Comfortably Numb
When we become inured to what we can't face
The 7-day rolling average of COVID deaths last week was 2,227, down 14% from the preceding week. This means that we continue to lose over 2,000 Americans every day, needlessly, to COVID. These are as many daily deaths than during the first terrifying wave of the pandemic in March and April of 2020 (which, by the way, seems like several centuries ago). Our response to this level of death now is very different from what it was back then.
There are a lot of reasons for this—and it’s understandable that we can’t keep focusing on the loss and fear and sadness every day—but when I put this list together there is one feeling I can’t let go: anger. Almost every single person on the following lists (with the exception of those on the Left minus RFK, Jr.) is directly or indirectly responsible for these COVID deaths because they’ve maintained that COVID is a hoax, they’ve pushed dangerous treatment alternatives, they’ve promoted vaccine skepticism or some combination of all three.
2/14/22-2/20/22
N.B. The numbers in parentheses indicate the position on last week’s list.
It was a strange week at Facebook—maybe something shook up the algorithm or some of the regulars were on vacation. There were more non-rightwing people/organizations on the lists and most of the usual suspects underperformed. Here are the 70 daily top ten posts for the week:
Ben Shapiro held 9 (21) Dan Bongino (5) and Sean Hannity (3) each held 3 followed by Breitbart, Fox, Steven Crowder, Nick Adams, and Political Insider with one each—for a total of 20 out of 70. Last week it was 45 out of 70.
Two left-leaning organizations claimed spots in the top 70: Occupy Democrats with 13(!) up from 1, and The Other 98% with 3 for a total of 16 out of 70. Last week it was 1 out of 70.
Very odd.
NYT BESTSELLERS HARDCOVER NON-FICTION
15. The Real Anthony Fauci, RFK, Jr. (15) (This anti-vaccine garbage fell out of the Amazon top 20, but its persistence says a lot about why this country is still struggling to get healthy people with no extenuating circumstances vaccinated.)
3. The 1619 Project, edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones (3)
13. Unthinkable, Jamie Raskin (8)
AMAZON BESTSELLERS HARDCOVER NON-FICTION
3. The Great Reset, Glenn Beck
19. 12 Rules for Life, Jordan Peterson (11).
Maus’ incredible run in the top 20 has come to an end—but that’s most likely because it’s still out of stock. Let’s keep ordering it. And let’s do the same for Gender Queer, by Maia Kebab; New Kid, by Jerry Craft; Monday’s Not Coming, by Tiffany D. Jackson; and Lawn Boy, by Jonathan Evison.
Let’s also support His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (challenged for being “anti-god” by a bunch of religious bigots) because it’s excellent and also because I am so tired of these assholes.
APPLE PODCASTS—NEWS
THE RIGHT AND THE ENABLERS
2. The Ben Shapiro Show (3)
4. Steve Bannon’s War Room (5)
5. The Dan Bongino Show (4)
9. The Glenn Beck Program (13)
10. Matt Walsh (10)
15. The Megyn Kelly Show (12)
16. The Charlie Kirk Show (15)
19. Mark Levin (20)
THE LEFT
8. Pod Save America (6)
7. The Rachel Maddow Show (8)
18. Pod Save the World
SUBSTACK POLITICS NEWSLETTERS
Although the Substack top-ten is more ideologically diverse across the right-wing spectrum, it contains a disturbing number of serially wrong anti-democratic writers who have way too many followers than is healthy for our nation. Every single newsletter in the top ten has tens of thousands of subscribers.
This list is very stable and won’t change much from week to week. In fact, this week’s list is the same as last week’s:
2. The Dispatch, Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief
3. TK News by Matt Taibi
5. Glen Greenwald
6. Unreported Truths by Alex Berenson
7. Common Sense by Bari Weiss, aka the “Substack grifter” (in the words of Press Run’s Eric Boehlert)
8. The Weekly Dish by Andrew Sullivan
10. Take Control: Dr. Mercola’s Censored Library, Joseph Mercola
Thankfully, this sorry collection of propagandists, purveyors of disinformation, and liars is outmatched by Heather Cox Richardson’s exemplary Letters from an American at number 1. Judd Legum’s Popular Information is still at 11. I highly recommend you subscribe to both.
I wait for Sunday....I used to wait for Sunday to watch Succession. Now I wait for Sunday to read Mary Trump's List.....or as I call it, the MTL.
Our problem is we are not proactively addressing airborne diseases with indoor air disinfection. Why is outside air safer than inside air? Outside air is disinfected by the sun because Ultraviolet UVA & UVB Light are germicidal. We have had issues with indoor airborne diseases since our ancestors moved into caves.
When we began effectively disinfecting water in the late 1800s we neutralized many waterborne pathogens that are endemic in our water supply saving thousands of lives per year and reduced the burden on our healthcare systems for waterborne disease. We disinfect water with filtration, chemicals, ozone & Germicidal Ultraviolet Light.
We began effectively disinfecting food in the late 1800s we neutralized many food borne pathogens that are endemic in our food supply saving thousands of lives per year and reduced the burden on our healthcare systems for food borne disease. We disinfect food with pasteurization, freezing & Germicidal Ultraviolet Light.
We began disinfecting air with Germicidal Ultraviolet Light in the 1930 but in the 1940s governments began favoring antibiotics over Germicidal Ultraviolet Light. Disinfecting indoor air is available through HVAC companies & hardware stores but most people don't know about it because governments do not promote it. There also a lot of misinformation about risks & benefits of ultraviolet light. The highest risks from ultraviolet light are UVA & UVB from the sun & tanning beds, they are the major causes of cataracts & skin cancer. Most of the ultraviolet spectrum is low to no health risk but there are substantial health protections in the UVC spectrum.
At some point we need to promote & support indoor air disinfection of public buildings & workplaces because airborne diseases will increase in risk as our population & ability to travel increase.