…all the same [DOT 28/12/21]

…could be it’s just me…but some days I can’t help but wonder what the fuck is wrong with people

An airplane passenger is accused of attacking a flight attendant and breaking bones in her face. Three New York City tourists assaulted a restaurant host who asked them for proof of vaccination against the coronavirus, prosecutors say. Eleven people were charged with misdemeanors after they allegedly chanted “No more masks!” and some moved to the front of the room during a Utah school board meeting.

Across the United States, an alarming number of people are lashing out in aggressive and often cruel ways in response to policies or behavior they dislike.
[…]
The Federal Aviation Administration has initiated over 1,000 unruly-passenger investigations this year, more than five times as many as in all of 2020. Health and elections officials have expressed fear for their safety amid public vitriol. As school board meetings have become cultural battlegrounds, Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked the Justice Department to investigate what he called a “disturbing spike” in threats against educators. Some American shoppers, long used to getting their way, have unleashed their worst behavior in recent months.

…& sure…to some extent it’s kind of a trick question

[…]research supports the idea that Americans as a whole are struggling mentally and emotionally. A study of five Western countries, including the United States, published in January found that 13 percent of people reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder attributable to actual or potential contact with the coronavirus, stay-at-home orders, the inability to return to a country of residence or other coronavirus-related factors. The researchers also found that anticipating a negative pandemic-related event was even more emotionally painful than experiencing one.

The coronavirus outbreak had barely begun when mental health experts started expressing concern that the crisis would cause collective trauma, which occurs when a deeply distressing event affects an entire community and creates a shared impact. Although psychologists disagree on the definition of trauma and whether the term applies broadly to the pandemic, they are generally in sync on the underlying issue: The pandemic’s devastating consequences have spared almost no one.
[…]
It remains unclear when that suffering will end. Reported infections and hospitalizations in the United States are surging as the country finds itself facing a variant that appears to be more transmissible and better at evading protection from approved vaccines and as holiday gatherings provide new opportunities for viral transmission.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/12/24/collective-trauma-public-outbursts/

…but I can’t help feeling like a lot of it comes down to hypocrisy?

Under a new law in Ohio — one of at least 19 states this year that have restricted state or local authorities from safeguarding public health amid the coronavirus pandemic — Franklin County’s health commissioner Joe Mazzola can no longer intervene. The county health department was stripped of its power to compel people to wear masks even as the omicron variant fuels a fifth coronavirus surge in the United States.
[…]
The number of states that have passed laws similar to Ohio’s is proliferating fast, from eight identified in one study in May to more than double that many as of last month, according to an analysis by Temple University’s Center for Public Health Law Research. And around the country, many more measures are being debated or being prepared for legislative sessions to start early in the new year.

These laws — the work of Republican legislators — inhibit health officers’ ability to require masks, promote vaccinations or take other steps, such as closing or limiting the number of patrons in restaurants, bars and other indoor public settings. Often, the measures shift those decisions from health experts to elected officials at a time when such coronavirus-fighting strategies have become politically radioactive.
[…]
Conservatives frame this wave of legislating as a matter of individual liberties. Ohio state Sen. Terry Johnson (R), one of the main sponsors of that state’s new law, said last spring that its purpose is “restoring reasonable checks and balances” and “giving the people of Ohio a voice in matters of public health.”
[…]
Health officials say the new laws, targeted at coronavirus-fighting strategies, often carry unintended consequences stretching far beyond the pandemic to thwart health departments’’ longtime roles, such as maintaining food safety.
[…]
Researchers and health officials also predict such laws will get in the way of dealing with future health crises of unforeseen origin. But as the coronavirus pandemic persists, with omicron having arrived as the most transmissible variant so far, the laws’ impact already is clear.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/12/25/covid-public-health-laws-restricted/

…& that feeling gets compounded when the hypocrites in question are the same ones who bitch about the cost of something like that build back better bill…or like to demonize recipients of welfare

Workers who quit or are fired for cause — including for defying company policy — are generally ineligible for jobless benefits. But Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas and Tennessee have carved out exceptions for those who won’t submit to the multi-shot coronavirus vaccine regimens that many companies now require. Similar ideas have been floated in Wyoming, Wisconsin and Missouri.
[…]
Observers say it’s a mark of the politicization of the coronavirus — with fights flaring over business closures, mask mandates and more — and how it has scrambled state politics and altered long-held positions. It wasn’t long ago, they note, that two dozen Republican-led states moved to restrict unemployment aid to compel residents to return to the workforce and ease labor shortages.

