DTD № 76: World Stroke Day; Trump's Evangelical Appeal; Trump as an American cultural identifier; Involuntary Addiction Treatment; North Korean Soldiers in Ukraine; Political Electronic Surveillance

Also -Purity Culture leaves decades of bad sex in its destructive wake

Nov 25, 2024

∙ Paid

Well, the American Prresidential system has come and gone, and we know that we’ll have to deal with Donald Trump or at least the next four years, maybe more if he successfully begins living out his dictatorial strongman fantasies, God forbid.

Dinner Table Digest № 76, contains 4 recommended reads for my free subscribers, and an additional four recommended reads for paid subscribers.

Sections: World Stroke Day Evangelical Support for Trump / Forced Treatment for opiod addicts/ The sex lives of Evangelical Women are unfulfilling, says Canadian Study/ For Paid Subscribers: Decoding the Christian Nationalist language in Project 2025 (Video) / The ‘Real’ Reason Trump won / What does North Korea want in Ukraine? (Video)/ The Software companies able to aid the Trump Administration conduct electronic surveillance on American citizens

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World Stroke Day

October 29th was World Stroke Day. On this day, I just wanted to to remind my friends and family that strokes don't discriminate based on age. A fetus can have a stroke in utero, (in utero strokes are one of one of the leading causes of Cerebral Palsy, and many young people under the age of 20 also suffer from strokes. There are a variety of risk factors for stroke. If you know yours, you can prevent a stroke.

For my friends who have a uterus, I want to remind you that hormonal birth control can be a direct cause of strokes. Folks in my support groups suggest that the most effective form of birth control for uterus-havers that doesn't increase stroke risk is the copper IUD. I'm not interested in telling anyone what to do with the reproductive choices, I am merely nterested in sharing information that may aid in stroke prevention. Trust me, you don't want to have a stroke, not if you can help it.

Friends, the recovery process for my stroke has been more challenging than the recovery process after my tumour i and burst bowels 2015. There are a few reasons why, but the psychological challenges, including the intensification of my ADHD-related challenges, especially my executive functioning and task initiation have proven particularly vexing.

Strokes are the third leading cause of death and in Canada and the tenth largest contributor to disability-adjusted life years Strokes are largely preventable, so if you can prevent one from happening to you, that's a great thing.

Here is the Government of Canada's most recent publication on stroke prevention and stroke risk

This World Stroke Day, I'm reflecting on my experience, grateful that I had competent and caring medical professionals attending me, and I'm super grateful to be alive and to have survived a potentially catastrophic brain bleed.

On to the Links!

The Last Temptation - Michael Gerson - The Atlantic (paywall)

With the American Presidential Election just a week away, we're staring down the barrel of another Trump Presidency, which very well may bring North American Security and it's economy crashing to the ground. I've if the most interesting aspects of Trump's popularity is his success in courting America’s most holier than thou demographic, Evangelical Christians. Ever since the Trump campaign of 2016, the media has been trying desperately to understand why Evangelical voters remain so committed to him, despite his obvious moral failings and general incompatibility with the Conservative Christian I Worldview. I'm old enough to remember the reaction to the famous cigar of Bill Clinton and his taking advantage of Monica Lewinsky. Evangelicals responded with a voice of utter disdain fo the Democratic President. But they did not register their digest in terms of a President sexually harassing and ultimately assaulting a junior intern at her place of employment, but instead raised their voice to condemn his moral failingm ofinfidelity to his wife Hillary. The minimizing of Clinton’s exual manipulation of Lewinsky ironically mirrors the famous Bible story of King David’s sexual assault on Bathsheba a story usually told as if Bathsheba was merely unfaithful to her husband as opposed to being sexually manipulated and assaulted by David Some 30 years later, those same folks were pledging their support to Donald Trump, chanting “Lock Her Up, in reference to the vey woman that they supposedly hd pity for all those years back. Moreover, Trump has not only admitted to multiple affairs, but he is on record making vulgar nd crude remarks about sexually assaulting a woman, any woman. Michael Gerson writes;

Trump’s background and beliefs could hardly be more incompatible with traditional Christian models of life and leadership. Trump’s past political stances (he once supported the right to partial-birth abortion), his character (he has bragged about sexually assaulting women), and even his language (he introduced the words pussy and shithole into presidential discourse) would more naturally lead religious conservatives toward exorcism than alliance. This is a man who has cruelly publicized his infidelities, made disturbing sexual comments about his elder daughter, and boasted about the size of his penis on the debate stage. His lawyer reportedly arranged a $130,000 payment to a porn star to dissuade her from disclosing an alleged affair. Yet religious conservatives who once blanched at PG-13 public standards now yawn at such NC-17 maneuvers.

