In medical school, we learned to discard anecdotes for valid research and stats. “Show me the paper,” we’d say, i.e., the peer-reviewed journal article.
Unfortunately, we now know that Big pharma might do 20 research studies on NewDrug$&$, but only publish the 2 favorable peer-reviewed ones. Let us see all of them, even if they didn't make it to peer-reviewed. $&$ gets their way most of the time. I wish I could believe the published research like you do.
I think the meaning of "peer-reviewed" may have changed over time.
At grad school in 1984, we tried to use scientific articles that were peer-reviewed. These peer-reviewed papers were published in academic journals that had editorial boards. The editorial boards for the journals in my specialization (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Soil Science Society of America, Society of American Foresters) were usually composed of 1/3 academia, 1/3 government, and 1/3 private industry. It was a diverse mix of perspectives that led to well rounded research that was pertinent.
After looking at the composisitition of several editorial boards recently, it appeqrs that the composition of review boards may have changed. What I saw is that they are about 1/2 academia and 1/2 government. Not sure why private industry is absent. But I do not think this is good.
In the early 2000s I was assembling research on the herbicide Round-Up for the Adirondack Park Agency. I came across several papers published by the National Institute of Health (NIH). The NIH papers claimed to be "Peer-Reviewed." And those words were digitally watermarked all over the NIH papers I read. It seemed funny that the NIH claimed to author and publish scientific papers and then claim they were "peer-reviewed." I wonder who the NIH's peers were?
So, claims of "peer-reviewed?" Might want to dig into the details to see what it means.
My son lives in NYC. We visit him regularly from our Maine home. We take the subway to get around. We have had no problems. How much time have you spent in NYC, Joe? Or do you prefer to blindly believe the right-wing media created version of what NYC is like? Garrison lives there and seems to think it's a nice place. I agree.
I'm a reality-based person, Joe. So, no, I don't deny news stories on ABC, NBC...the major outlets. Cities have crime. All cities. NYC gets picked on by FAUX and other right-wing outlets because of its politics. You won't see them focus on crime rates in Houston, unless the crime was committed by a POC.
Living here in Texas all of my 76 years, I can definitely say there are many of us who share your values and political views. We are outmaneuvered by years of Republican gerrymandering that has carved us into ineffectual voting areas. Extremely frustrating.
True. But that’s because the majority of the democrats live in the cities. And the cities have been carved up to weaken the vote. We are an all or nothing state. If our electors were selected by percentage of votes so both sides were represented, it would be a different story.
It’s incredible to read about the propaganda of Fox…as though CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. are gospel proclaimers. C’mon, Keillor…I hope you’re smarter than that.
Don't know why you make the leap from decrying criticism of Fox's "infotainment" to assuming those who criticizes swallow other news hook, line and sinker. Your household consumes news - actual news, not "Faux" - from a variety of sources, always with a critical eye, considering it's provenance.
Why? Long experience with decriers of Fox who never seem to decry all the other “infotainment” outlets. Fox always gets special attention as if it’s a media outlier. “It ain’t.”
Ah, you are of the "false equivalency" persuasion! That explains it. Only in that world are MSM news outlets - imperfect as they may be - lumped into cesspool that is Faux.
I was born, raised and educated in Texas. I am 60. I don’t recognize this place anymore. I’m a Willie Nelson, Ann Richards, Beto kind of Texan. I’m moving to CO in the spring. I will miss some things but the atmosphere is grim and restrictive. And yes, the country voted for this very thing. I just can’t understand.
Hard to say which is worse from Texas: their avowed master of all things terrifyingly horrible, he who is their Attorney General, Ken Paxton; their amazingly cruel governor who lives in a wheelchair himself Greg Abbott; the one who used to be called "the most hated man in the U.S. Senate" Ted Cruz, but he may have relinquished that title to others because the competition has gotten quite fierce. And then there are the "grown-up" men of law enforcement who in their heavily armed and military-level garb and communications managed to ignore the cries and whispered calls for help from little children in Uvalde, Texas while they waited outside in the hallway as a massacre took place. They must surely take the prize for worst, but it's a tough contest there in self-adoring Texas. Even PBS's "Austin City Limits" seems to have abandoned its "roots/Americana" music traditions and (opinion coming:) not for the better. Austin City Limits where the glories of Bonnie Raitt, John Prine, Nancy Griffith, and so many others so dear to a musical heart used to perform ... and now? Nothing like those artistic jewels now, but admittedly they are unique, extraordinary treasures.
