Virus, SHTF in Mex?

[roo_ster]

Durrrr... the same reason why SARS killed so many farmers in China but nobody in the states?

Pig-farmers living in third-world s**tholes have a higher mortality rate from everything.

Ah, the "Toilet Theory of Natural Disasters."

You can tell how bad a country will devastated by a natural disaster by the quality of toilets and sewage systems.

None whatsoever?  Expect tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Bangladesh flood.

Squatty Potties?  Thousands to tens of thousands of deaths.
Earthquake in China or Turkey.

Sit-down toilets, but iffy sewage system?  Hundreds to thousands dead.
South European volcano gets frisky.

High-quality toilets and a sewage system that can handle the most viscious & viscous of effluvia with ease?  Zero to a hundred deaths.
Katrina, Northridge earthquake, Mt St Helens.

[209]

How do you defend against a virus? 

Would the proper question be: "What caliber is best for viruses?" 

I can't exactly quit my job for a year...

Since I also can't quit my job and my job involves dealing with lots of people up close and personal, I don't know I can hide from any exposure from a pandemic.  I hope I'm healthy enough to ward it off.  It'd suck to have a SHTF situation and not be a survivor. 

[KD5NRH]

http://www.dvc.org.uk/apocalypse.html

But if swine flu kills off lots of people, will it be called an aporkalypse?

[Regolith]

But if swine flu kills off lots of people, will it be called an aporkalypse?

If that pun were a sausage, it would be the wurst. 

[vaskidmark]

Talk radio last night was full of speculation that this strain of swine+human+avian flu was manufactured in labs at the behest of certain (pick your flavor) Islamofascists and that Mexico was intentionally chosen as the vector due to the porosity of the southern border.  The lack of action by the CDC was condemned with words that make the phrase "in no uncertain terms" pale in comparison.

Talk radio said that just about all foodstuffs are touched by illegals before it gets to us - either by being picked or by being cooked by them.  Thus, we are doomed.  Doomed, they say!  Personally, I'm not too worried, as the Guatamalan guys who work the kitchen in my favorite Chinese place have been there steadily for the past 5 years, and they do not want their family to come to the USA - all they want to do is send money home.

On Monday I'm going to be buying shares in toilet paper manufacturers.  I ought to be able to garner quite a profit over the short haul.

stay safe.

skidmark

[geronimotwo]

I still can't find any usefull information on this new virus.  ie, time the virus survives outside of its host, length of incubation period before illness starts, length of illness, etc.

as a side note, we took the kiddies to disney on tuesday.   while the girls are making use of facilities i will usually mingle with whomever may be waiting around.   as i was going to sit next to one lady, she let out a NASTY sounding cough.   needless to say i avoided that bench, and this was before any kind of news about mexico's virus.

[MechAg94]

Talk radio last night was full of speculation that this strain of swine+human+avian flu was manufactured in labs at the behest of certain (pick your flavor) Islamofascists and that Mexico was intentionally chosen as the vector due to the porosity of the southern border.  The lack of action by the CDC was condemned with words that make the phrase "in no uncertain terms" pale in comparison.

Talk radio said that just about all foodstuffs are touched by illegals before it gets to us - either by being picked or by being cooked by them.  Thus, we are doomed.  Doomed, they say!  Personally, I'm not too worried, as the Guatamalan guys who work the kitchen in my favorite Chinese place have been there steadily for the past 5 years, and they do not want their family to come to the USA - all they want to do is send money home.

On Monday I'm going to be buying shares in toilet paper manufacturers.  I ought to be able to garner quite a profit over the short haul.

stay safe.

skidmark

When you say "Talk Radio" and "last night", I have to ask which show you are talking about?  :)

[MechAg94]

Would the proper question be: "What caliber is best for viruses?" 

How about 7.62 µm?  Or should that be nanometers?  I forget.

[vaskidmark]

When you say "Talk Radio" and "last night", I have to ask which show you are talking about?  :)

Started listening to Hannity, then Michael Savage, then spun the dials more feverishly to see what I could pick up from afar.  Finished listening as the sun rose.  I do not remember names well, and did not bother trying to figure out who was speaking except by degree of crazy.  Most of the ranting was about the CDC's apparent utter lack of concern about closing off the southern border in the face of SHTF/OMG we're all going to die, and CDC saying that spinning up for vaccines was useless.

