The germ theory of disease is the work of the devil.

As England debates assisted dying, a charismatic couple in their late nineties decides they’ve had enough of “merely existing.” They went to Switzerland, although the friend quoted in my headline points out that if England had legalized assisted dying by now, they’d have been able to stay home and die among family and friends.

They sent a note to their loved ones:

Sorry not to have mentioned it, but when you receive this email we will have shuffled off this mortal coil. The decision was mutual and without any outside pressure. We had lived a long life together for almost 75 years. There came a point when failing senses, of sight and hearing and lack of energy was not living but existing that no care would improve.

We had an interesting and varied life, except for the sorrow of losing Jeremy, our son. We enjoyed our time together, we tried not to regret the past, live in the present and not to expect too much from the future. Much love Ruth & Mike.

Millions, however, don’t seem to mind the language directed against them which is quoted here.

One did decide she’d had enough, and she threw the thing away.

And wrote about why.

Just when this blog started to run out of bad things to say about Louisiana.

You can’t make this shit up.

Critics decried the [2018] law as discriminatory, but Denmark viewed it for what it truly is: a defence of secular values, civic participation, and national identity.

Now the ban has been expanded to schools and universities.

Civic life depends on visibility, communication, and engagement. Classrooms are not private spaces—they are the arenas where citizens learn to interact, debate, and participate. Full-face coverings obstruct all of that.

It is confusing to people when the freest, best countries in the world ban face-coverings. One of the reasons these countries are the best is that they ban face-coverings.

Secularism is non-negotiable. Public institutions, particularly schools, must be neutral spaces. Clothing that isolates or excludes individuals from shared norms compromises that neutrality... Visibility is not oppression—it is the foundation of civic life.

These themes are playing out right now in the political and legal wrangling in Canada over proudly secular Quebec’s insistence on some controls over things like burqas and hijabs. This blog is firmly (as you well know if you read me) in the secular camp, and will follow the Canadian story closely.

Guns pop up here and there in the piece, but never as a crucial part of the explanation. Isolation, alcohol, yadda yadda, but zillions of places have these characteristics. What they don’t have is a zillion guns on a bedside table ogling you.

A worthy successor to the first Hangover film, in which four drunk lads steal Mike Tyson’s tiger, Hangover 4 (release date scheduled to coincide with Nicholas Sarkozy’s first day in prison) finds the foursome gleefully pinching Qaddafi’s sculpture of a gold clenched fist crushing a silver American military jet. Hijinks ensue as an enraged Qaddafi orders his pal Sarkozy to fire up the French military to get it back.

Scathing Online Schoolmarm says: Especially if you’re a journalist, and especially if you’re referencing a very well-known legal principle, LOOK IT UP. Sheesh.

As to the particular subject matter of this typically INSANE story out of Texas, the state is invited to welcome a brand new city, established by the crazies who live there so they can be free to set their own demento rules. One thinks of the hare krishna cults establishing domains in places like Oregon back in the ‘nineties, until the lunatic excesses of their leaders drew the attention of the police.

The group currently in question is bible-thumping, gun-humping Torch of Freedom – pious shooters blasting their love of the lord 24/7.

Neighbors are seriously pissed (“We hear constant shooting. And when I say shooting, I’m not talking about a pistol or a shotgun. It’s a professional military-type shooting range and they were shooting high-powered rifles, essentially non-stop every day,” said Jim Schaefer, Gillespie County resident. “We cannot sit on our porch and enjoy the evening when they shoot. Sometimes they’ll shoot throughout the weekend.”), and, even though it’s absolutely berserko Texas, it looks as though local authorities also find Spewing for the Savior a bridge too far.

Yeah but meanwhile there’s an easy $150,000 to make by lying… er… testifying about a Tylenol/autism link. Headline, Harvard Crimson:

Harvard’s Public Health Dean Was Paid $150,000 to Testify Tylenol Causes Autism

Really disgusting. Surprising this behavior comes not only from Harvard, but Harvard’s dean of public health!

Greedy little dude refuses to talk to the Crimson about it, which is NOT surprising. If the Crimson keeps at the story, its reporters stand a chance of earning a journalism prize or two. And meanwhile, the greedy little dude gets to enjoy his time in the Trump sun.

Talk about trading on Harvard’s name!

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Shades of Dipak Panigrahy. Monetizing your Harvard connection in exchange for lying/plagiarizing/whatever ain’t exactly unpredecented. Remember another of Harvard’s finest, Ben Edelman? Andrei Shleiffer?

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Whaddya want me to say? Just tell me what to say in order for me to get paid or to save my ass:

In a statement on Monday night, Dr. Baccarelli slightly distanced himself from [the Trump administration’s claim of a causal relationship,] saying, “Further research is needed to confirm the association and determine causality, but based on existing evidence, I believe that caution about acetaminophen use during pregnancy — especially heavy or prolonged use — is warranted.”

In his 2023 expert report for the lawsuit, however, Dr. Baccarelli wrote that “substantial evidence supports a strong, positive, causal association between acetaminophen” and neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly autism and A.D.H.D.

Will he be fired? Stay tuned. Will a congressional inquiry happen? Stay tuned.

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“THE RIGHT DEAN AT THE RIGHT MOMENT”

Uh. Okay.

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Headline, Wall Street Journal:

Trump’s Favorite Harvard Professor

Big gun shop moving right next door to two day cares! What could go wrong?

… when all the kids in your town died from viruses for which we now have vaccines.

For many ultraorthodox, the old unvaccinated ways remain the best, which is why a bunch of their kids are currently suffering and dying from the measles. Well done!

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Let’s hear from the rabbis.

[S]ome ultra-Orthodox believe that there is a connection between vaccines and autism, despite the fact that the CDC says there is none. A major Orthodox rabbi has called vaccines a “hoax.” He and two other rabbis who sit on the rabbinnical board that guides Agudath Israel of America, the leading Haredi umbrella group, have cast doubt on the efficacy of vaccines.

On the efficacy of measles at killing children I assume these rabbis are in agreement.

That can’t be true, and it’s one sign among a few others (the article is generally fair) that Macleans – Canada’s leading magazine – reflects non-Quebec social attitudes. Plenty of non-deists are spiritual; we’re talking about religion here.

A large majority of Quebecers indeed opposes hijabs and other religious garb in the public sphere (schools, courts), and restrictions on this garb are currently in place there. As one supreme court decision put it:

[C]itizens should not be able to perceive any religious influence in state services, and … when a government representative is exercising their function, they are no longer a private citizen. Their first duty is to state neutrality, not their private beliefs.

In a few months, the supreme court will revisit Quebec’s secularity bill, and the notwithstanding clause that enables it; and it should be interesting. Issues going to the degree of Quebec’s autonomy are in play here; but more than that, opposition to face covering, for instance, is 76% in Quebec and not far behind (65%) in Canada overall; and though I can’t find federal numbers on the hijab, it looks as though at least half the country would probably follow Quebec.

… and then trades them in at a local vendor, and then immediately buys them back from the vendor at a significant discount (sale price $5,693.32), and then sells them on Facebook Marketplace for $14,700, how much profit does he make?

… for the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Yuja Wang.