“These governors, who are using the unemployment insurance system in a moment of political theater to make a statement about the vaccine mandate, are the same folks who turned off unemployment benefits early for millions of workers over the summer,” said Rebecca Dixon, the executive director of the left-leaning National Employment Law Project. Arkansas, Iowa, Tennessee and Florida cut federal unemployment aid in June.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/27/5-gop-led-states-extend-unemployment-aid-workers-who-lose-jobs-over-vaccine-mandates/

Donald Trump’s loss-making Scottish golf resorts claimed in excess of £3.3m in emergency support from the UK government, to help furlough staff during the Covid pandemic.

Company accounts for the former president’s resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Balmedie, north of Aberdeen, show his businesses cut 273 jobs due to the Covid crisis last year, while also claiming £2.8m in furlough support.

Other government data shows Trump Turnberry and Trump International Scotland in Aberdeenshire then made further claims this year while the UK government’s job retention scheme was still in force.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/27/donald-trump-golf-resorts-claimed-at-least-33m-in-uk-furlough-support

Always remember the First Law of Fiscal Policy: “Wasteful” government spending is only the spending that goes to other people — not to me.

When Democrats passed their $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in the spring, it received zero GOP votes. At the time, Republican politicians decried the stimulus package as “wasteful” and a “parade of left-wing pet projects” that was “bankrupting our children.” In the months since, however, Republicans have been touting projects in their states and districts financed by that very same bill.
[…]
In her recent budget address, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) blamed Biden’s agenda for “horrifically high inflation” and called the stimulus package a “giant handout.” She then indicated she was happy to stick her own hand out: Noem urged state lawmakers to spend South Dakota’s covid-relief allotment on investments in water infrastructure, public health, workforce development, child care and many other issues that … sound a lot like Democratic priorities.

Noem said she considered refusing the funds. But she changed her mind, she said, because the money might then go to “California, to New Jersey, maybe Illinois, Michigan or Minnesota.” That is: bluer states, where politicians are presumably less capable fiscal stewards.

Over in Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine also initially opposed the American Rescue Plan; then he signed GOP-sponsored state legislation appropriating billions of the federal package’s funds toward Ohio’s unemployment system, water and sewer management, pediatric behavioral health and other purposes.
[…]
Arizona has also used American Rescue Plan money to undermine covid precautions by offering special grants to schools that don’t implement mask or vaccine requirements. Pretty rich given pervasive GOP complaints about abuse of federal funds.
[…]
Constituents are entitled to relief funds and public investments, even if the Republicans they elect sometimes claim otherwise. But it might be helpful if voters, on occasion, noticed that Republicans are having their cake and gorging on it, too: condemning unspecified “Biden policies” as irresponsible and inflationary, while gobbling up credit for those same policies whenever they prove popular.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/27/biden-initiatives-republicans-like-have-their-cake-eat-it-too/

…so

Brad Amos, a former senior video editor at Ramsey Solutions, filed a lawsuit this month against the finance advice company for refusing to accommodate his Christian beliefs. Those beliefs, he noted, required him to take lifesaving measures in the face of a deadly pandemic to protect his high-risk family members from infection. Amos claims that, in response, he was mocked and later fired for wearing a mask, attempting to socially distance and requesting to work from home.

We shall see if the same Christians who have been so vocal on anti-vaccine “rights” will come to Amos’ defense.