Yes, most of the folks raging about the possibility of a designer virus are far past the fringe of reality, but then that scene from Men in Black where they check the tabloids to keep track of the space creatures suggests there may be some grain of truth buried in what the whackos are saying.

Hope this has made you feel safer and more secure.

stay safe.

skidmark

[Jocassee]

No updates to the CDC page yet today. Wonder what they're hiding?

*cinches tin foil hat*

*checks ammo stash*

[Sindawe]

How about 7.62 µm?  Or should that be nanometers?  I forget.

It should be nanometers, which would put it in the range of X-rays.  7.62 µm is about the size of a red blood cell.  Using projectiles of that size against a virus is akin to killing house flies with the 16 guns on the USS Iowa.  Entertaining to be sure, but a bit over the top.

Yes, most of the folks raging about the possibility of a designer virus are far past the fringe of reality...

Designer viruses are not really beyond the pale.  At its crudest, one would house sick chickens and pigs with sick humans to facilitate the virus jumping species (which Influenza does) until a virulent strain is developed, then send those infected human martyrs into the target area to sneeze, cough and infect.

More refined development would require the facilites of a modest lab and the biochemical tools like DNA sequences, restriction enznymes and host cells to grow the tailored bug.

IIRC, Al Qaeda made some claims about a month ago of a coming attack of epic proportions.

Interesting times...

[Mabs2]

I saw some video on youtube where this lady calls in a radio station talking about this stuff.
It was all very retarded until it got to the part where she mentioned miles and miles of empty train cars outside of several major cities...then the guy who uploaded the video cut to him actually walking by one of these lengths of cars.  It was very surreal.

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wae--Tp1OU

[charby]

IIRC, Al Qaeda made some claims about a month ago of a coming attack of epic proportions.

Doesn't that happen pretty much monthly anyways?

[MillCreek]

I saw some video on youtube where this lady calls in a radio station talking about this stuff.
It was all very retarded until it got to the part where she mentioned miles and miles of empty train cars outside of several major cities...then the guy who uploaded the video cut to him actually walking by one of these lengths of cars.  It was very surreal.

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wae--Tp1OU

So I note that the train cars in that video are car transporters.  Although in years past, they used to have open sides, the railroads started to put gratings over the openings to minimize damage to the cars in transport.  I had some friends that liked to shoot their BB guns at the car trains rolling past in south King County.  I would imagine that the dramatic decrease in car sales means not as many are being shipped by rail, and the surplus train cars are being parked on sidings.  And saying that the cars are being used to transport "FEMA coffins" when bodybags are so much cheaper and easier to ship does not make a lot of sense. 

[grislyatoms]

Got this yesterday from the NMDOH, FWIW. They are taking it pretty seriously.

See full DOH message below.
 
Sporadic cases of swine flu have been detected in California and Texas. All providers are asked to participate in enhanced surveillance for flu-like illness.
 
All patients presenting with influenza-like illness should have a nasopharyngeal swab for respiratory viruses. If Influenza A is detected, then providers should obtain viral cultures and call the Epidemiology and Response Division epidemiologist on-call at 505-827-0006 for further instruction.  Institute droplet precautions and respiratory hygiene for all coughing patients.

!!! NM Dept of Health General Notification Message !!!
Message ID 912 Sent 4/23/2009 6:17:36 PM Mountain Time

THIS A NEW MEXICO HEALTH ADVISORY
 
Swine Influenza Cases Confirmed in United States

This information is being sent to infection
control practitioners, hospitals, physicians,
primary care contacts and facilities,
occupational medicine clinics, long-term care
facilities, student health clinics, schools,
first responders, emergency managers, IHS
contacts and facilities, CHRs, environmental and public health contacts.


*** PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS INFORMATION FREELY. ***


=== TO SCHOOL HEALTH ADVOCATES AND SCHOOL
SUPERTINTENDENTS:  You are reminded to forward
this notification to the school nurses in your region/district. ===


===TO COUNTY FIRE AND EMS OFFICIALS:  You are
reminded to forward this notification to the
district/volunteer departments/services in your county. ===


===============================================
Summary:

Swine influenza cases have been confirmed in the
United States in five children and two adults.

