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This week on Middle Theory, the loss of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain sparks a conversation about societal issues with depression and cooperative efforts toward the prevention of suicide.
We pick up where we left off last week with an examination of the mysterious “illness” that U.S. diplomats, first in Cuba, and now in China, claim to have been afflicted by while working at foreign embassy locations. Some in the medical community have expressed skepticism over the claims, and feel that justifying the idea of an alleged “secret weapon” could be damaging to the medical field. We wonder how the diplomats in question might feel about that sentiment.
Elsewhere, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is in the spotlight for recent remarks he has made about the use of marijuana (also known as “Jazz Cabbage” or “The Devil’s Lettuce”), as well as his renewed focus on protection of religious institutions in America. We analyze some of the points and counterpoints, as well as the inconsistencies in some of Mr. Sessions’ arguments.
Then getting to the MID, we examine the tragic loss of celebrity Master Chef Anthony Bourdain, and the recent appearance of suicides which also includes Kate Spade and others. How can the issues of depression and self-harm be better understood and dealt with more effectively? It goes without saying that help exists for those who may need it, and if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, you should take action. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress, as well as best practices for professionals and resources to aid in prevention and crisis situations. Don’t wait to hear from someone you think may be depressed… YOU reach out.
Then before closing shop, we also take time to examine Donald Trump’s landmark visit to North Korea, where he met Kim Jong Un in an unprecedented exchange between the East and West. What will the long-term effects of this meeting be, and will it be as effective as the Trump Administration hopes?
A special thank you to those who donated this week:
- Peter Prow
- James Salisido
- Emilio
- RUNE
- Mark Stephan
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Finally, here are links to stories addressed on this week’s program:
- A Medical Mystery Grows as U.S. Consulate Workers in China Fall Ill
- WTF: “The State Department evacuated at least two more Americans who fell ill in China after hearing strange noises, officials said.”
- NEUTERING THE NET: Net neutrality’s demise: Why it matters
- HOUSES OF THE HOLY: U.S. Justice Department to focus on discrimination against houses of worship
- SESSIONS’ STRUGGLES: Jeff Sessions Struggles to Get Planned Marijuana Crackdown Going
- MID: PARTS UNKNOWN: Anthony Bourdain found dead in France while filming for Parts Unknown
- Bourdain on Depression (2016): ‘I Feel Very Isolated’
- A CALL FOR HELP: Suicide Hotline Calls Jump 25% After Celebrity Deaths
- UN-FORGETABLE: ALL’S OKAY IN NK: Trump meets North Korea’s Kim Jong Un for historic summit
about Colorado marijuani
I have a great Idea…(Director of Corporate Buddhist Psychology) We know humans go insane with too much stimulation and paranoia how about we make a buzzing flashing machine as a measure of worth in society finally replace that old cow hide call it a personal hand held computer and bang…
Yeah Steve-O should take Bring Own Brain up in one of those jets and press the eject button on him… Cowabunga Donatelo…Leonardo…
Dear Micah boy you were such a mouth your parents knew to name you after a device that specialized in transmitting vocals “Mic” would you ask your imaginary friends who are spring boards in my mind to propel my own thought Why the Chinese Zodiac has Egyptian Hieroglyphics all over it? first how come none of those dumb sob’s saw that? what are they book blind. That is why I read only penthouse and hustler, and occasionally I get sick of seeing straight people pretend for pay and god and country to really like each other for more than government procreation… The Mammoth Book of gay Erotica…despite the government propaganda you will never go blind reading porn…you don’t read long enough…
No but really why do you rise from Ka and Cow to Ba and Ram and in Australia Babaramda and you go Ka-ba-lah remember fall fa-lah-lah listen to xmas music jingle bells jingle bells lah lah lah lah lah batmobile lost it’s will and the joker lah lah lah this is all over the world and western people would rather entertain aliens did it then think boy our history lied to us and it is because we didn’t do it…first
so what your saying is the government is ruining capitalisms good name and offering a spin at the legs always open saloon for 2 minutes of pleasure with either communism, or Marxism……………..I’m forming my own Super Hero Group when I say my own I mean that so no you can’t join The Frank 5…””we””….
Yes I need some clarification I do recreational chainsaw juggling and belly dancing…recreational shooting with alcohol downhill into camp sites…is marijuana fine? Dear Micah… ok Dear Mcnon if it’s addressed to you it must be serious because your a serious guy…but serious people myself not included are smoking wax/chunk/ethanol/shit…
“I Don’t Drink…Vine…And I Don’t Smoke…Shit…” Jim Harold’s favorite Vampire movie quote…my favorite part is when George Hamilton gets a knife pulled on him…yes and my point about leading the charge so you charge up these pens and load your shit in and they are replacing real regular weed in a bowl with vaporizing this concentrated shit…and it is harsh and people who smoke it show signs of cough, scratchy scroat, and boat bump. people like me who do it the old fashion way, holding a nug in hand and using a magnifying glass to light it and sucking at the tiny little elusive stream rising up into the atmosphere we don’t…pffffttttt….. I’mm passing out…but I think I got a little of the end of it…
Ooooh Micah…yes now we are at a point were every move is a piss on someone’s religious or sexual freedom, yet you don’t see people with signs at funerals boning…or a mass of boning people on corners with signs…. ohhh so they are saying you the middle are them and have their side effects and so people should go down to always on our knees saloon and pick between a one night romper stomper with a left or a life of sadomasochistic shame with the right choose a left or right bending hard on to throb over in a little booth it’ll be out little secret wink…
I always tried to too on objectivity… including fighting my own friend’s, parents, pastors, and teachers, not to mention, trying to hit a quota punk pigs with no real sense of justice or respect for the law, and a few uncle Tom probation officers with solid gold Elvis prescription glasses…in order to truly be objective you become a criminal, an enemy, hated, loved, respected, and foremost gain knowledge through experience…one time I was in a juvenile correctional facility and this guard was acting all cool trying to seem like he’d really been places and done things, and so we should respect him, he goes “you know how you tell who the true thieves are?” and everybody leaned in like this man was going to give them the key to that front door. and I said… I knew I remembered you, you were the undercover security guard at Kmart…denile denile denile…so what your saying is…make it look like a coup de acci-tah…boy since the president bought it from an upright angle down, twice, with a single shot riffle, all his buddies started throwing them selves out of black helicopters and shooting them self with secret heart melting ray guns what a scientific coincidence honey…
I’m suffering from the Zapruder effect…
It all started when I bought this little tiny cat and I looked in the litter box the next morning…I couldn’t believe my eyes but that litter box had the same effect on me as has been reported by people who saw that original Zapruder… boy if you saw her litter box you too would think their had to be a second shooter…
When I get there to that dark place on the left or the right I tune to Micah and the middle and I shed it here and there like a snake but I’m more like a worm so it isn’t natural…and now middle theory has shown me I’ve been digging in when I’m really a caterpillar, and so I head for that tree and I climb over and over each time a piece of that thin skinned worm breaks off and a butterfly emerges…was I supposed to put the floor wax in this pen thingee…
So I fear people smoking this shit are gonna become the mythical pot smoker with critical problems…”sound of Micah’s buddies knocking me out from behind with an iron poker” that’ll put him out for ….you ever notice how in movies guys who knock people out seem to know exactly how long it will last…he’ll be out for at least five minutes…you ever hear of the man who lost his mind searching the earth for the secret to that secret martial art that tells you where to hit and how long they’ll be out for…if even one person teetering on the edge could pinch their own neck and find immediate relief from the madness of humanity…