Personally, I doubt it. Because for many on the religious right, religious freedom only matters if it supports a right-wing political agenda. Indeed for years, extreme-right Christian groups have been misusing religious freedom to do everything from discriminating against LGBTQ people to denying access to reproductive health care. Far from a legitimate effort to protect the right to worship freely, religious freedom has been manipulated into another tool in the Christian nationalist playbook to circumvent any law or regulation they see fit.
[…]
If it were not apparent enough that these supposed claims of religious freedom ring hollow, an entire industry of anti-vaccine activists have now combined forces with Christian nationalists. Some clergy are even offering to provide religious exemptions — if you pay them. Liberty Counsel, the law firm that represented Kim Davis, the county clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, is a major player in providing legal guidance and representation to those seeking to use religious exemptions to circumvent Covid-related requirements.

But religious freedom does not matter, it seems, when Jewish groups state that life begins at birth, not at conception, and that denying the right to prioritize the life of a mother violates Jewish religious beliefs. Religious freedom does not matter when faith-based health care providers say they are morally, religiously obligated to provide care for all, without discrimination.
[…]
It was never about religious freedom. It was always a right-wing political agenda, cloaked in faith.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/covid-vaccine-mask-mandates-expose-christian-hypocrisy

…there’s a chance it’s not just me

The specter of fascism is never far away in European politics, and accusing your enemies of being the heirs to Hitler has been popular since the end of World War II. But something truly surreal is underway: Traditionally, it was the parties of the far right, some of them with roots in the Nazi past, that were accused of fascist tendencies. Now they are the accusers. I’ve even heard some vaccine skeptics and anti-lockdown activists call for a Nuremberg trial for anyone who advocates mandatory vaccination.
[…]
For the moment, they are failing. Recent elections in Germany, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria indicate that voters are less ready to follow populist leaders than they were just a few years ago. A YouGov-Cambridge Globalism study found in November that populist beliefs had “broadly declined” in 10 European countries over the past three years but that at the same time, conspiratorial beliefs are on the rise. I worry that the longer the pandemic restrictions continue and the harsher the economic effects are felt, the more likely populists’ arguments will resonate with the public.
[…]
Populist parties now claim to speak on behalf of a persecuted minority of nonconformists and are repositioning themselves as champions of liberty and individual rights. This may sound familiar to many Americans: They are the same positions held by the American right, even when it is in power. It’s now clear that the coronavirus crisis has contributed to the internationalization of the populist right.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/24/opinion/vaccination-europe-covid-far-right.html

…but I don’t think we get to avoid the part where there are some messages we need to get across to people in ways where they actually grasp what’s at stake

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol plans to begin holding public hearings in the new year to tell the story of the insurrection from start to finish while crafting an ample interim report on its findings by summer, as it shifts into a more public phase of its work.
[…]
The committee has taken in a massive amount of data — interviewing more than 300 witnesses, announcing more than 50 subpoenas, obtaining more than 35,000 pages of records and receiving hundreds of telephone leads through the Jan. 6 tip line, according to aides familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe details of the panel’s work.
[…]
Trump and Republican leaders have opposed an investigation into the attack from the start and have called the committee’s work a partisan exercise meant to damage the former president and the GOP ahead of the midterms. If Republicans were to take control of the House after November’s elections, they would almost certainly shut down the probe.
[…]
The rough timeline being discussed among senior committee staffers includes public hearings starting this winter and stretching into spring, followed by an interim report in the summer and a final report ahead of November’s elections.
[…]
The five teams behind the investigation have begun to merge their findings. The topics include: the money and funding streams for the “Stop the Steal” rallies and events; the misinformation campaign and online extremist activity; how agencies across the government were preparing for the Jan. 6 rally; the pressure campaigns to overturn the election results or delay the electoral certification; and the organizers of the various events and plans for undermining the election.

Investigators said they are also pursuing questions outside of these lanes, including how Trump has been able to convince so many of his supporters that the election was stolen despite having no evidence to support that claim.

“I think that Trump and his team have done a pretty masterful job of exploiting millions of Americans,” said the second senior committee aide. “How do you get that many people screwed up that deeply? And continue to screw them up? Right? And what do we do about that? So there are some big, big-picture items that go well beyond the events of [Jan. 6] that the committee is also grappling with.”
[…]
In addition, members of the panel have said they plan to review laws that provide a president with emergency powers, so those powers cannot be abused if a future election is contested.

