With at least 70% of us living paycheck to paycheck, and 48% of us having $1,000 or less in savings, I don't think that a national strike is likely. I agree that it would be by far the most impactful thing we could collectively do, but hell - at least half of us are one missed paycheck away from homelessness, and America really fucking hates the homeless. Combine that with the fact that most people get their family health insurance from their job, and the fact that our Senate just voted to practically obliterate medicare / medicaid, and you get an extra level of devastating consequences for losing your job. And people would lose their jobs. Even if a significant amount of people are participating in the nation-wide strike, employers would be very heavy-handed with the dismissals. I just don't think that it's in the cards for us.
elbucho
Seriously disappointing they didn't put sharknados in the game. smh
I've been waiting for this joke! It's about fucking time!!!
Good. I'm glad he's living in fear. Fuck Tom Homan.
Squirrel could be fat because OOP keeps putting whole avocados in their trash...
I have no idea how you managed to read OP's post and fuck up the comprehension of it so badly, especially considering that OP put their point in the first fucking paragraph and even bolded it for you:
If you voted for Trump and your friends and family cut you off because of it, then I do not feel any sympathy for you.
How does this ^ have anything whatsoever to do with your off-the-wall crazy-ass interpretation?
No - this is something completely different, unfortunately. Allergen response is mediated by T-helper type 2 (T~H~2) cells, while autoimmune disorders like diabetes occur through a T-helper type 1 (T~H~1) pathway.
With allergens, the foreign body will bind to antigen receptors on professional antigen presenting cells (usually dendritic cells), which will then present the bound antigen to T~H~2 cells. These will then release a particular type of chemical called cytokines that will signal the B cells to produce a shit load of IgE antibodies tailored for the particular molecular pattern identified. The IgE will bind to the antigen and also to basophils and mast cells, which will secrete a bunch of chemicals, including histamines. This is what causes you to get all itchy. It's also what causes swelling (such as when someone with a peanut allergy feels their throat closing up when they find out their snack had peanuts in it).
With Type 1 Diabetes, T~H~1 cells will recognize patterns on the surface of your islet cells, and will then release a different set of cytokines that will attract cytotoxic T cells (T~C~) to the area. These will bind to the surface of the islet cells, and will release a cocktail of chemicals that will kill the cell.
The mechanism by which allergen immunotherapy works is that it slowly trains your immune system to shift from a T~H~2-dominated response to a T~H~1-dominated response for that particular molecular pattern. This means that your body will treat the foreign substance as more of an invading pathogen (like a bacteria, for example) than an allergen, so there will not be the huge release of IgE antibodies, and consequently, far fewer mast cells and basophils releasing histamines. The precise mechanism of how this works is too complicated for this discussion, but suffice it to say we're dealing with a completely different biological pathway than with self / non-self recognition, like what's going on with autoimmune disorders.
Well... it's not a cure. Not really. People with type I diabetes have a disorder where their immune system attacks their islet cells in their pancreas. These cells are what produce insulin. This therapy replaces some of the cells that they've lost, but it doesn't stop their bodies from attacking those cells again. The way they're doing that is by having the patients take immune-suppressing drugs forever, basically.
The problem with this is that there's currently no way to target immune-suppressing drugs to say: "Hey, just stop attacking your own cells, but continue doing everything else an immune system is supposed to do." By suppressing the immune system with these drugs, the patients are at an elevated risk of disease and cancer. And that's forever. Or, at least until we figure out a better way to do it.
Still, it is a really cool therapy, in that they were able to direct the maturation of stem cells into insulin-producing islet cells, and they were able to successfully home those to the correct location. It's huge progress, even if it isn't actually a cure.
This kills the human.
You know: when I was a much younger man, I heard of the concept of the 5th column. For those who don't know, the 5th column is a clandestine group of people, financed by a particular country's adversary, who is dedicated to destroying that country from the inside. Think the human version of the Trojan Horse.
I'd always pictured this to be a relatively small movement, like a terror cell. A very insular group operating on foreign financing who leveraged an advanced guerilla war skillset to undermine the security apparatus of the country. To my embarrassment, I only realized recently (maybe 5 years ago) that that is not always the case. In America's case, for example, the 5th column comprises some 70+ million people who are fed on a diet of Russian propaganda and home-grown racist rhetoric. Most of these people have no skillset to speak of, but all of them are willing participants in the utter destruction of a country based on the rule of law and constitutional government.
It seems very odd to me that 1 out of every 5 Americans is a full-on traitor. But, we do live in odd times. 20% of our country seems giddy to return to a monarchy, complete with the whole Louis XIV Sun King "Appointed By God" thing. And what's strangest of all is that the guy they picked to be their holy sovereign... is a fucking moron. A complete god damned imbecile of the highest order.
If this is a simulation, I'd very much like it to stop.
Edit: I would like to hear from the people who downvoted this; what about what I said is disagreeable to you?
Pipe in an endless loop of "Baby Shark" and Justin Bieber?
Reminds me of this poem from Carl Sandburg: