We are ruled by idiots

Case in point: Representative Brad Sherman, a Jewish Democrat from California. He had some advice for Jane Yellen on the timing of interest rate changes.

God’s plan is not for things to rise in the autumn. As a matter of a fact, that’s why we call it fall. Nor is it God’s plan for things to rise in the winter through the snow. God’s plan is that things rise in the spring. So, if you want to be good with the Almighty, you might want to delay until May.

He proudly tweeted a summary.

So don’t make souffles in the fall. Guys, if you have a disappointing performance in the bedroom, just tell your partner that it was God’s plan. All flags must be at half-mast during the fall. I’m going to start sleeping in — it’s fall, we’re not supposed to rise.

Sherman, despite having a liberal view on many things, is a fool. And his foolishness is derived from his religiosity.

Medical arrogance

firstdonoharm

Holy crap, a doctor talks about her training experience, and I’m horrified.

So here I was, handling the plane (the layer, or space) around the IVC [inferior vena cava] with care to avoid ripping it. It seemed like the intelligent thing to do. My attending asked, “Why are you being so dainty with your dissection there?” I answered that I wanted to avoid ripping the cava because they’re so much harder to fix.

Big mistake.

I take it he interpreted my comment as fear, and decided upon a teaching moment. He took his scissors and incredibly, before my eyes, and with no warning or preparation of any kind, cut a one-inch hole in the cava.

I was stunned. As I tried to process what I just saw, incredulous that he would actually intentionally make a hole in the cava, and as dark blood poured out of the hole, the tide rising steadily in the abdomen, he remarked, “Well, are you just going to stand there or are you going to fix that?”

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Mary’s Monday Metazoan: A member of the family

Chimpanzee_Family

Good news, everyone! The US Fish and Wildlife Service has decided that captive chimpanzees deserve the same protection as wild chimpanzees. We’ve been living for years with a peculiar split decision that says it is illegal to experiment on some chimps, the ones still living in the wild, but other chimps, those that live in research colonies, have fewer protections.

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Markuze gets sentenced

The infamous Dennis Markuze/David Mabus, who has been harrassing skeptics and atheists for over 20 years, has been sentenced. A suspended sentence.

Markuze’s suspended sentence includes three years of probation during which he is required to follow treatment with Semeniuk and to take any medication prescribed to him. He is also forbidden to communicate with Farley through the Internet, Twitter or other forms of social media. He is also not allowed to communicate with anyone who is part of the same educational forum as Farley.

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Reddit: it’s like a delicious bowl of ice cream, with only a few flecks of shit & poison in it

I know that Reddit is immensely popular and has some good qualities, but I’ve never been able to get into it, because it invariably happens that anything I read there will be tainted by some hideous commentary. I don’t just mean comments I disagree with; I read creationist sites for entertainment, you know. I mean comments that cause me to despair for humanity.

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