===============================================
Detailed Message:

NEW MEXICO SWINE INFLUENZA HEALTH ADVISORY

-     As of April 23, 2009, five California
residents (three children and two adults) and two
Texas residents (two children) have been
diagnosed with swine influenza A (H1N1) virus
infection.  The California cases are from San
Diego and Imperial counties while the Texas cases
are from the San Antonio area. All had a febrile
illness and were sick enough to have received
medical evaluation. All have resolved clinically.
One was hospitalized and has been discharged. No
deaths have occurred. Illness onsets range from
March 28th to April 13th 2009. There are no known
epidemiologic links between the California and
Texas cases. There were also no known exposures
to swine within the incubation period for any of
the seven cases. These facts suggest that there
is likely human-to-human transmission that is ongoing.

-     The viruses from the seven cases are
closely related genetically and contain a unique
combination of gene segments that have not
previously been reported in the United States or
elsewhere.  Preliminary testing showed the
viruses in the first two patients were
susceptible to oseltamivir and zanamivir, but
resistant to amantadine and
rimantadine.  Antiviral susceptibility on viruses
from the additional five cases is pending, but is anticipated to be the same.

-     Seasonal human influenza vaccine usually
does not protect against swine influenza A H1N1
viruses, which are very different in their
antigens from human H1N1 viruses; but studies on
whether this season's influenza vaccine may offer
some cross-protection are ongoing.

-     Swine influenza (swine flu) is an endemic
respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A
influenza virus, typically H1N1 and H3N2 strains.

-     Swine influenza viruses do not normally
infect humans. However, sporadic human infections
with swine flu do occur. From January, 2005
through February, 2009, 12 human cases of swine
flu were detected in other parts of the United States; all patients recovered.

-   Most commonly, these cases occur in persons
with direct exposure to pigs (e.g., workers in
the swine industry). Although it has been
documented, human-to-human transmission of swine
flu is rare. However, the current situation in
California and Texas suggests that human-to-human
transmission may be occurring.


HEIGHTENED SURVEILLANCE FOR POSSIBLE SWINE INFLUENZA

-     Because of concern about possible
human-to-human transmission of swine flu,
enhanced statewide influenza surveillance in New
Mexico is necessary to identify if cases are occurring here.

-     HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS: Until otherwise
notified, we ask that specimens be collected (see
below) from patients who meet the definition for
influenza-like illness and are hospitalized in
New Mexico with suspect or confirmed influenza.

          o   Influenza-Like Illness Definition
(ILI): Fever greater or equal to 37.8°C (100°F) AND a cough and/or sore throat

-     INFLUENZA SENTINEL PROVIDERS: We also ask
that influenza sentinel surveillance providers in
New Mexico collect specimens from outpatients who
meet the definition for influenza-like illness above.

-     ALL OTHER HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS: If your
patient meets the definition for influenza-like
illness above and has a rapid influenza test
positive for influenza A, we ask that you collect
a nasopharyngeal swab for viral culture and call
the Epidemiology and Response Division epidemiologist on-call at 505-827-0006.


SPECIMEN COLLECTION AND STORAGE

-     Please collect one nasopharyngeal swab from
each patient with ILI, placing the swab in a
standard container with 2-3 ml of viral transport
media. If the patient is hospitalized with
pneumonia, specimens for viral culture from the
lower respiratory tract (e.g., tracheal aspirate,
bronchoalveolar lavage) should also be obtained.
Specimens should be collected within the first
24-72 hours of onset of symptoms and no later
than 5 days after onset of symptoms.

-     Specimen storage: The specimens should be
kept refrigerated at 4ºC and sent on cold packs
if they can be received by the Scientific
Laboratory Division (SLD) of the New Mexico
Department of Health (NMDOH) within five days of
the collection date.  If samples will be received
by the laboratory in five or more days from
collection, they should be frozen at -70ºC or below and shipped on dry ice.

-     Specimens should be shipped to:  Scientific
Laboratory Division, 700 Camino De Salud NE
Albuquerque, NM 87131 (505) 841-2500.


