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Lead poisoning and the GOP.

I posted this earlier on another thread, and also as a joke a few times, but seriously...

People that shoot guns have higher lead exposures than those that don't. This is a known fact that you are welcome to look up.

Lead exposure has been linked to all kinds of health problems, including neurological disorders. Some studies have correlated lead exposure from gasoline to violent crime. That is up for debate, but the correlations are very interesting.

Because Republicans, especially far right republicans, tend to be avid gun enthusiasts more than the country as a whole, one could hypothesize that far-right republicans have had more lead exposure in their lives than those on the left.

Lead exposure is linked to delirium and hallucinations.

Serious question: Is it possible the wacky conspiracy theories that are rampant on the right these days are a result of lead poisoning?

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redredred · M

And don’t forget the leading cause of lead poisoning is exposure to lead paint in the kinds of buildings in the inner cities. I’m sure you’ll stand up and proudly claim that all those mental defects you list are overly present in the African-American population.

That is what you’re claiming, right? I mean intellectual consistency is important to you, right? You’d have to be making that claim as well, right?

BohoBabe · M

@redredred Yeah, this really isn't news. Blacks, being more likely to be poor, are more likely to be exposed to lead paint. It's one of the reasons Blacks have a lower IQ average. There's been studies on this, poverty generally causes a lower IQ.
Now, we can fix this by eliminating poverty through welfare programs, but I know the Right just likes to pretend that low IQ is a result of genetics.

redredred · M

@BohoBabe Can you cite a welfare program that ever eliminated poverty? Ever?

BohoBabe · M

@redredred No, because the rich and powerful do everything they can to keep people poor. However, welfare programs have greatly reduced poverty. We could easily end poverty with things like UBI, free healthcare, and a $15 minimum wage. But, ya know, Capitalism.

redredred · M

@BohoBabe This country spends over a trillion dollars each year on welfare. “Free” Healthcare just means some one else is paying for it like, you know, the decades old Medicaid program.

So a trillion dollars and the already existing Medicaid program are already in place but still we haven’t eliminated poverty. Maybe there’s something else needed like GET A FUCKING JOB

BohoBabe · M

@redredred When people say "free" they mean free at the point of transaction. Of course it's not literally free, it's paid for with taxes.

We can easily switch to the Nordic model and more people would be covered. Though I say we should go even further.
As for just getting a job, there are plenty of poor people with jobs. There are people who need to work two or three jobs. Clearly, our system is broken.

redredred · M

@BohoBabe Again, we have Medicaid in place for the poor. As a reminder, we are discussing poverty, not the middle class.

BohoBabe · M

@redredred Not every poor person has medicaid.
And even some people working two or three jobs are living below the poverty line. Though it is worth mentioning that eliminating poverty would greatly lift up the middle class too.

ElwoodBlues · M

@redredred

Can you cite a welfare program that ever eliminated poverty? Ever?

Nope. I can cite programs that greatly ALLEVIATED poverty though.

Just to illustrate how silly your question is, let's rewrite it for different issues:

Can you cite a health program* that ever eliminated disease? Ever?
Can you cite a safety program that ever eliminated injury? Ever?
Can you cite a police program that ever eliminated crime? Ever?
Can you cite a firefighting program that ever eliminated fire? Ever?

The Nordic countries have done a pretty good job fighting poverty. And you may be surprised at Elon Musk's suggestion:

Reason10 · 70-79, M

@BohoBabe Tax cuts eliminate poverty by creating more jobs for more people. The Reagan and Trump tax cuts lifted the poor into the middle class.

ElwoodBlues · M

@Reason10 NOBODY reduced poverty as much as Clinton, and he RAISED taxes.

Oh, wait, I didn't look back far enough. Eisenhower did more than Clinton to reduce poverty. Top marginal tax rates were 90% under Ike.

Reason10 · 70-79, M

@ElwoodBlues

Nope. I can cite programs that greatly ALLEVIATED poverty though.