T for Texas. T for oligarchy. T for Texas. T for misogyny.
Polls out of Texas say they want to secede. Who's arguing with 'em?!
We have to acknowledge that Texas is far from alone in being abominable in so many ways; think of Tommy Tubaville of Alabama, or Foghorn Leghorn Kennedy of Louisiana .... well, the list gets long fast. trump is going to make everything better soon and we know this because he has named an intellectual par excellence to be U.S. Ambassador to Bermuda, all shorts to be supplied to the job-holder, Herschel Walker, and a felon whose crime was among the most sordid, nastiest, most craven, not to mention a history of corruption and crookery but he is the father of a favored son-in-law, he who actually does sleep with the daughter most prized by trump, Father Kushner, U.S. Ambassador to France because.....???......he did a vile thing with lewd sexual attributes and filthy betrayal of his own brother and sister-in-law and trump thinks that's a good match for France?
Yeah. Well, to quote a marvelous radio personality from days gone by in St. Louis, MO when the hilariously creative Jack Carney's show had her on regularly, Miss Blue, who always told the listeners: All is well.
Jack Carney, bless his memory. And curse the airways that got converted to Rush Limbaugh, Missouri native and big blowhard so foul that even the Mighty Mississippi wanted to reverse course and return to Minnesota. And leave it to trump to give that excrescence a U.S. Medal of Freedom or of Honor or some other Medal of Lies. Of course he has put Kari Lake in charge of the Voice of America, but really, that seems about right these days, eh? Voice of America: lunacy and lies and, let's not forget, looting of America's treasure!
Love your on-the-money rant, but unaware of Austin City Limits having slipped. Although we seldom get to watch it, because PBS prefer to air crap like Antiques Road Show during our viewing time, we did recently see an excellent Jason Isbell show.
Our youngest daughter moved her family to the Houston area to get her Ph.D. Everything you said matches what they said and they couldn't wait to get out of Texas.
My nephew took his wife and children and moved from Texas to Connecticut for all these very reasons. My brother and his wife (from Texas) are soon to follow. I am going to be left, abandoned, in this horrible state. I am going to leave as soon as I am able.
Mr. Keillor is a brilliant writer/humorist until he (frequently of late) dips his toe into politics. Then he sounds like another MSNBC whiner. However, we are Americans and I willingly grant him his first amendment rights.
Mr. Keillor can't avoid politics now. None of us can. We have entered the Dark Ages of American history. The politics of perversion have become powerful. Profits over people. Coup complete.
But the pendulum swings both ways. The "Let them eat cake" moment is about to happen. A leader can't make so many bad decisions, surround himself with such vile people and piss off so, so, so many others - without reaping the ultimate payback.
Karma always occurs. Sometimes it just takes too long. But it does. Hang onto your hat. It's going to be a rough ride as the oligarchs invade every aspect of our lives. However, the peasants will rise up when it gets a little worse.
Maybe you can avoid "politics". Let us know what the secret is. In the meantime keep in mind that the Orange Menace will soon be the "deep state", the "establishment", the "Washington insider"...the "gumbmit". In America, EVERYTHING is the president's fault.
Brilliantly said. Keillor is a brain washed liberal who wouldn't know the truth if God himself revealed it too him. He would do well to either ignore politics at all or be willing to call out the idiocy of both sides.
Reminder: You are a wacko conspiracy theorist/Putin apologist who says that RFK Jr. is the only politician who tells us the truth. You are not someone to be taken seriously.
100%. And without precisely this kind of diversity, this kind of creative rivalry, the whole country would have long since slid off the edge into seriously crazy and the experiment would have ended. Sure, the ultra and infra ends of the spectrum are harmful, but they serve as brackets to define the experience of light.
I just turned 77 and I love everything you write, Garrison, because you put into pungent prose much of what I think and feel day to day. Thank you.
