taxpayer subsidization of biased media.”

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR PUBLIC MEDIA?
 
Public radio and television stations across the country are facing budget cuts, which will lead to severe staffing and programming cutbacks at best, and many may be forced off the air altogether. Stations in rural or poor areas, including Tribal stations who largely rely on CPB grant funding, will be hit the hardest.

These stations are often the only media companies reporting on local government and news events. The loss of CPB and community media funding means many community stations will be forced to close. This loss will turn innumerable rural areas into news deserts and reduce citizens' ability to participate in their communities.

PBS, which is watched by 58% of all television households nationwide per year, receives approximately 15% of revenue from federal funding.

"Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country" - CPB CEO Patricia Harrison
 
WHY IS THIS CONCERNING?
 
This is a very pointed, intentional, direct attack on independent media, and an effort to silence media outlets that speak out against the administration. These cuts support the spread of anti-intellectualism and state-funded propaganda by taking resources from public media and bolstering privately owned corporate media outlets that support the administration’s right wing agendas.

Silencing public media is a tactic historically employed by fascist regimes and authoritarian governments to control information, suppress dissent, and solidify power.

Censoring opposing viewpoints, controlling information and pushing state-sponsored media and propaganda are tools used to suppress critical thinking and informed public discourse, and shape public opinion.

According to the ACLU, “Freedom of the press, protected by the First Amendment, is considered critical to a democracy where the government is held accountable to the people. The absence of a free press allows unchecked power and the potential for authoritarianism to take root.”

Examining the history of fascist regimes reveals a clear pattern of targeting and suppressing independent media as a means of consolidating power and controlling the populace.

“Public media is a bi-partisan issue. While Republicans in Washington have accused public media of bias, most Americans still support public broadcasting. A Harris Poll last month found that 66% of Americans support federal funding for public radio. Support included 58% of Republicans and 77% of Democrats.” *via NPR
 
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR KBOO?

For years, KBOO has received between 6-11% of its funding from CPB grants. This means KBOO has about $110,000 we have relied on that we won’t receive in 2026.

This is particularly challenging because KBOO was already working to overcome some big deficits caused by increased operational costs. The station already made large cuts to operations last year to help reduce deficits created by increased costs. KBOO is working hard to secure new sources of funding and reduce its reliance on federal dollars. The good news is that membership contributions already account for approximately 80% of KBOO’s annual revenue.
 
HOW CAN YOU HELP?

You can help by supporting your local community stations, especially those in smaller rural areas that may be struggling. Connect with public media in your area and find out how best to support them. Examine which media outlets you interact with most and prioritize consumption of public media. Public media is BY the people, FOR the people, and that includes you.

You can support KBOO by:

Making a donation today at kboo.fm/give
Volunteering with us! You can be a show host, news anchor/producer, live music engineer, photographer, content creator, event planner, grant writer, receptionist, and so much more! KBOO volunteers receive FREE radio and engineering training.
Donating cars, stocks, and property
Keeping us posted on community events that uplift marginalized communities. Check out our community calendar, and submit an event here!
Attending a KBOO event or a KBOO sponsored event
Following KBOO on social media and sharing our content
Subscribing to our newsletter
Purchasing KBOO merch
Downloading the KBOO app
Spreading the word — share this information with your community!
And of course, tuning in at 90.7 FM or kboo.fm! Check out our current program schedule

#CPB #Radio #KBOO #PDX

https://kboo.org/schedule

https://web.archive.org/web/20250816220718/https://cpb.org/

https://linktr.ee/kboo

Oh look… an executive order directing states to criminalize and institutionalize people experiencing homelessness, addiction, and mental health disabilities.

The "identification, adoption, and implementation of maximally flexible civil commitment, institutional treatment, and “step-down” treatment standards that allow for the appropriate commitment and treatment of individuals with mental illness who pose a danger to others or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves" means that people who cannot afford housing will be involuntarily committed, locked up.

Section 3 means giving money to states that do what the Feds want by locking up the houseless, e.g.

Withdrawl of funds or threats of prosecution to ensure No more housing first (even though it's the most effective approach). No more harm reduction or safe injection sites or methadone (although, again, evidence based). (But they can again have a fancy computer program make up some evidence to say what they want it to say).

No more privacy for medical information.

I'm guessing that "increasing competition among grantees through broadening the applicant pool" means making housing money available to GeoGroup, Core Civic et al.

