Regarding the drive to ban abortion after 20 weeks: As I understand it, most abortions that occur after 20 weeks are due to fetal abnormalities or other health issues. In a lot of cases, these are planned pregnancies or pregnancies that the woman had planned to complete but couldn't. A lot of fetal abnormalities…

Joke is on the Duggars. That cat was GAY — and now they are!

I'd be chill like Buffett if I had $66 billion. (Instead, I worry about being laid off and not being able to get another job due to my age.)

He's totally right - most major political accomplishments in the US were made through polite action. The suffragettes convinced everyone with their tasteful garden parties, slavery was ended through a pancake breakfast and handshake photo op, and workers rights were secured through a series of upbeat, catchy slogans.…

I'm sure we'd all be better off if our kids played GTA instead...

Am I getting old - is that why I don't fucking understand all these YouTube videos that involve a video of people playing a video game or watching a TV show???? Why the fuck would you spend 30 minutes watching somebody else do something as opposed to doing it yourself? GET OFF MY LAWN WHY IS STUFF SO EXPENSIVE THESE…

I do not feel at all comfortable stating that there are "probably" no meaningful medical consequences of widespread abuse of first line antibiotics. Terrifying resistant species are appearing in India secondary to regular use of over the counter antibiotics, available at every pharmacy for anyone with a headache and…

Why do you respect his opinion? I mean if he's your friend, I totally understand respecting him. But his opinion isn't worth much. It's not just daft, it's objectively wrong.

What happened to your family was a terrible tragedy. The unexplained death of a child has got to be one of the most horrible things that can happen to anyone.

You get the Hep B vaccine at birth because Hep B in newborns can cripple them for life and one of the most likely places you can get a bloodborne disease like Hep B is in the hospital. Yes, sometimes woman honest do not know that they are Hep B positive, especially if they get infected later during pregnancy (on one…

My bullshit meter is off the charts with this post. The first MMR vaccine in the schedule occurs after the first birthday. "I'm not an anti-vaxxer but I'm going to make a post implying that I think a vaccine a three month old wouldn't have even received is what killed them." SIDS is a thing up until 12 months. Your…

It's true that there have been a few additions. However, most of the vaccines that were given then have been re-formulated in the interim such that they have much lower antigenic load. So it's really not directly comparable.

It is outrageously irresponsible to give in to patient demands for antibiotics, and the consequences are suffered by us all.

It's partly "as soon as possible" and partly because it's extremely efficient. It makes sense to limit the number of times a child needs to go sit in a line and use up the time and services of the staff at the injection clinic or whomever in the exam room. Spreading them out is potentially risky and utterly…

Except for the fact that smokers are making personal decisions. These parents are making decisions that can be dangerous for their children and other children who cannot receive vaccines.

That's not true. You can look at the CDC website to see the schedule as far back as 1983. For measles, for example, the first MMR shot was recommended to be at 15 mos. in 1983. Now its given between 12 and 15. DTaP was at 2, 4, and 6 months in 1983, as it is now.

I am at the point now where if someone I am meeting for the first time espouses anti-vax beliefs, I just nope out of there. I don't have time to be patient with people who are willfully ignorant and hold stupid, dangerous viewpoints.

You can drive a mack truck through those exemptions, which is the problem.

The "argument" is that spreading out the injections reduces the likelihood of the negative reactions to the injections. This what we would describe charitably in medicine as a "naive view." It's so counterfactual as to be ludicrous.

Sounds like an urban myth to me.