Out with the old year, in with the new…with Insolence [Respectful Insolence]


As 2015 draws to a close today, all I can think is: Another year in the can. Since my family is here, and it’s a holiday, I’m going to keep this one brief and wish everyone a Happy New Year.

In addition, I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen in 2016. Who could have predicted that last year would begin with a measles outbreak centered at Disneyland that would end up inspiring a law in California that I never would have thought possible, namely SB 277, which eliminates nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates. Who could have predicted that the antivaccine movement, in particular Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., would get all chummy with the Nation of Islam? Knowing that predictions are a fool’s errand, I still can’t resist making a few before I retire to my parents’ house to see sisters and my nephews. So here goes. Most predictions will be painfully obvious; some not. In 2016, I predict:

  1. As the 2016-2017 school year approaches, which is the first year nonmedical exemptions will be banned, the antivaccine movement in California will get even crazier. (I know, I know. This is obvious, but I thought I’d start with low hanging fruit.)
  2. Stanislaw Burzynski will slither away from justice yet again. (I really hope I’m mistaken about this one, but fear that I am not.)
  3. Robert O. Young will also slither away from justice. (Again, I hope I’m wrong, but I’m in a pessimistic mood.)
  4. There will be more measles and pertussis outbreaks, thanks to antivaccine loons. (Yes, this is a no-brainer.)
  5. I will be depressed in May because, due to a conflict with my real job, I will not be able to speak at the Science-Based Medicine day of NECSS.
  6. We will finally see the documents that the “CDC whistleblower” William Thompson gave to Rep. Bill Posey and that Ben Swann currently has. There will be no evidence in them that the CDC covered up a link between the MMR vaccine and autism in African-American boys, but antivaccine loons will do their best to spin it that way. (Some readers know that I’m cheating a bit on this one.)
  7. The sham that is right-to-try will spread to most of the remaining states that haven’t passed it yet.
  8. More academic medical centers will embrace quackademic medicine.
  9. Finally, because of all these pessimistic predictions, there will be much Insolence in 2016.

Oh, and maybe I’ll have to attend one of these Michigan Psychic Fairs. They’re all over southeast Michigan, a couple of locations pretty close to where I live.

What are your predictions, my minions?



from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1R1rVw0

As 2015 draws to a close today, all I can think is: Another year in the can. Since my family is here, and it’s a holiday, I’m going to keep this one brief and wish everyone a Happy New Year.

In addition, I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen in 2016. Who could have predicted that last year would begin with a measles outbreak centered at Disneyland that would end up inspiring a law in California that I never would have thought possible, namely SB 277, which eliminates nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates. Who could have predicted that the antivaccine movement, in particular Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., would get all chummy with the Nation of Islam? Knowing that predictions are a fool’s errand, I still can’t resist making a few before I retire to my parents’ house to see sisters and my nephews. So here goes. Most predictions will be painfully obvious; some not. In 2016, I predict:

  1. As the 2016-2017 school year approaches, which is the first year nonmedical exemptions will be banned, the antivaccine movement in California will get even crazier. (I know, I know. This is obvious, but I thought I’d start with low hanging fruit.)
  2. Stanislaw Burzynski will slither away from justice yet again. (I really hope I’m mistaken about this one, but fear that I am not.)
  3. Robert O. Young will also slither away from justice. (Again, I hope I’m wrong, but I’m in a pessimistic mood.)
  4. There will be more measles and pertussis outbreaks, thanks to antivaccine loons. (Yes, this is a no-brainer.)
  5. I will be depressed in May because, due to a conflict with my real job, I will not be able to speak at the Science-Based Medicine day of NECSS.
  6. We will finally see the documents that the “CDC whistleblower” William Thompson gave to Rep. Bill Posey and that Ben Swann currently has. There will be no evidence in them that the CDC covered up a link between the MMR vaccine and autism in African-American boys, but antivaccine loons will do their best to spin it that way. (Some readers know that I’m cheating a bit on this one.)
  7. The sham that is right-to-try will spread to most of the remaining states that haven’t passed it yet.
  8. More academic medical centers will embrace quackademic medicine.
  9. Finally, because of all these pessimistic predictions, there will be much Insolence in 2016.

Oh, and maybe I’ll have to attend one of these Michigan Psychic Fairs. They’re all over southeast Michigan, a couple of locations pretty close to where I live.

What are your predictions, my minions?



from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1R1rVw0
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