Of course, on November 5th American voters spoke, choosing Donald Trump, a convicted felon, to become the 47th President of the United States. While his election was not the shocker that it was in 2016, it still strikes me as a bad omen for the trajectory of global liberal democracy.

I'm the New York Times, Carlos Lozados reminisces of the time when we all thought Donald Trump as President was just a joke that got out of hand…

I remember when Donald Trump was not normal.

I remember when Trump was a fever that would break.

I remember when Trump was running as a joke.

I remember when Trump was best covered in the entertainment section.

I remember when Trump would never become the Republican nominee.

I remember when Trump couldn’t win the general election.

I remember when Trump’s attacks on John McCain were disqualifying.

I remember when Trump’s “Access Hollywood” tape would force him out.

I remember when Trump was James Comey’s fault.

I remember when Trump was the news media’s fault.

I remember when Trump won because Hillary Clinton was unlikable.

I remember when 2016 was a fluke.

I remember when the office of the presidency would temper Trump.

I remember when the adults in the room would contain him.

I remember when the Ukraine phone call went too far.

I remember when Trump learned his lesson after the first impeachment.

I remember when Jan. 6 would be the end of Trump’s political career.

I remember when the 2022 midterms meant the country was moving on.

I remember when Trump’s indictments would give voters pause.

I remember when Trump’s felony convictions would give voters pause.

I remember when Trump would win because Joe Biden was old.

I remember when Kamala Harris’s joy would overpower Trump’s fearmongering.

I remember when Trump was weird.

I remember when Trump was not who we are.

But, Lozados writes, Ttru0 is indeed a reflection of who Americans are;

We can now let go of such illusions. Trump is very much part of who we are. Nearly 63 million Americans voted for him in 2016. Seventy-four million did in 2020. And now, sonce again, enough voters in enough places have cast their lot with him to return him to the White House. Trump is no fluke, and Trumpism is no fad.

After all, what is more normal than a thing that keeps happening?

In recent years, I’ve often wondered if Trump has changed America or revealed it. I decided that it was both — that he changed the country by revealing it. After Election Day 2024, I’m considering an addendum: Trump has changed us by revealing how normal, how truly American, he is.

Throughout Trump’s life, he has embodied every national fascination: money and greed in the 1980s, sex scandals in the 1990s, reality television in the 2000s, social media in the 2010s. Why wouldn’t we deserve him now?

In my view, Trumps election to a second term as President, non-consecutive as it may be is a damning indictment of American culture and it's politics. Long held to be the free-est and mostly permissive culture n the world, Americans have now revealed their much vaunted democracy and the presumed liberty and claimed sociopolitical eqality of every person that supposedly accompanies that democracy to be a complete sham. What we now understand is that while the American public pays lip service to inalienable rights, they are in fact very selective and exclusionary in who can claim those rights. This should not be surprising. After all in the founding documents of the United States those rights the framers noted that any individual not considered “free” that is the many Black people who were enslaved by Whites, only counted as 3/5th of a person. In other words, the selectivity of these rights supposedly endowed on all human beings by God was baked into the very Constitution of the United States. Put into perspective, then, Donald Trump isn't a one time sick illiberal abberation in American history, no, Donald Trump is himself a reflection of the American people, all the way back to the very beginninng. The classic line‘there's nothingmore American than apple pie’ should now be changed to: “There's nothing more American than Donald J. Trump.”