Looks to reverse judicial precedents (which SCOTUS has been often ignoring anyway).

Terminating consent degrees--those decrees that come when a local government violates civil rights and the DoJ stepped in, like when Portland was put under a consent decree because the police kept killing mentally ill people.

So.... the plan is take away health care and food support (Medicaid & SNAP, as in the Big Bad Bill), take away housing (private equity is on that), build some concentration camps, and lock up immigrants, houseless people, people with disabilities.

No one gets vaccines or health care or adequate food, so there will be a lot more death. But some immigrants or medicaid recipients or houseless people can be put to work for pennies a day.

#Disability #Fascism #Houselessness #Housing

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-crime-and-disorder-on-americas-streets/

see also https://www.patreon.com/posts/i-went-through-7-134894400

Oregon's Housing Crisis is the fault of "Investors" driving up prices, not a shortage of housing:

From the OR Capital Chronicle:

There is no large crisis in the raw amount or supply of housing. The crisis lies in its price.

In this current decade, Oregon’s population increased only slightly, from about 4.2 million at the decade’s start, to about 4.3 million now, and there’s been no mass destruction of housing. . . .

Legislative Republicans this April complained that in the last three years only about 43,000 building permits for residences had been issued in the state, well below the governor’s plan for 108,000. But the state’s number of households rose by about the same amount during that time. The new construction that happened should, in theory, have been enough to keep up with it.

In 2023 (the most recent year available), Oregon had about 1.75 million “households” with the average household comprising 2.4 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That same year, the Census counted in the state 1.88 million “housing units” — over 100,000 more housing units than the number of households — including “a house, an apartment, a group of rooms, or a single room occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters.” It doesn’t include some other residential places, such as trailer and mobile home parks.

The upshot is that Oregon, like most states, has more residential units than households.

And there is no crisis for people of sufficient means. Anyone who can afford to plunk down a half-million or so (which includes many existing homeowners, in or out of state) will not have much trouble finding a house. People below that level, a large part of the population, may find that a house (or in some places apartment rentals, too) are simply out of reach.

The problem with Oregon’s housing crisis is affordability. The median house value in Oregon (which reflects purchase prices) as of May was $540,300, according to online real estate market platform Zillow. One home-buying calculator estimates that if a purchaser puts down 18% for the home — the median downpayment of home buyers in the U.S., according to the National Association of Realtors — they would need to have more than $97,000 saved, and earn more than $120,000 per year to afford their mortgage payments. That means fewer than a fifth of Oregon households could afford a median-priced house based on income. (Sales by owners of currently owned houses could expand that number.)

Despite the limited pool of buyers, prices have climbed and stayed high.

Why?

Oregon’s notably strict laws on land use are often mentioned as a cause of the problem. They may contribute to it, but many other states — such as next-door Idaho — have far fewer building restrictions but still have house pricing problems as bad, or worse, as Oregon’s.

High priced homes can be more profitable for builders and developers, so they build more of them.

But the key explanation for why so many more houses are purchased, compared to the number of local residents who can buy, seems to be that relatively wealthy investors — individuals and especially businesses — are buying large numbers of houses and apartments in Oregon, and around the country.

Many national studies have found as much.

Redfin News, which tracks home sales nationally, said last August that investor home buying has been rising steadily in recent years — about 3% annually — and bought one of every six U.S. homes that sold — purchasing $43 billion worth of properties — and one of every four low-priced homes that sold.

Redfin found that during the 2nd quarter of 2024 in Portland, 13% of homes sold (valued at $511,419,529) were bought by investors, an amount rising in recent years. Many homes are then flipped and resold for still higher prices. All of that activity places upward pressure on sales prices of other homes as well.

A variety of buyers have been among the mass purchasers. Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley has for several years focused on the role of hedge funds in home buys, and with U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington, introduced in 2023 the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act.

Merkley called hedgefunds, “a contributing factor that has made it more difficult for middle-class Americans to become homeowners and is contributing to America’s twin crises of housing unaffordability and wealth inequality.”

Others have disagreed about how large a role the finance organizations have played. But someone can afford to buy all those houses — in many cases well beyond the asking price — and less-wealthy wage earners cannot compete.

That would be a real and pertinent, albeit sensitive, topic for the new state agency to address. Until someone does, the housing shortage for most Oregonians will go on.

#Housing #Houselessness #Capitalism

https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/07/10/the-real-housing-crisis/