The only point on which I disagree is Moby Dick. You really should read it. When I retired and finally read the copy I'd had on my shelf since high school, I said to myself, "Wow, now I understand what all the fuss is about!"
Why does Mr. Keillor not factor in the reverse dynamic? Perhaps an influence peddling Vice President who covered for a drug addicted son's laptop and whose administration fine tuned law-fare against the scary Donald Trump? Even reaching into my State of Georgia with White House trips by the lover of the Fulton County DA to coordinate more against Trump supporters who dared to speak out against the 2020 debacle. Please Mr. Keillor, open YOUR mind to liberal bias.
Reminder: You are a wacko conspiracy theorist/Putin apologist who says that RFK Jr. is the only politician willing to tell us the truth. You are not someone to be taken seriously.
A fool is someone who says things like "RFK Jr. is the only politician willing to tell us the truth." You are a conspiracy theorist and someone not to be taken seriously.
Reality speaks…this Dana person is kind of unhinged. I tried to have an intelligent discussion with her. But she would have nothing to do with it. Continually ranting at me about being an ardent supporter of a rapist etc etc. She contended me with similar gibberish.
Donny is still a felon. The felon. And he is scary. Please, Maribeth, keep your mind open to the fact that you put a felon in the White House. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
It was Trump who reached into "your" state of Georgia in an effort to compel Georgia *Republicans* to "find" him more votes. It's on tape, not that proof would matter to you. Your attitude embodies what Garrison Keillor described when he wrote "the heart of the illness in this country, the willingness to believe what you know is not true in order to think more of yourself and less of other people." It's both shameless and shameful.
Late husband and I were in Houston for 35 years. We made our nickels so we could eventually collect our pennies.
Having grown up in Alabama a move to Houston in 1981 was culture shock. The big thing was and still is the traffic. There is a 610 that feeds into 45 one way into Galveston the other way into Dallas. Construction on both sides is neverending.
Texas put the twang in my speech. I could still say y'all and be understood. I learned emergency Spanish words for help, and for bathroom. I could listen to conversational Spanish and pick up words. Pero has two meanings depending on the situation. One is dog and one is but as in I would like to stay but here is my bus.
I made a foray into Ohio to put my husband to eternal rest and came back to Alabama where if we have a snow event it is gone by noon.
If you ever have occasion to return to Houston ride bus route 26 loop both inner and outer. That is the best way to see all social strata. Enjoy your snowy Minnesota life.
We will get through this. If Trump does what he says he's going to do, inflation will soar. If RFKjr's stupid ideas about vaccination prevail, Republicans will expire in greater numbers from bird flu or whatever seeds the next pandemic, but probably not enough to overcome gerrymandering. But disgust with MAGA and the MAGA-DOGE billionaires will, and we will limp forward, unbowed and maybe a little smarter. Oh, and it would help a lot if when the ancient Murdoch expires, his less evil offspring take over.
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/juvenile-2-others-capital-murder-charges-child-dies-dallas-shooting/
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/police-respond-to-shooting-in-northeast-fort-worth/
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/video/dallas-police-investigate-third-homicide-of-the-week-after-shooting-near-downtown/
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/vehicle-drives-through-killeen-texas-mall-several-people-hurt-suspect-killed/
In medical school, we learned to discard anecdotes for valid research and stats. “Show me the paper,” we’d say, i.e., the peer-reviewed journal article.
Unfortunately, we now know that Big pharma might do 20 research studies on NewDrug$&$, but only publish the 2 favorable peer-reviewed ones. Let us see all of them, even if they didn't make it to peer-reviewed. $&$ gets their way most of the time. I wish I could believe the published research like you do.
I think the meaning of "peer-reviewed" may have changed over time.
At grad school in 1984, we tried to use scientific articles that were peer-reviewed. These peer-reviewed papers were published in academic journals that had editorial boards. The editorial boards for the journals in my specialization (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Soil Science Society of America, Society of American Foresters) were usually composed of 1/3 academia, 1/3 government, and 1/3 private industry. It was a diverse mix of perspectives that led to well rounded research that was pertinent.
After looking at the composisitition of several editorial boards recently, it appeqrs that the composition of review boards may have changed. What I saw is that they are about 1/2 academia and 1/2 government. Not sure why private industry is absent. But I do not think this is good.
