QAnon’s followers have faced failed prophecies before, but last week appeared to be the movement’s most severe breaking point. Many of Q’s prophecies had been kicked down the road to the inauguration. If something dramatic didn’t happen there, perhaps the prophecies would never come to be. After all, how could Donald Trump lead the arrest of the secret cabal of Democrats who run a global child sex trafficking ring, as many believers expected, if he was no longer in power? As Inauguration Day drew closer, QAnon followers grew more confident that Jan. 20 would be the day all was revealed, and their patience would pay off. Then, the day went forward like any other presidential swearing-in. (Just with tens of thousands of more national guard members in attendance.) Trump hopped a plane to Florida. No arrests. No martial law. No public executions. It shook many believers to their core.
One of the most difficult things I find to avoid doing as an adult is to avoid arguing with people. It’s almost always better to walk away, let haters be haters, and not confront bigotry. Count your blessings with your allies, retreat and not fight.
Nearly 50 years later, this offensive has seeped into our policing culture. From broken windows model of policing and the advent of stop and frisk to no-knock warrants and the militarization of local police departments, the so called War on Drugs has led to the targeting of communities of color.
With over 2 million people behind bars, the United States is the world’s most carceral country. A large number of those serving time are for crimes related to drugs possession and activity.
Advocates for reform have long argued that punitive policies have not reduced the flow of drugs across the country. In fact, they have strengthened illicit drug markets, creating risky and unhealthy conditions for drug users by focusing on the criminal element of substance use instead of seeing it through a lens of healthcare access and social justice.
Ideas are powerful. Arriving at the right time, they can alter the entire direction of your life.
But ideas also hide in the background, acting as assumptions. Quietly influencing your decisions, whether they’re true or false.
Looking back, I can think of a number of ideas that shaped my life. Some are only obvious in retrospect. Others I took great pains to learn. Below are the ten that had the greatest impact on me.
But when a PET scan in November 2019 revealed that Pike, a 33-year-old oil trader, wife, and mother of two in Edmond, Okla., had lung cancer — she had been coughing and was initially misdiagnosed with pneumonia — her first reaction was, “but I never smoked,” she said. “It all seemed so surreal.”
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Join the club. Cigarette smoking is still the single greatest cause of lung cancer, which is why screening recommendations apply only to current and former smokers and why 84% of U.S. women and 90% of U.S. men with a new diagnosis of lung cancer have ever smoked, according to a study published in December in JAMA Oncology. Still, 12% of U.S. lung cancer patients are never-smokers.
Scientists disagree on whether the absolute number of such patients is increasing, but the proportion who are never-smokers clearly is. Doctors and public health experts have been slow to recognize this trend, however, and now there is growing pressure to understand how never-smokers’ disease differs from that of smokers, and to review whether screening guidelines need revision.
The truth is, pondering the worst has some clear advantages. Cranks may be superior negotiators, more discerning decision-makers and cut their risk of having a heart attack. Cynics can expect more stable marriages, higher earnings and longer lives – though, of course, they’ll anticipate the opposite.
Good moods on the other hand come with substantial risks – sapping your drive, dimming attention to detail and making you simultaneously gullible and selfish. Positivity is also known to encourage binge drinking, overeating and unsafe sex.