Of course, I'm Canadian, so this might be coming off as a little judgy about Canada's closest neighbour and friend. Never fear, because, indeed, Canada may not have had a full blown civil war fight over the rights of rich white men to own Black people as slaves, but our history of colonialism and in particular the subjugation and genocide of the Diverse Indigenous peoples means that Canadians have no room to be smug. In all likelihood, when the next federal election rolls around in 2025, Canadians will send Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party into government, at which time, Trump is likely to have begun implementing his racist, misogynistic and exclusionary policies, offering a template for Poilievre to follow. While it's unlikely that the Conservative Party will do as much damage to the nature of Canadian democracy as Trump is likely to do to the United States, Poilievre's exclusionary policies will be a reflection of who Canada is, indeed, who Canada has always been, what with the fact that Canada's first Prime Minister made explicit his Conservative government's intention to ‘Kill the Indian in the Indian’ a campaign whose destructive power was encapsulated in the institution of the Indigenous Residential School System, a system that paid lip service to education, but was really in the business of whitewashing Indigenous children, separating them from their families and forbidding them from doing any kind activity that might be a traditional part of their home community's cultural expression., including Potlatchs and Pow_wows, which were forbidden on any Reserve.

In other words, Donald Trump isn't only who Americans are, he's also who Canadians are.

Forcing people into drug treatment is on the political agenda. Here's what the evidence says - Mike Crawley, CBC News

By now everyone in Canada is aware of the Opioid Crisis that has left thousands of Canadians literally our in the cold, feeding whatever is required to get the next hit while knowing that the next hit could be the last hit and the next breath could be the last breath. Addicted individuals are fully aware that t the choice to consume opioidsmay be fatal, and yet they continue to use their drug of choice. Canadian politicians have recently begun to pay attention to the addiction crisis, though there is little consensus on how to approach the problem. Some communities have taken a harm reduction approach, setting up Safe Consumption Sites where users can have their drug supply tested for dangerous contaminants like Fentanyl, before consuming them in an environment that promises quick and effective medical intervention should the user show signs of an overdose. Indeed, Safe Consumption Sites are a uniquely Canadian solution, first implemented by the City of Vancouver. Still other politicians have called for involuntary treatment by addiction support professionals. In this situation, Homeless individuals who frequent known drug dens, would be apprehended by law enforcement and committed to a residential treatment center, whether they desired such treatment or not. That is too say that these politicians think that drug addiction and the associated social consequence of homelessness can be cured if governments were only willing to forcibly apprehend and committbaddicted individuals to a residential treatment program that emphasizes abstinence over and above any kind of harm reduction approach.

In my view, forced treatment only further marginalizes and ostracizes addicted, homeless individuals, further emphasizing the false but insanely popular view that addicted individuals are actively and willingly choosing to use a dangerous drug, in the process choosing to forego social expectations of independent living in a dwelling place, choosing drugs over individually driven social and economic self sufficiency. To put it n the language of the every man, something I'm sure you've heard often: Addicted homeless individuals are choosing to use drugs over the need to obtain gainful employment, such that they can afford to rent a home or apartment and feed themselves properly las expected of a self sufficient adult human being.

This piece by CBC journalist Mike Crawley examines the available data on the effectiveness or lack thereof of involuntary, forced, abstinence based residential addiction treatment.

“Some experts in addiction medicine warn against seizing on forced treatment as an easy answer to a complex health and social problem.

"It's a response to seeing pain and suffering in front of you and saying, 'I don't want to have to see this, so let's just make sure that this is out of the way,'" said Dr. Anita Srivastava, medical director of addiction medicine for Unity Health in Toronto.

"I think it's a frustrated response to a problem that [people] perceive as having no real solution," said Srivastava in an interview. "I don't think it will work, but I can understand where it might be coming from."“
“A task force created by the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine recently reviewed worldwide research into the effectiveness of involuntary treatment. The task force looked at 42 studies from around the globe and published its report in 2023 in the Canadian Journal of Addiction.
Of the 22 studies it found that compared involuntary to voluntary treatments, 10 reported negative outcomes from involuntary treatments, five found no significant differences, and seven found improvements, mainly in retention in treatment. Only one of those seven found a post-treatment reduction in substance use, and that was not sustained long-term.”
….
“The calls for forced treatment are gaining momentum in part because of perceptions that the current harm-reduction approach to the drug crisis is failing .
Not enough voluntary treatment available

However, opponents of forced treatment argue that what's really to blame is the growing potency and toxicity of the illicit drug supply – the drugs have become stronger, more addictive and deadlier than when heroin dominated the street trade.