Also on the agenda is whether the panel will refer to the Justice Department crimes they believe may have been committed by Trump and his aides.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/january-6-attack-investigation/2021/12/27/story.html

…because you might claim I’m biased when I say things like “it’s transparently obvious that donald trump ought to be in prison”…but…I don’t know how much more of this off-brand sophistry I can take

A criminal investigation of Trump for possible crimes related to the Capitol riot is indeed warranted. But a criminal referral from Congress would actually undermine the goals of both the Justice Department and the House Jan. 6 committee. It’s a bad idea.

…leaving out the part where it’s entirely possible that garland has in fact had the DoJ engaged in such an investigation but would (as is generally the case with cases being built) not announce the fact until or unless there were charges to file…”there absolutely should be an investigation but it’s a bad idea for the committee charged with looking into the subject to say so”…that kind of makes me feel like my blood might actually boil

But the Justice Department does not need a referral from Congress to be aware of the potential crimes surrounding Jan. 6 — including those potentially committed by Trump himself.

The events leading up to the assault on the Capitol are widely known. They have been the subject of numerous media reports and books, not to mention a full impeachment proceeding. The riot is the subject of what is likely the largest and most complex federal criminal investigation in history, with hundreds of people already indicted. The Justice Department is deeply enmeshed in investigating the events of Jan. 6 and does not need a congressional heads-up.

A criminal referral would be worse than unnecessary — it would be counterproductive.

…& yet…given the whole “what the fuck is wrong with people?” thing…it could be true

[…] If Congress injects itself into the criminal process, it could make Garland’s job more difficult. It would be that much easier for Trump to claim that any later prosecution was a political witch hunt and that Garland was simply carrying water for House Democrats.

Talk of criminal referrals also threatens to hinder the Jan. 6 committee’s own efforts to obtain information. Lawsuits resisting the committee’s subpoenas filed by Trump, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and others argue that the committee has no legitimate legislative purpose. They claim the committee is unlawfully investigating the Trump administration simply to expose potential misconduct. When the committee’s leaders highlight possible criminal referrals, rather than legislative reforms, they bolster such arguments and undermine the committee’s position in those lawsuits.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/27/jan-6-committee-trump-criminal-referral-bad-idea/

…I mean…I get that the legal system is far from perfect

For his pattern of “serious” judicial lapses, a state appeals court agreed last year that McGuire — who earned a salary of $210,161 a year — be removed from the bench, the harshest sanction a judge can face. The public, however, had learned about the ethics charges only months before, in March 2020, more than a year and a half after McGuire was first served with the ethics complaint and when the appeals court said he had been notified of the commission’s unanimous recommendation to punish him.

McGuire ended up resigning in May 2020, but with another job already lined up — as Sullivan County’s head attorney, a position he still holds.
[…]
The timing in when the public is allowed to know about allegations against judges can differ broadly among states. Some allow judges to go months or years before even credible complaints are in the open. As more than 100 million cases are filed in local and state courts every year and as judges exert near-absolute power in deciding who wins custody of children to who can get married to whether people go to jail, the public’s ability to scrutinize judicial conduct is crucial for transparency’s sake, and it deserves as much attention as recent calls for policing and prosecutorial overhauls, judicial ethics experts argue.
[…]
Misconduct findings are rare in the judicial complaint process. Legal ethics experts say the minuscule share of judges punished every year isn’t necessarily indicative that all is well in the judiciary — it suggests a lack of accountability.
[…]
NBC News’ review of various states’ judicial conduct commission data from 2016 to 2020 indicates that thousands of complaints are filed across the country every year but that about 1 percent of them result in judges’ being publicly disciplined or stepping down after investigations are opened.

While the commissions maintain that most complaints are frivolous — for instance, a litigant is merely disgruntled over how a judge ruled — for a state to typically record zero public sanctions against judges sounds incredible, said Robert Tembeckjian, the administrator and counsel of the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

“It’s highly unlikely that any state would have a judiciary that is so above reproach that year after year no one gets disciplined,” Tembeckjian said. “Even in places like New York, where we have very sophisticated judicial education programs, there are numerous cases every year.”
[…]
A sweeping Reuters analysis last year of judicial misconduct, which examined thousands of discipline cases over a dozen years, determined that 9 out of 10 sanctioned judges were allowed to return to the bench.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/robed-secrecy-judges-accused-misconduct-can-dodge-public-scrutiny

…any more than some of the people enforcing the law are

Police body camera video released Monday shows an officer opening fire on an assault suspect in a shooting that killed a teenager who was in a nearby store dressing room two days before Christmas.

