No single reason explains why America’s life expectancy has declined, with chronic disease, poor nutrition, insufficient access to care and political decisions all linked to premature deaths. There also is no single strategy to turn it around — and no agreement on how to do it. Some public health leaders and policymakers have called for sweeping reforms to how the health-care system operates, while others home in on discrete factors such as lethal drug overdoses, which have spiked in recent years and received considerable attention but are not solely responsible for the decline in life expectancy.
The paralysis over how to address the nation’s declining life expectancy extends to Congress, where a handful of lawmakers — mostly Democrats — have repeatedly portrayed the slide as a crisis, but most other lawmakers have said little or nothing.
“We don’t talk about life expectancy, because it just makes it clear what kind of failed system we currently have,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has repeatedly warned about the rise in premature deaths, including organizing a July 2021 Senate hearing on the issue. Just 11 of the panel’s 18 senators attended, several only briefly; just five asked questions.
“I talk to other senators about life expectancy data and watch their eyes glaze over,” Warren said.
FROM:
The Washington Post
America has a life expectancy crisis. But it’s not a political priority.
December 28, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST
Kevin DeAnna – who met with Thiel on the evening of July 29, 2016, in the midst of the 2016 election cycle – was not merely a participant in a white supremacist subculture when he met Thiel but also was immersed in its most extreme elements, including literature admired by terrorists. Deanna wrote under the pseudonyms “Gregory Hood” and “James Kirkpatrick” over a decade for white nationalist publications such as VDAREand American Renaissance, as Hatewatch reported in a four-part series published in March 2020. He cited texts like “SIEGE” and used terminology drawn from such other books as “The Turner Diaries” in his work and in private conversation. “The Turner Diaries,” originally published in 1978, has influenced some of the most infamous acts of U.S. domestic terrorism, including the murder of Alan Berg in 1984 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. “SIEGE,” once an obscure neo-Nazi newsletter, has resurfaced in recent years as the preferred text of neo-Nazi terroristic organizations such as the now-defunct Atomwaffen Division.
DeAnna was also connected to people in the U.S. government. About six weeks prior to his meeting with Thiel, DeAnna discussed recruiting for a white nationalist group withState Department official Matthew Q. Gebert. Gebert, who used the pseudonym “Coach Finstock” online, recruited members for “D.C. Helicopter Pilots” – a Virginia and Washington, D.C.-based organizing chapter of white nationalist organization The Right Stuff. Gebert was suspended from his job in the Bureau of Energy Resources, but the State Department has never clarified whether or not he is still being paid.
Hatewatch confirmed reporting first published in Buzzfeed suggesting Thiel met with DeAnna, using a cache of images provided by former Breitbart editor Katie McHugh, who has since renounced white nationalism. McHugh captured a picture of DeAnna’s exchange with Thiel, as well as of several other emails, in August 2016. Hatewatch was able to compare a screenshot of one of these photos, given to us by McHugh in November 2018, with a series of cached images uploaded to her iCloud. Hatewatch has also been able to verify another email thread between DeAnna and his editors at VDARE, a white nationalist website where he wrote under the pseudonym “James Kirkpatrick,” discussing the meeting in the same manner.
MORE AT:
SPLC
White Nationalist Who Met With Peter Thiel Admired Terroristic Literature
March 18, 2021
By Hannah Gais
"The magazine reported that Crow's collection includes two of Hitler's paintings, a signed copy of Mein Kampf, the fascist dictator's 1925 manifesto, other Nazi trinkets, and a garden filled with statues of some of the most reviled leaders from the 20th Century.
Crow has reportedly said he maintains the controversial collection because he despises communism and fascism...
I still can't get over the collection of Nazi memorabilia," an individual who has remained anonymous and who attended an event at Crow's home told the magazine. "It would have been helpful to have someone explain the significance of all the items. Without that context, you sort of just gasp when you walk into the room."
"The news of Crow's collection comes after a bombshell ProPublica report, which detailed how Thomas has taken luxury vacations funded by the megadonor for more than 20 years without disclosing the excursions. Two ethics law experts told the publication that Thomas appears to have violated a law passed after the 1970s-era Watergate scandal that requires members of the judiciary and members of Congress to report most gifts."
FROM:
Business Insider
John L. Dorman Apr 8, 2023, 3:48 PM EDT