INFECTION CONTROL PRECAUTIONS

-     Healthcare workers providing care for
patients with ILI who are not known contacts of a
laboratory-confirmed swine flu case, should use
droplet precautions (i.e., wear a surgical or
procedure mask for close contact), in addition to
standard precautions.  Standard precautions
include hand hygiene and the use of eye
protection if splashing or spraying of blood or
body fluids (including respiratory secretions) is anticipated.*

-     Healthcare workers providing care for a
laboratory-confirmed swine flu case or an ill
close contact of a laboratory-confirmed swine flu case should:

          1)   Wear a fit-tested N95 respirator,
disposable gloves, gown, and eye protection (face shield or goggles).

          2)   Before and after contact with the
patient, clean hands thoroughly with soap and
water or an alcohol-based hand gel.

-     Suspect swine flu patients (ill close
contact of a laboratory-confirmed swine flu case)
should be asked to wear a surgical mask and
should be promptly isolated in an airborne
infection isolation room, if available, or in a
single room with a door that closes.

          * Splashing or spraying of body fluids
may be anticipated when collecting a nasopharyngeal or throat swab.

There will be follow-up messages when further information becomes available.
CDC information on swine flu is available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/investigation.htm

===============================================
Health alerts are messages from the New Mexico
Department of Health that contain important
information for responding to a health
emergency.  Health alerts are sent to health care
providers, emergency responders, first
responders, and other affiliated professionals.

There are four types of messages that come from the Health Alert Network (HAN):

ALERT:  Conveys the highest level of importance;
warrants immediate action or attention.

ADVISORY:  Provides important information for a
specific incident or situation; may not require immediate action.

UPDATE:  Provides updated information regarding
an incident or situation; unlikely to require immediate action.

TEST:  Tests the alerting system technologies,
the ability to reach the intended recipients, or
provides simulated alerts for exercise purposes.


If you have questions about the Health Alert
Network, please contact the HAN at health.alert@cw.nmhealth.org.

[Mabs2]

So I note that the train cars in that video are car transporters.  Although in years past, they used to have open sides, the railroads started to put gratings over the openings to minimize damage to the cars in transport.  I had some friends that liked to shoot their BB guns at the car trains rolling past in south King County.  I would imagine that the dramatic decrease in car sales means not as many are being shipped by rail, and the surplus train cars are being parked on sidings.  And saying that the cars are being used to transport "FEMA coffins" when bodybags are so much cheaper and easier to ship does not make a lot of sense. 

I think people are more concerned about them shipping live people in the cars instead of corpses.

[FTA84]

I saw some video on youtube where this lady calls in a radio station talking about this stuff.
It was all very retarded until it got to the part where she mentioned miles and miles of empty train cars outside of several major cities...then the guy who uploaded the video cut to him actually walking by one of these lengths of cars.  It was very surreal.

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wae--Tp1OU

I just watched this video.  I am just glad that God granted me with enough intelligence to not run around, breathing through open mouth, and cringing in terror from auto carriers.

My pops used to load those things when he worked at the factory.  They are all parked because they can't move cars off the lot.

[MillCreek]

About 45 miles south of me is the town of Auburn, which is notable for having a huge military and Federal logistics depot and a very large railway switchyard to accommodate the depot, the commercial shipping and logistics businesses in the area, the cars coming in through the port of Seattle and Tacoma and the Asian container traffic arriving through the ports and being shipped to the interior of the country.  For several months now, I have seen rows and rows of parked auto transporters just sitting there.  A recent article in the WSJ also explains the role of the economy on this issue:

Miles of Idled Boxcars Leave Towns Singing the Freight-Train Blues
As Slumping Railroads Run Out of Parking, an Indiana Hamlet Is Divided by Wall of Cars
 
By ALEX ROTH

NEW CASTLE, Ind. -- Folks here figured the mile-long stretch of a hundred-plus yellow rail cars, which divides this small town like a graffiti-covered wall, would leave soon after it arrived.

That was a year ago.

"They stayed and they stayed and they stayed," says Bruce Atkinson, a local resident. "Then more moved in."

Tens of thousands of boxcars are sitting idle all over the country, parked indefinitely by railroads whose freight volumes have plummeted along with the economy. And residents of the communities stuck with these newly immobile objects, like the people of New Castle, are hopping mad about it.