Authorities said a 14-year-old girl, later identified as Valentina Orellana-Peralta, was killed, probably by police gunfire, as she was in a dressing room behind the intended target Thursday morning in a Burlington store in North Hollywood. An unmarked wall separated her from the man who was believed to have assaulted a woman with a bicycle lock before police fired at him.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/video-shows-officer-open-fire-shooting-killed-teen-girl

…but what do I know…I seem to find a bewildering amount of stuff rage-inducing

America is consuming more beef than ever, while prices have climbed by one-fifth over the past year — a primary driver for the growing alarm over inflation.
[…]
The distress of American cattle ranchers represents the underside of the staggering winnings harvested by the conglomerates that dominate the meatpacking industry — Tyson Foods and Cargill, plus a pair of companies controlled by Brazilian corporate owners, National Beef Packing Company and JBS.

Since the 1980s, the four largest meatpackers have used a wave of mergers to increase their share of the market from 36 percent to 85 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Their dominance has allowed them to extinguish competition and dictate prices, exploiting how federal authorities have weakened the enforcement of laws enacted a century ago to tame the excesses of the Robber Barons, say antitrust experts and advocates for the ranchers.
[…]
But ranchers complain that the game is rigged.

They generally raise calves, allowing them to roam across grassland until they are big enough to be sold to so-called feed lots that administer grains to bring them to slaughtering weight. The feed lots — the largest concentrated in Texas, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado — then sell their animals to the packers.

Because the feed lots face relentless pressure from the packers for lower prices, they in turn demand cut-rate terms from the ranchers.
[…]
Ever since the Reagan administration, the federal government has taken a lax approach to antitrust enforcement, investing in the popular notion that when large and efficient companies are permitted to amass greater scale, consumers benefit.

That notion may now be up for readjustment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/business/beef-prices-cattle-ranchers.html

…& some of those inducements of ire just don’t go away

Even as Republicans across the country still insist that the election was rife with fraudulent Democratic votes, no one’s asking how McConnell managed one of the most lopsided landslides of the Nov. 3 election. They should. An investigation of Kentucky voting results by DCReport raises significant questions about the vote tallies in McConnell’s state.
[…]
In November 2017, Judicial Watch, a right-wing non-partisan foundation promoting transparency, sued Kentucky over its “Dirty Voter Rolls” and its failure to maintain accurate voter registration lists. The suit argued that 48 of the 120 Kentucky counties had more registered voters than citizens over the age of 18 and alleged that Kentucky was one of only three states with a statewide active registration rate greater than 100% of the age-eligible citizen population. Kentucky’s inflated voter rolls and lack of transparency provide a perfect cover for malfeasant behavior regarding the election results.
[…]
Significantly, Trump and his post-election legal team have pointed at Dominion voting machines and implored courts to look into this automated vote-flipping premise—but only in states that he lost. So, let’s test it in ES&S states like Kentucky where Trump won.

Lindsey Graham’s race in South Carolina was so tight that he infamously begged for money, yet he won with a comfortable 10% lead—tabulated on ES&S machines throughout the state. In Susan Collins’ Maine, where she never had a lead in a poll after July 2, almost every ballot was fed through ES&S machines. Kentucky, South Carolina, Maine, Texas, Iowa and Florida are all states that use ES&S machines. Maybe the polls didn’t actually get it wrong.