In the early 2000s I was assembling research on the herbicide Round-Up for the Adirondack Park Agency. I came across several papers published by the National Institute of Health (NIH). The NIH papers claimed to be "Peer-Reviewed." And those words were digitally watermarked all over the NIH papers I read. It seemed funny that the NIH claimed to author and publish scientific papers and then claim they were "peer-reviewed." I wonder who the NIH's peers were?
So, claims of "peer-reviewed?" Might want to dig into the details to see what it means.
My son lives in NYC. We visit him regularly from our Maine home. We take the subway to get around. We have had no problems. How much time have you spent in NYC, Joe? Or do you prefer to blindly believe the right-wing media created version of what NYC is like? Garrison lives there and seems to think it's a nice place. I agree.
I'm a reality-based person, Joe. So, no, I don't deny news stories on ABC, NBC...the major outlets. Cities have crime. All cities. NYC gets picked on by FAUX and other right-wing outlets because of its politics. You won't see them focus on crime rates in Houston, unless the crime was committed by a POC.
I have no Messiahs, political or otherwise. Happy New Year to you & yours as well.
A lot of what you are tacitly condoning in the name of Jesus is quite scary. Are you an adherent of antinomianism?
Yes! I always feel safe in NYC. According to Best Places to Live website:
Highlights
- New York has 24% less violent crime than Dallas.
- New York has 51% less property crime than Dallas.
Living here in Texas all of my 76 years, I can definitely say there are many of us who share your values and political views. We are outmaneuvered by years of Republican gerrymandering that has carved us into ineffectual voting areas. Extremely frustrating.
Yes, except that a senate race is statewide and as GK pointed out, Texas still elected the abhorrent Ted Cruz.
Same for us here in Florida, sadly...
I'm in Fl and see this as well. It's heartbreaking.
Being a Democrat in Texas is somewhat of a dangerous thing. I am, but seriously keep it under wraps. It is beyond comprehension.
True. But that’s because the majority of the democrats live in the cities. And the cities have been carved up to weaken the vote. We are an all or nothing state. If our electors were selected by percentage of votes so both sides were represented, it would be a different story.
I only wonder if we're going to get it good and hard.
Here in Wuhan, one can't make fun of the government like in America, so, there's that.
I think that's guaranteed now.
It’s incredible to read about the propaganda of Fox…as though CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. are gospel proclaimers. C’mon, Keillor…I hope you’re smarter than that.
Don't know why you make the leap from decrying criticism of Fox's "infotainment" to assuming those who criticizes swallow other news hook, line and sinker. Your household consumes news - actual news, not "Faux" - from a variety of sources, always with a critical eye, considering it's provenance.
Why? Long experience with decriers of Fox who never seem to decry all the other “infotainment” outlets. Fox always gets special attention as if it’s a media outlier. “It ain’t.”
Ah, you are of the "false equivalency" persuasion! That explains it. Only in that world are MSM news outlets - imperfect as they may be - lumped into cesspool that is Faux.
Ah, I see you’re a kool-aid drinker. Everything makes sense now.
Check to see how Faux is registered with the FCC - FOX ENTERTAINMENT-not news
Yes it is.
And I say again, I don't remember any other network paying more than half a billion dollars for blatantly lying to their viewers, do you?
Yes, it is.
I don't remember any of those other networks paying more than half a billion dollars for blatantly lying to their viewers, do you?
I'm an old newspaper reader.
👏 we are too.
I was born, raised and educated in Texas. I am 60. I don’t recognize this place anymore. I’m a Willie Nelson, Ann Richards, Beto kind of Texan. I’m moving to CO in the spring. I will miss some things but the atmosphere is grim and restrictive. And yes, the country voted for this very thing. I just can’t understand.
Good luck to you in your new home. ♥️
“Beyo kind of Texan”. And what kind of Texan is that?