View Full Image
Rail cars, idled by the slump in shipping caused by the recession, have sat for months on tracks in New Castle, Ind. Residents complain the cars cast shadows over homes that sit as close as 10 feet from the tracks.
Photo: Alex Roth/The Wall Street Journal

Before February 2008, boxcars were a fleeting sight in this hamlet of 17,500 people 50 miles east of Indianapolis. For decades, no more than one or two trains a day traveled down the sleepy short-haul line that cuts through town.

Then rail cars -- 20-foot-tall yellow behemoths covered with the sort of spray-painted artwork once associated with New York City subway cars -- started rolling in by the dozens and grinding to a halt.

Now an elementary-school playground sits only feet from a line of rail cars covered with curse words. Someone with a paintball gun opened fire on one of the cars but missed, pelting a house instead. The looming cars have been blamed for casting shadows over homes that sit as close as 10 feet from the tracks. One woman says the lack of sunlight has turned her backyard into a mud pit.

One of the more visible manifestations of the global recession is the idling of vehicles used to move everything from scrap metal produced in the U.S. to sneakers made in China. Ocean-shipping companies have taken scores of ships out of service, anchoring them in or near ports around the world. The parking lots of trucking companies are clogged with trailers that in better times were rolling on highways.
video
Idle Rail Cars Frustrate Residents
2:22

People in New Castle, Ind., see a string of rail cars sitting unused in their town as a nuisance and an eyesore.

Railroads, which have seen shipping volumes drop by double-digit percentages in recent months, face a particularly vexing problem. The nation's five largest railroads have put more than 30% of their boxcars -- 206,000 in all -- into storage, according to the Association of American Railroads. Placed end-to-end, the cars would stretch from New York to Salt Lake City.
No Space

The railroads simply don't have enough space in their yards to store all the idled cars. So they look for convenient, out-of-the-way places to park them -- usually dormant tracks and rail sidings that are rarely used.

In December, residents in southern New Jersey were confused by the sight of a two-mile-long line of rail cars resting on a largely unused rail line in Cape May County. Some of the cars were parked only a few feet from houses. Rumors began spreading that the cars were tankers filled with hazardous materials. The mayors of two local townships assured the public that the cars were empty and posed no danger.

In December, Union Pacific Corp. parked a three-mile-long string of cars in the small town of Thornton, Colo. After staring at the idled cars for a month or so, local residents revolted. The railroad eventually agreed to move the cars to a less-populated area.

Dennis Duffy, Union Pacific's executive vice president of operations, says that in a healthy economy, the railroad might have 5,000 to 8,000 cars in storage. At the moment, it has 48,000 idle cars, he says, forcing it to come up with "unconventional solutions." It has parked them on 60 sidings around the country.

Few places, if any, have been forced to endure this spectacle for as long as New Castle, a town of 10 square miles surrounded by sprawling farmland. Scenes from the basketball movie "Hoosiers" were filmed at a high-school gym a few miles down the road.
'Parking All Over Us'

For decades, New Castle was a Chrysler factory town. But in 2002, the auto maker sold its massive machine shop to a new company that immediately slashed wages. Now, New Castle is feeling the full impact of the recession. Unemployment in the county recently reached 9.3%, the highest figure since 1994. A large clothing store, one of the anchors of a nearby mall, is going out of business.

The small rail line running through town is available for rail-car storage in part because one of the railroad's customers, Visteon Corp., a major Ford Motor Co. auto-parts supplier, recently closed a nearby plant.

"This town is hurting already," says Cathy Hamilton, a former high-school principal who runs a consulting company. "Why would you add to the pain by parking all over us?"

Oradean Logan, 70 years old, who lives in a house next to the tracks, recalls waking up one morning more than a year ago to the sight of several graffiti-covered boxcars outside her window. The cars blocked her view, preventing her from seeing the house of her 83-year-old legally blind sister, who lives alone on the other side of the tracks.
Permanent Fixtures

"I didn't think much about it because I thought they'd move 'em," she says. "Then they just kept sitting there."

Days turned into weeks, then weeks into months. Children were spotted climbing to the top of the boxcars with their skateboards. Sherry Coffey, whose home was blasted by paintball-gun pellets, says she assumes the unknown shooter was aiming for the rail cars, not her house, which sits less than 30 feet away.

Residents complained, but were frustrated to learn that the railroad has every right to keep the cars on its tracks, according to a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration. "The bottom line is they're rail cars sitting on a railroad," says New Castle Mayor Jim Small. "The two sort of go together."