So can I. The Kennedy tax cuts. The Reagan tax cuts. And the Trump tax cuts. All created jobs and lifted the poor into the middle class.

Can you cite a health program* that ever eliminated disease? Ever

Since your fascist side of the aisle is so big on mandatory vaccinations, the Smallpox vax actually did eliminate Smallpox from the face of the earth.

Welfare programs not only did NOT alleviate poverty, they made it WORSE. By paying a slut to have children and lose the father, welfare created a culture of dependency, which resulted in increased crime, poorer and poorer ghettos, and people living in worse misery than they did in poverty in the fifties.

ElwoodBlues · M

@Reason10 Nice cherry picking!!

Actually, the single program that did the most to eliminate poverty was Social Security. Go ahead, try and deny it. Old folks in the US were literally STARVING TO DEATH when FDR introduced Social Security. It works so well that almost every republican admin - especially Reagan - has tried to strengthen SS and share credit for it.

After Social Security there's a whole host of agricultural price supports, gov't guaranteed farm loans, payments not to grow, etc - all kinds of "workfare" for farmers to keep them out of poverty.

You can cherrypick all you like; it won't change the facts.

Reason10 · 70-79, M

@ElwoodBlues No cherry picking. Just FACTS.

Old folks in the US were literally STARVING TO DEATH when FDR introduced Social Security

This is the dumbest statement in the history of this forum. It confirms my suspicions that you never made it past the Third grade in a blue state public school.

During the Great Depression, EVERYBODY WAS STARVING, NOT JUST THE ELDERLY. And most of FDR's programs MADE THE DEPRESSION EVEN WORSE.

https://mises.org/library/how-fdr-made-depression-worse

https://www.creators.com/read/ben-shapiro/06/07/the-big-lie-about-the-great-depression

https://fee.org/articles/fdr-s-new-deal-worsened-and-prolonged-the-great-depression/

ElwoodBlues · M

@Reason10 LOL!!! Weren't you the guy who said
Any IDIOT can find links to agree with them!

And you're citing Ben Shapiro??? ROTFL!!! You couldn't find a more biased commentator if you searched for 50 years!!!

See?

It's easy to toss insults and deny based on sources one dislikes.

That's not debate, is it?

And a handful of anecdotes aren't data, are they??

ElwoodBlues · M

@Reason10

During the Great Depression, EVERYBODY WAS STARVING

From 1929 to 1933, in the darkest years of the great depression when people were eating far less, life expectancy increased by 6 years.

most of FDR's programs MADE THE DEPRESSION EVEN WORSE.

Nice straw man!! Did I say "most of FDR's programs?? No I did not. Take a look back. I said Social Security. And I challenged you to deny the success of social security.

And you ducked the challenge and attacked some other unspecified "programs." Nice try.

Reason10 · 70-79, M

@ElwoodBlues Ben Shapiro is one of the finest minds in America. And he wasn't the only source I quoted.
But I understand why you goose steppers have a problem with him. He's a Jew. And his family escaped your last little party with Jews.

Reason10 · 70-79, M

@ElwoodBlues I provided reliable links that showed FDR's policies made the Great Depression WORSE and prolonged it. And FDR had to LIE to get America into World War Two because his programs were failing so much.

ElwoodBlues · M

@Reason10 You provided OPINIONS. Do you understand that there's a difference between opinions and data?

BTW, two of my great grandparents, Jewish citizens of Holland, were killed in the Nazi death camps. Another irrelevant attack by you. You'll do ANYTHING to avoid debating what I actually said, won't you, LOL!!!

And here's the point you are trying so hard to evade:

Actually, the single program that did the most to eliminate poverty was Social Security. Go ahead, try and deny it. Old folks in the US were literally STARVING TO DEATH when FDR introduced Social Security. It works so well that almost every republican admin - especially Reagan - has tried to strengthen SS and share credit for it.

Go ahead, try to deny it!!