Monday, November 28, 2022



Scientists Don’t Agree on What Causes Obesity, but They Know What Doesn’t

And that was predictable from a Left=-leaning group. Leftists regularly shy away from individual responsibility. They tend to blame "society" for personal failings. And the idea that people have no personal control over obesity is bunk. The media are full of stories about people who have changed their behavior and lost a lot of weight as a result. I am myself a lot lighter than I used to be. Though I went down a very hard road to get there

LONDON — A select group of the world’s top researchers studying obesity‌ recently gathered in the gilded rooms of the Royal Society, the science academy of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, where ideas like gravity and evolution were once debated.

Now scientists were arguing about ‌‌the causes of obesity, which affects more than 40 percent of U.S. adults and costs the health system about $173 billion each year. At the meeting’s closing session, ‌John Speakman, a biologist, offered ‌‌this conclusion on the subject: ‌ “There’s no consensus whatsoever about what the cause of it‌ is.”

That’s not to say the researchers disagreed on everything. The three-day meeting was infused with an implicit understanding of what obesity is not: a personal failing. No presenter argued that humans collectively lost willpower around the 1980s, when obesity rates took off, first in high-income countries‌, then in much of the rest of the world. Not a single scientist said our genes changed in that short time. Laziness, gluttony‌‌ and sloth were not referred to as obesity’s helpers. In stark contrast to a prevailing societal view of obesity, which assumes people have full control over their body size, they didn’t blame individuals for their condition, the same way we don’t blame people suffering from the effects of undernutrition, like stunting and wasting.

The researchers instead referred to obesity as a complex, chronic condition, and they were meeting to get to the bottom of why humans have, collectively, grown larger over the past half century. To that end, they shared a range of mechanisms that might explain the global obesity surge. And their theories, however diverse, made one thing obvious: As long as we treat obesity as a personal responsibility issue, its prevalence is unlikely to decline.

A nutritional biologist presented ‌th‌e idea that all the carbohydrates and fat in our food today dilute the protein our bodies need, driving us to eat more calories to make up for the discrepancy. An endocrinologist spoke of ‌the scientific model behind the ‌low-carb diet approach, suggesting eating patterns heavy in carbohydrates are uniquely fat promoting, while an evolutionary anthropologist argued many lean hunter-gatherer societies ate a lot of carbohydrates, with a special affinity for honey.

Others suggested the problem is ultraprocessed foods, the prepared and packaged goods that make up more than half of the calories Americans consume. A physiologist shared his randomized control trial showing people eat more calories and gain more weight on ultraprocessed diets compared with whole-food diets of the same nutrient composition. But it’s still unclear why these foods drive people to eat more, he said.

The mystery could be explained by the thousands of toxic substances ultraprocessed foods can carry in the form of fertilizers, insecticides, plastics and additives, argued one biochemist. Her research in cells has shown these chemicals interfere with metabolism.

Still others thought perhaps the problem is less about what we’re eating and more about what we’re not. An ethologist shared her work on the link between food insecurity and obesity in birds. When food becomes scarce, the animals eat fewer calories but gain more weight. Studies in humans have also found a “robust” association between food insecurity and obesity, she said — the so-called hunger obesity paradox.

To add to the complexity, the researchers made it clear that obesity can’t be thought of as one condition. They spoke of rare cases caused by single gene mutations or disorders; more commonly, obesity is believed to arise because of still murky gene-environment interactions. Perhaps they should have been talking about obesities the whole time.

By the end of the conference, the attendees were no closer to a unifying theory for the global rise in obesity — a condition that’s been with humans since at least Hippocrates but started to become widespread only after the debut of MTV. Yet in that short period, scientists, including many in the room, ‌‌have learned a lot.

They’ve identified more than a thousand genes and ‌‌variants that increase a person’s obesity risk. They’ve figured out that body fat is much more than a storage depot for energy and that not everyone with obesity ‌goes on to develop its associated complications, which include cancer, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and premature death. They’ve made remarkable progress mapping out how the brain orchestrates feeding and adapts to different diets, altering food preferences along the way. But ‌precisely what changed in recent‌ history to affect these complex biological systems, the scientists couldn’t concur.

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Portland store shuts down, posts blistering note on front door slamming rampant crime: ‘city is in peril’

A Portland, Oregon, clothing shop permanently shut down this month after facing a string of break-ins that has left the store financially gutted, according to a note posted to the front of the store.

“Our city is in peril,” a printed note posted on Rains PDX store reads, according to KATU2. “Small businesses (and large) cannot sustain doing business, in our city’s current state. We have no protection, or recourse, against the criminal behavior that goes unpunished. Do not be fooled into thinking that insurance companies cover losses. We have sustained 15 break-ins … we have not received any financial reimbursement since the 3rd.”

The store’s owner Marcy Landolfo said that after 15 break-ins over the last year and a half, the business can’t survive the financial burdens the crimes have cost the shop.

“The problem is, as small businesses, we cannot sustain those types of losses and stay in business. I won’t even go into the numbers of how much has been out of pocket,” she said.

“The products that are being targeted are the very expensive winter products and I just felt like the minute I get those in the store they’re going to get stolen,” Landolfo continued to KATU2.