Spencer Wendelin, an executive with the C&NC Railroad, which owns the tracks, declined to say how much rent the railroad collects for storing the cars, or who owns them. He has little sympathy for the angry residents.

"The railroad, I'll guarantee you, was there a long time before they bought their houses," he says.
Turning to YouTube

A few months ago, Mr. Atkinson, who works for the county and has lived in the area his entire life, became so enraged he began posting YouTube videos of the graffiti-strewn cars to try to draw attention to the situation. "Block after block, lovely yellow cars," he says in one of the videos, shortly before the camera pans to a rail car painted with a picture of a marijuana leaf. "Can you imagine living next to those?"

Lately some folks have begun to worry that some of the rail cars appear to be listing and might tip over. Mr. Wendelin, the railroad executive, dismisses the fears as "completely unfounded concerns, based on both history and physics."

Ms. Logan's legally blind sister, Estelle Teel, says it's not uncommon to hear young people banging on the rail cars with sticks in the middle of the night, just outside her bedroom window. "It's kind of scary when you live alone," she says.

Folks who want the cars to be on their way, however, shouldn't get their hopes up. Mr. Wendelin won't predict how long the rail cars will remain in New Castle. "If you can tell me when the economy's going to turn around, then I can give you an answer to that question."

Write to Alex Roth at alex.roth@wsj.com

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

mary on you tube is either a liar or a nut.  possibly both.

although i had a hint when i saw "in response to alex jones"

[K Frame]

"This may be it folks..."

 :rolleyes:


Yep, just like every other massive flu pandemic of the past 40 years. 


I forget, how long did it take to rebuild civilization after the 1917-1919 flu pandemic, which did kill millions world wide, and which occurred during that other great civilization crumbling *expletive deleted*it hit the fan catastrophe, World War I?

Wait, you mean that civilization never crumbled?

Mother Abigale and the Walking Dude never rose?

Americans didn't flock to Las Vegas or Boulder, Colorado, to make their stands?

Pull your shorts out of your sphincters and worry about something that is a major issue. 

[Sindawe]

In December, Union Pacific Corp. parked a three-mile-long string of cars in the small town of Thornton, Colo. After staring at the idled cars for a month or so, local residents revolted. The railroad eventually agreed to move the cars to a less-populated area.

SEE!!  SEE!!  Proof posative that David Icke is right and the reptilian Zindi are planning to exterminate us all with HARP chemtrails!  Thornton has a population of close to 120,000 people, so it is not a "small town".  More disinformation from Xenu!!!

Of course, those empty boxcars were moved north to a less populated area where they'd be less subject to vandals and the like.  I can see them on one of the routes I occasionally take to work.  Hidden in plain sight out in the middle of nowhere.  Waiting the day when they will be needed again to cheap & nasty imported goods that nobody needs to people who can't afford them.

Pull your shorts out of your sphincters and worry about something that is a major issue.

Now what fun would that be Mike?  Western civilization and Americans in particular LOVE a good conspiracy theory to get our undies in a knot over. 

[Mabs2]

I just watched this video.  I am just glad that God granted me with enough intelligence to not run around, breathing through open mouth, and cringing in terror from auto carriers.

My pops used to load those things when he worked at the factory.  They are all parked because they can't move cars off the lot.

Oh yes.
I thought the video was super retarded all the way.
But all the empty cars at the end was kind of creepy.

[tokugawa]

Mike, I would say unequivocally we were a tougher nation in 1918-
  New York City lost 35,000 to the Flu. , America total about 600,000. The population then was about 105,000,000. Today that would translate to almost 2 million dead.
  Not sure at all we have the societal glue to hold us together.

[geronimotwo]

new york city is now reporting 8 known cases of swine flu...... swabs to be confirmed by the cdc

http://www.yahoo.com/s/1063059

[K Frame]

"Mike, I would say unequivocally we were a tougher nation in 1918..."

You need to acquaint yourself with history.

Socially and ethnically the United States was as splintered then as we are today.

Economically it many ways there were far greater divides rifting the US apart.

Immigration was still in full swing, although tapering off heavily.

The kind of anti immigration class wars that existed back made today's pale in comparison.


But, all you chicken little doom screamers be careful that you don't get hit by the sky a its falling.