Hard to say which is worse from Texas: their avowed master of all things terrifyingly horrible, he who is their Attorney General, Ken Paxton; their amazingly cruel governor who lives in a wheelchair himself Greg Abbott; the one who used to be called "the most hated man in the U.S. Senate" Ted Cruz, but he may have relinquished that title to others because the competition has gotten quite fierce. And then there are the "grown-up" men of law enforcement who in their heavily armed and military-level garb and communications managed to ignore the cries and whispered calls for help from little children in Uvalde, Texas while they waited outside in the hallway as a massacre took place. They must surely take the prize for worst, but it's a tough contest there in self-adoring Texas. Even PBS's "Austin City Limits" seems to have abandoned its "roots/Americana" music traditions and (opinion coming:) not for the better. Austin City Limits where the glories of Bonnie Raitt, John Prine, Nancy Griffith, and so many others so dear to a musical heart used to perform ... and now? Nothing like those artistic jewels now, but admittedly they are unique, extraordinary treasures.
T for Texas. T for oligarchy. T for Texas. T for misogyny.
Polls out of Texas say they want to secede. Who's arguing with 'em?!
We have to acknowledge that Texas is far from alone in being abominable in so many ways; think of Tommy Tubaville of Alabama, or Foghorn Leghorn Kennedy of Louisiana .... well, the list gets long fast. trump is going to make everything better soon and we know this because he has named an intellectual par excellence to be U.S. Ambassador to Bermuda, all shorts to be supplied to the job-holder, Herschel Walker, and a felon whose crime was among the most sordid, nastiest, most craven, not to mention a history of corruption and crookery but he is the father of a favored son-in-law, he who actually does sleep with the daughter most prized by trump, Father Kushner, U.S. Ambassador to France because.....???......he did a vile thing with lewd sexual attributes and filthy betrayal of his own brother and sister-in-law and trump thinks that's a good match for France?
Yeah. Well, to quote a marvelous radio personality from days gone by in St. Louis, MO when the hilariously creative Jack Carney's show had her on regularly, Miss Blue, who always told the listeners: All is well.
Jack Carney, bless his memory. And curse the airways that got converted to Rush Limbaugh, Missouri native and big blowhard so foul that even the Mighty Mississippi wanted to reverse course and return to Minnesota. And leave it to trump to give that excrescence a U.S. Medal of Freedom or of Honor or some other Medal of Lies. Of course he has put Kari Lake in charge of the Voice of America, but really, that seems about right these days, eh? Voice of America: lunacy and lies and, let's not forget, looting of America's treasure!
LOL.....(but not really laughing)
Happy New Year.
Love your on-the-money rant, but unaware of Austin City Limits having slipped. Although we seldom get to watch it, because PBS prefer to air crap like Antiques Road Show during our viewing time, we did recently see an excellent Jason Isbell show.
Our youngest daughter moved her family to the Houston area to get her Ph.D. Everything you said matches what they said and they couldn't wait to get out of Texas.
Oy♥️
❤ Thank you, Annie.
My nephew took his wife and children and moved from Texas to Connecticut for all these very reasons. My brother and his wife (from Texas) are soon to follow. I am going to be left, abandoned, in this horrible state. I am going to leave as soon as I am able.
Stay in Texas, and remain outwardly politically neutral. A change in geography change little in one's life.
Mr. Keillor is a brilliant writer/humorist until he (frequently of late) dips his toe into politics. Then he sounds like another MSNBC whiner. However, we are Americans and I willingly grant him his first amendment rights.
Mr. Keillor can't avoid politics now. None of us can. We have entered the Dark Ages of American history. The politics of perversion have become powerful. Profits over people. Coup complete.
But the pendulum swings both ways. The "Let them eat cake" moment is about to happen. A leader can't make so many bad decisions, surround himself with such vile people and piss off so, so, so many others - without reaping the ultimate payback.
Karma always occurs. Sometimes it just takes too long. But it does. Hang onto your hat. It's going to be a rough ride as the oligarchs invade every aspect of our lives. However, the peasants will rise up when it gets a little worse.
Maybe you can avoid "politics". Let us know what the secret is. In the meantime keep in mind that the Orange Menace will soon be the "deep state", the "establishment", the "Washington insider"...the "gumbmit". In America, EVERYTHING is the president's fault.
Brilliantly said. Keillor is a brain washed liberal who wouldn't know the truth if God himself revealed it too him. He would do well to either ignore politics at all or be willing to call out the idiocy of both sides.