Dan Werb, executive director of the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, says those who advocate for forced treatment assume that the fault lies with the person who is addicted.

"The scientific evidence to support [involuntary treatment] as an effective approach just simply isn't there," he said in an interview.

Werb was the lead author of a 2015 review of research into the effectiveness of compulsory drug treatment, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. Of the nine studies reviewed at that time, only two showed that compulsory treatment had a positive impact on criminal reoffending and drug use.

Werb and his fellow authors concluded that policymakers should prioritize investments in voluntary treatment programs. However, he says governments in Canada are not putting enough resources into such programs.

Researchers Confirm That Conservative Christian Women Are Having Horrible Sex - Noor al-Sibai, Futurism Magazine

Evangelical sexual ethics have been a minefield for a longtime, but the Purity Culture Days of the 1980’s and 1990’s left their mark on an entire generation of millenial and Xennial evangelicals, especially on the women, who were taught that they were responsible for the wandering eyes of men, but once they were good and properly married, it was their responsibility to keep their husband sexually satisfied. Not surprisingly women who came of age in this Purity Culture environment now acknowledge that their sex lives as married women are deeply unsatisfying.

Noor al-Siabi writes

“In an interview with PsyPost about the new paper, lead author Joanna Sawatsky of the University of Saskatchewan said that after she and her coauthors read best-selling Christian marriage and sex books, they were "appalled" to see the kind of advice they were giving women that "completely erased women’s sexuality, made sex into a power struggle, and presented men as sexually uncontrollable beings."

"It made us concerned that much of the advice given in these circles makes marriage and sex worse, not better," Sawatsky said, "and we decided to do a research study to test our hypothesis."

Using the "snowball sampling" technique, which involves asking participants to refer their friends and associates as a recruiting tactic, the researchers ended up talking to more than 5,000 mostly American Christian women, most of whom were white and evangelical. They asked the subjects about their own perceived relationship between purity and marital and sexual satisfaction, as well as their experience with sexual pain.

Unsurprisingly, the researchers found that the women who ascribed most fully to beliefs in sexual purity experienced higher rates of sexual pain disorders — especially for the subset of the subject population that had begun believing in those mores during adolescence and early adulthood.

For instance, the researchers found that women who had believed in the concept of "soul ties" — the idea that people are forever linked spiritually when they have sex — when they were teens were more likely to experience vaginismus, a disorder that occurs when the vagina involuntarily contracts during intercourse, resulting in very painful sex. Like vulvodynia, which is characterized by irritation and burning on the vulva, the exact cause of vaginismus is unknown, though it's often theorized to be psychosomatic in nature.”

If you have institutional access to the journal The Sociology o Religion you can access the paper itself HERE.

Decoding Project. 2025’s Christian Nationalist language

Now that Donald Trump has been reelected to the American Presidency, I plan on refocusing my attention on the theat of White Christian Nationalism to North American liberal democracy. In the run-up to the election the Democrats Abroad organization hosted a webinar/lecture given by Andra Watkinsaon the hidden language of Christian Nationalism in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 Plan for Conservative rule in the United States.

As a former evangelical myself, familiar as I am with the underlying religious motivations of the Christian Nationalist movement with a unique understanding of the goals ofo conservative Christian Nationalism I'm hoping to be able to create more content focused on showing the sometimes hidden connections between conservative policies both in Canada and in the United States and an active and engaged White Christian Nationalist movement that threatens the hegemony of stable 21st secular liberal democracy. Though mycurrent series on Stephen Wolfe’s polemic in favour of Christian Nationalism is currentlys stalled for now. A friend and I are working on an idea for a podcast that would look to explain Christian Nationalism (CN) and it’s dangers from the perspective of former evangelicals; having grown up steeped in the fundamentalist tradition, I think that our perspctive might help folk who have not grown up in the evangelicl subculture to understand some o the key subtexts found in (CNist proposals. While this concept is still in its exploratory stage, I m interested in feedback from potential listeners about what they might find helpful in better understandin the threat of CN. Please feel free to leave a comment, or to send me a message directly ith your input.

Dinner Table Don'ts