The latest data from ProPublica’s “Dollars for Docs” finds that doctors are paid big bucks by medical companies, which has a predictably significant effect on the likelihood they’ll prescribe those companies’ drugs or use their products.

“Largest maternity scandal in NHS history”

Aoife Bennett developed life-long narcolepsy and cataplexy shortly after receiving Pandemrix at age 16. It’s the first compensation case in Ireland, but the trial exposed the fact that GlaxoSmithKline had been compensating Pandemrix injuries in the UK for years. Many other cases in Ireland now await their chance at justice.

H/t Hear this Well

From page 307 of his wonderful intellectual autobiography, Memoirs of a Superfluous Man: 

“The only thing that the psychically-human being can do to improve society is to present society with one improved unit. In a word, ages of experience testify that the only way society can be improved is by the individualist method which Jesus apparently regarded as the only one whereby the Kingdom of Heaven can be established as a going concern; that is, the method of each one doing his very best to improve one.”

And, I would add, vigorously defending themselves, as well as their fellow citizens, against the attempts by various busybodies, whether in government or among the mob, to coerce “improvement” or mete out “punishment” via acts of the State. Social improvement can only happen when society is free to discover what will, in fact, improve it. But, the amazing fact is that when society is free to go its own way, improvement occurs dramatically and rapidly, as is made clear by the testament of every historical episode when, by some aberration or oversight, liberty is permitted to the public and social progress spreads like a wildfire.

Tragic story about an antibiotic that my children have both taken to treat strep.

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Here’s a ghoulish story that will obliterate what little faith you might have left in the school system: three school staffers at an El Dorado County school pinned down a 13-year old boy for one hour and 45 minutes, during which time he urinated on himself, vomited, lost consciousness, and shortly thereafter, died.

Former Guiding Hands staffers arraigned in boy’s death, could face prison time

No one has any idea how another adult will behave with their child when left alone with them, especially if their child happens to be non-verbal, or autistic. These staffers thought they could get away with the wanton abuse because the boy was autistic, and couldn’t adequately convey what had happened. A monster could be hiding behind that friendly smile and easy-going demeanor, and you’d never know it until it was too late.

I cannot think of a more perfect encapsulation of the vulgar, philistine authoritarianism that dominates public policy today than the mandated use of the LED light bulb.  And not even this bulb directly, but the persecution and injustice performed upon the incandescent bulb, which has been banished to the nether realm in the name of the antediluvian ideal of  “energy efficiency”.  The LED bulb, an abomination that no one would use voluntarily, has emerged as the default option, and now pollutes the night with its wretched glare.

These LED bulbs are not benign in the least. They flicker, albeit imperceptibly, but enough that you are registering it without noticing it, which is why you instinctively despise these bulbs. These bulbs have been linked to a host of debilitating conditions as well.

The blame for this LED-lit nightmarescape that reanimates each night in cities across the U.S. can be squarely placed on the crony boondoggle that goes by the name of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which has been slowly phasing out the incandescent bulb entirely.

Fortunately, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel. Real light, not the faux light strobe show that we are currently suffering under. Trump, of all people, has put applied the brakes on the complete phase-out of incandescent bulbs.

Let the bulbs stand on their own merits. If anyone feels the need to bathe their home in, or expose their psyche to, a tint more suited to a nightmare, let them. But for those of us that prefer real light, let us also have that option. Let’s take compulsion out of picture. I’d bet that, given the option, most people would jettison these hateful bulbs en masse, and return to real light. As far as public lighting goes, I imagine the they wouldn’t even bother to wait for a formal resolution from the office of the mayor, but would instead scale the fixtures bodily and install new, beautiful incandescent bulbs on their own dime. No more of the spectral white glow vaguely reminiscent of radioactivity, no more avoiding certain streets in the evening, streets that should be just as charming at night as they are during the day.

The miserable saga of the LED bulb illustrates the pure evil inherent in mass compulsion via legislation. The people, voting with their dollar, make more and far wiser decisions each and every day than Congress ever could. It’s a true meritocracy, and should be allowed to operate freely. Any interference with the process results in what you see almost everywhere today. LED bulb-level blunders abound. All that’s needed is a swift removal of whatever legislated compulsion that resulted in the societal debacle, and stand back and let society itself heal the wounds inflicted by an overstepping government.

Here’s a good example of how our vaunted healthcare workers inadvertently kill upwards of 250,000 US citizens each year:

The State: Newborn has “permanent injuries” after getting wrong injection at SC hospital, lawsuit says

The nurse, in her zeal to quickly inject the infant with the unnecessary, aluminum-filled “vitamin K” shot, instead accidentally injected the baby with Merthegine, a drug that helps the new mother to stop bleeding after birth. This mistake has left the child with “permanent injuries”, and created a completely avoidable nightmare for the parents.

Pharma has utterly captured the California state legislature, as this article in the Desert Sun makes clear. The question we should all ask is this: who owns my representative, my state government?

From the article:

“Pan, a Sacramento pediatrician and chair of the Senate Health Committee, took in at least $432,000 from health care interests during the 2017-18 election cycle. That amounts to 40 percent of the money in both his personal campaign account and a ballot measure committee he formed called Californians Building a Healthy Future.

Wood, a dentist and the Assembly Health Committee chairman, accepted at least $365,000 from the health care sector and advocates, nearly 38 percent of the total money in his personal campaign account and his Committee to Improve the Quality of Life in California.

Health care unions and associations representing doctors, dentists, nurses and other health care workers were the biggest contributors: $102,600 to Pan and $136,350 to Wood. Individual doctors and other health care workers gave Pan $51,070 and Wood $2,510.

The drug industry also gave generously with $97,800 to Pan and $42,000 to Wood. HMOs and insurance plans gave $81,350 to Pan and $76,520 to Wood, and hospitals or health care facilities gave $52,818 to Pan and $45,800 to Wood, according to the latest filings.”

Never underestimate the capacity of a politician to place their integrity, and their constituents’ futures, on the auction block in exchange for election victories, power, and influence.