Reminder: You are a wacko conspiracy theorist/Putin apologist who says that RFK Jr. is the only politician who tells us the truth. You are not someone to be taken seriously.
This stuff is not politics.
Can we collectively call California and Texas diversity?
100%. And without precisely this kind of diversity, this kind of creative rivalry, the whole country would have long since slid off the edge into seriously crazy and the experiment would have ended. Sure, the ultra and infra ends of the spectrum are harmful, but they serve as brackets to define the experience of light.
I just turned 77 and I love everything you write, Garrison, because you put into pungent prose much of what I think and feel day to day. Thank you.
The only point on which I disagree is Moby Dick. You really should read it. When I retired and finally read the copy I'd had on my shelf since high school, I said to myself, "Wow, now I understand what all the fuss is about!"
PS And reading complex, richly composed stories helps keep your mind off the horrors that fill our remaining newspapers.
Like ted Cruz getting elected over and over again.
1 John 5:19.
Yes it does.
Why does Mr. Keillor not factor in the reverse dynamic? Perhaps an influence peddling Vice President who covered for a drug addicted son's laptop and whose administration fine tuned law-fare against the scary Donald Trump? Even reaching into my State of Georgia with White House trips by the lover of the Fulton County DA to coordinate more against Trump supporters who dared to speak out against the 2020 debacle. Please Mr. Keillor, open YOUR mind to liberal bias.
This is your brain on Fox.
Have you been peeking into my phone and computer on what I read? Amazing, your powers of insight.
Insight not needed. The assertion that the “very special boy” is above the law speaks for itself.
Tell us more about the debacle.I'm curious.
you will quickly find out that no one of your critics is even remotely aware of what you just wrote.
Reminder: You are a wacko conspiracy theorist/Putin apologist who says that RFK Jr. is the only politician willing to tell us the truth. You are not someone to be taken seriously.
Where did you get all of that ignorant nonsense!!!!
See above.
love being a troll? and a fool?
A fool is someone who says things like "RFK Jr. is the only politician willing to tell us the truth." You are a conspiracy theorist and someone not to be taken seriously.
Reality speaks…this Dana person is kind of unhinged. I tried to have an intelligent discussion with her. But she would have nothing to do with it. Continually ranting at me about being an ardent supporter of a rapist etc etc. She contended me with similar gibberish.
Donny is still a felon. The felon. And he is scary. Please, Maribeth, keep your mind open to the fact that you put a felon in the White House. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
It was Trump who reached into "your" state of Georgia in an effort to compel Georgia *Republicans* to "find" him more votes. It's on tape, not that proof would matter to you. Your attitude embodies what Garrison Keillor described when he wrote "the heart of the illness in this country, the willingness to believe what you know is not true in order to think more of yourself and less of other people." It's both shameless and shameful.
Late husband and I were in Houston for 35 years. We made our nickels so we could eventually collect our pennies.
Having grown up in Alabama a move to Houston in 1981 was culture shock. The big thing was and still is the traffic. There is a 610 that feeds into 45 one way into Galveston the other way into Dallas. Construction on both sides is neverending.
Texas put the twang in my speech. I could still say y'all and be understood. I learned emergency Spanish words for help, and for bathroom. I could listen to conversational Spanish and pick up words. Pero has two meanings depending on the situation. One is dog and one is but as in I would like to stay but here is my bus.
I made a foray into Ohio to put my husband to eternal rest and came back to Alabama where if we have a snow event it is gone by noon.
If you ever have occasion to return to Houston ride bus route 26 loop both inner and outer. That is the best way to see all social strata. Enjoy your snowy Minnesota life.
Perro and Pero
We will get through this. If Trump does what he says he's going to do, inflation will soar. If RFKjr's stupid ideas about vaccination prevail, Republicans will expire in greater numbers from bird flu or whatever seeds the next pandemic, but probably not enough to overcome gerrymandering. But disgust with MAGA and the MAGA-DOGE billionaires will, and we will limp forward, unbowed and maybe a little smarter. Oh, and it would help a lot if when the ancient Murdoch expires, his less evil offspring take over.