The Post-Partisan Emporium

  Ebbing Civility LINH DINH [Pakse, 5/12/23] I had a foul start to my day. At the 24-hour Vietnamese eatery, the overnight crowd leaves a mess which the owner only cleans up around 6AM. Arriving before 5:30, I had to ignore all the tissues on the floor as I ate my egg noodles with duck. There was also some wetness and two sprigs of mint on my table, left by somebody. Worst was a smell of dirty dishes in fetid water. I couldn’t wait to bolt. This explains why pricier Subinh Hotel has become my favorite. It’s still more affordable, though, than a ghetto Chinese takeout with you on the wrong side of the bulletproof plexiglass. Most dishes at Subinh are expertly prepared and artfully presented. A plate of  crispy pork  with cucumber, tomato, carrot, slivers of cabbage and a sprig of cilantro is just $4.27. A dinner of  cashew chicken  with assorted vegetables, rice and a pot of tea is $5.64. In this cool and civilized setting, you can linger in comfort. Just a decade ago, you’d have been h

  How to Manufacture a Pandemic BY   DR CARL HENEGHAN AND DR TOM JEFFERSON How do you get people to take pharmacological action against something that hits them on average once a year and lasts a few days, like acute respiratory infections? They have been around since creation and are extremely familiar to everyone around the globe, including animals. Acute respiratory infections manifest themselves with a range of symptoms – from none all the way to pneumonia and death from respiratory failure. Thankfully this happens only in a small minority of cases. To sell, you have to have a market, but familiarity breeds contempt. So you have to create a market for your products, be they medicines, opinions, careers, research funds or whatever. One approach is to confuse a syndrome with a disease. This means using the  F-Word  ‘flu’, a terrible Anglo-Saxon colloquialism which is used all over the world, even by WHO and the U.S. CDC. Using the F-word, you are bundling up familiar signs and sympto