When Trump says “look over here” at Dominion voting machines, maybe we should look at ES&S machines instead. When Republicans spout unfounded claims that Democrats stole the election, maybe we should be looking at Republican vote totals instead. And when Trump calls this the most fraudulent election in our history, maybe he knows of what he speaks.

https://www.dcreport.org/2020/12/19/mitch-mcconnells-re-election-the-numbers-dont-add-up/

…it’s probably what they mean when they talk about “a simmering rage”…& yet somehow in all these years I have never once decided that the thing to do is shoot a bunch of people

Four people were killed and three were injured, including a police officer, in what authorities described Monday as a “killing spree” in the Denver metro area.
[…]
Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said during a news conference that the shootings began around 5 p.m. in Denver. Four people were shot at two locations, three fatally, before gunfire erupted between the suspect and Denver police.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/four-dead-three-injured-denver-area-killing-spree

…& although I don’t particularly think that constitutes a failure of imagination on my part…I’ll admit that I don’t think my imagination stretches to some of the places these assholes take their flights of fancy

A New York man charged with assaulting a police officer during the deadly Capitol riot has asked a judge for permission to use dating websites while confined at his parents’ house.
[…]
Sibick, 36, awaits trial. He is alleged to have taken part in an “ongoing violent assault” of the former Washington police officer Michael Fanone, “ripping off [his] radio – his lifeline for help – and his badge”.
[…]
In October, Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Sibick to enter home confinement under supervision of his parents. He is not allowed to attend political rallies, use social media or watch talk shows on cable news.

“There will only be one chance,” Judge Jackson said then. “If you violate my conditions, it will indicate my trust was misplaced.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/27/capitol-rioter-thomas-sibick-assault-michael-fanone

…this guy previously tried to argue that he should get to use social media…to look for a job…definitely not to keep spouting quasi-political nonsense in defiance of the judge…which I’m sure I’m capable of believing if I try real hard…but for a guy who should be in prison but isn’t…”I should get paid & if at all possible laid” is surely taking way too many liberties for me to feel like he deserves to hang on to his liberty…which, at the risk of repeating myself, is a condition that seems prevalent in certain circles

The Guardian reported last month that Trump, according to multiple sources, called lieutenants based at the Willard hotel in Washington DC from the White House in the late hours of 5 January and sought ways to stop Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January.
[…]
The former president’s remarks came as part of wider discussions he had with the lieutenants at the Willard – a team led by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn and Trump strategist Steve Bannon – about delaying the certification, the sources said.
[…]
“The attorney-client privilege does not operate to shield participants in a crime from an investigation into a crime,” Raskin said. “If it did, then all you would have to do to rob a bank is bring a lawyer with you, and be asking for advice along the way.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/27/capitol-attack-panel-investigate-trump-call-willard-hotel-before-assault

…so…while I can’t honestly say that I can condone being married to alex jones…I’m pretty sure I’d argue assaulting that asshole would be indicative of sound mental health rather than “an imbalance of medication”

The wife of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was arrested on Christmas Eve on a domestic violence charge the rightwing provocateur said stemmed from a “medication imbalance”.

Sheriff’s deputies booked Erika Wulff Jones into an Austin jail around 8.45pm on Friday. Jail records showed the 43-year-old faced misdemeanor charges of assault causing bodily injury to a family member and resisting arrest, search or transport. By the afternoon of Christmas Day, she had not received a bond.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/26/alex-jones-wife-arrested-christmas-eve

…but leaving your wife locked up over christmas…how very “christian” of him

It makes sense to have contradictory feelings about news consumption in this climate; to feel swamped on the one hand, and reliant on the other. Sora Park, a professor of communication at the University of Canberra, says her research shows Australians consumed more news during the pandemic, but also avoided news more than before. “They also find it overwhelming … really disturbing and negative and emotional,” Park says.
[…]
Some days are always going to be better than others. Mike Caulfield, a researcher into misinformation at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, suggests reassessing the way we consume information when our attention is continuously being hijacked. One method he’s devised is known as SIFT, which aims to help us resist the temptation to get to the bottom of everything we see. SIFT stands for “Stop, Investigate, Find better coverage, and Trace claims”.
[…]
But being more choosy is not the same as being actively uninformed. Some may feel their media habits are a necessary and protective way to move through the world, and others may struggle to find information in the formats and languages they need. Nevertheless, it helps to be intentional about what you take in.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/dec/27/no-comfort-at-the-bottom-of-the-feed-how-to-prevent-information-overload-in-the-time-of-covid

…also…I find music helps…although as is becoming predictable…I need more coffee before I find some of that to go down here