The message posted to the front store noted that the shop is closing down due to the “unrelenting criminal behavior,” “coupled with escalating safety issues for our employees.”

When Rains faced a break-in last month, according to KATU 2, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office said they were working on a plan to better financially assist business owners who needed to repair their shops.

But Landolfo said that isn’t enough to address crime in the city.

“Paying for glass that’s great, but that is so surface and does nothing for the root cause of the problem, so it’s never going to change,” she said.

Rains is the latest store in Portland to close up shop following crime spikes. A Nike location abruptly, and reportedly temporarily, closed up shop earlier this fall after brazen shoplifting incidents.

Thefts have plagued retail chains nationwide in recent years. The National Retail Federation conducted a survey that found organized retail crime increased by 26.5% in 2021, resulting in a multi-billion dollar issue for businesses.

Violent crime in Portland has skyrocketed over the last few years. A recent study found it rose most precipitously in 2020 when the city saw near-nightly protests and riots over the death of George Floyd.

The city saw a 58% increase in homicides in 2020 compared to the year prior, and 2021 notched a 54% increase in homicides compared to the already violent and bloody 2020. The number of homicides in 2021 was a 238% increase from the numbers recorded in 2018.

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Crazy Bronx Mom

image from https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/11/bronx-children-stabbed-featured.jpg

The Bronx mom accused of murdering her two young sons may have killed them because she believed they were possessed, law-enforcement sources said Sunday — as it was revealed she was once on the radar of the city’s child-welfare agency.

Dimone Fleming 22, had been obsessed with demonic possession, and cops are now investigating whether she killed her boys ages 3 and 11 months over it, sources said.

“She made statements about the devil — unusual statements,” a police source told The Post.

Fleming chillingly wrote on her Facebook page Saturday before the slayings, “It’s only one true God and I repent from all wrong doings and negative influence.

“Leaving all things that’s no longer serves me…… Thank you for your mercy,” the woman added.

Sources said Sunday that Fleming was previously probed by the Administration for Children’s Services after her oldest son, 3-year-old DeShawn Fleming, was born. The mom was suspected of improperly caring for the boy, sources said.

It’s unclear what the findings of the probe were and what if any action was ever taken.

Fleming has been arrested but is under psychiatric evaluation and awaiting charges in the grisly slayings of DeShawn and her baby, Octavius Canada, at the family’s apartment in a city homeless shelter, police sources said.

The boys’ bodies were found under a pile of wet clothes in the bathtub, their necks and torsos brutally slashed.

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Pastor Was Tired of Complaining About Drag Queen Story Hour, So He Actually Did Something to Combat It

An Arizona pastor has come up with an ingenious way of combating the drag queen story hour rage sweeping the nation: He held his own story hour.

On Wednesday, Dale Partridge of Prescott, Arizona, took to Instagram to share a photo of himself reading to children at a local library. In explaining his reasons for hosting the event, he said he was “tired of complaining” about drag queen story hours.

Partridge stated in his post that he read to the children a book he authored himself called “Jesus and My Gender,” which, according to The Daily Wire, teaches “a positive view of biblical boyhood and girlhood.”

Partridge wrote, “I asked myself this question: Why are drag queens seemingly more devoted to influencing kids in their community than pastors? Why is the LGBTQ+ community more effective at engaging the culture than Christians? These are serious questions we must answer.

“Passive, quiet, and effeminate Christianity is NOT working. We must return to a strong, politically engaged, and Gospel-aggressive Christianity. A Christianity where the men (and women) not only speak up but also stop the evil that is coming after our kids.”

In comments to The Daily Wire, Partridge said, “Fathers and mothers are to raise their children to understand what the Bible says about God, man, Christ, and the church. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Christian men have abdicated this role, leaving children vulnerable to the influence and lies of the culture.”

The pastor is right on the mark here: We Christians and conservatives have a duty to engage in the culture war and teach our children the correct values. If we are not strong enough to preach the gospel, the world will preach its own values to our kids.

One of the most pressing examples of this is the drag queen story hour craze, which indoctrinates children in a view of sexuality that is completely opposed to the teachings of Christ.

Drag queen story hours started out at a few local libraries, but they have since become the latest trend in the culture war and have even been introduced in public schools. This is not limited to secular institutions, either, as some churches have succumbed to the culture and held drag queen events for children.

What kind of message does it send when even the churches, which are supposed to be the custodians of God’s Word, have embraced the spiritual rot that has set into our nation?

Partridge is right: The LGBT movement has been much more effective in recent years in getting its message across, to the point where gay marriage is no longer up for debate. The conservative movement has largely surrendered to the mob, as evidenced by the 12 Republican senators who backed the so-called Respect for Marriage Act last week.

We can no longer afford to be passive. We can complain all we want, but we need to take active measures. The soul of our nation is at stake in this war, and we can no longer be content with the “live and let live” philosophy that allowed the LGBT movement to capture the soul of our nation.

Partridge shows that the best way to combat the spiritual decay in our nation is to offer a genuine alternative to it. The left does not have to have a monopoly on culture; there are still ways that conservatives can effectively fight back.

America is not yet totally lost, but if we want to save its soul, we need to do more than just complain. We need to actively combat the moral and spiritual malaise that we find ourselves in.

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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