Maggie's Farm

Jerryskids: Are there any institutions that have any credibility left at all or have all of them fallen victim to Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy?

Pournelle's Iron Law purportedly applies to all bureaucracies. However, there are countervailing influences. Government bureaucracies often have to respond overseeing powers. Democracies, in particular, have an accountability and renewal process due to having to respond to the electorate.

The American Medical Association is a private bureaucracy, but it still has to respond to its membership. The bureaucracy can only go so far before its membership is riled up enough to cast them out.

There is a great deal of inertia, though. So, Pournelle's Iron Law is more of a strong tendency or force that can take a significant effort to overcome.

indyjonesouthere: I think that many practicing doctors are going to the AAPS.

That is certainly one check on private bureaucratic organizations. However, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) only has 5,000 members compared to 272,000 members in the American Medical Association (AMA).

Greg Andreassian, MD: I have been a physician for almost forty years and not only l have I never been a member of the AMA, I've never met a physician that is a member.

About one in four physicians belong to the AMA making it the largest trade association of physicians. They also publish the high-impact medical journal, Journal of the American Medical Association.

Greg Andreassian, MD: Long ago it veered left and away from the views of most physicians.

AMA political contributions generally lean right.

That was the question of the early twentieth century. Fascists bet that democracies could not unite to stop aggression, but would quibble and debauch themselves to death. But then, FDR led America to thread the needle between the extremes of the political left and right, while still marshaling resources to sustain the people during the Great Depression and, thereby, creating a great reservoir of trust. When war became inevitable, the American people and the West rallied behind the effort to defeat fascism.


They certainly are aware of American history. Everyone in the Imperial Period of classical antiquity knew who the Emperor was in Rome. However, people see everything through the prism of their own experience.


Actually, that is much how America acted during the interwar period, though the conflict was more about class than race, more about socialism and capitalism.


If you believe in a world where everyone has a say in its future, then China should certainly have a big part to play.


True. However, countries often miscalculate or respond to internal forces in what would seem to be irrational acts. China, though, has experienced uncontrolled outbreaks of violence, so has acted cautiously to build its power and influence.


Authoritarianism is self-limiting. While authoritarianism can work with early industrialization, innovation in the modern era requires an open society.


Smite? Probably not. The center of power is shifting. America can still lead as the first among equals, but it can't and shouldn't act as hegemon or provoke an unnecessary and destructive war. Nor should China.

Anon: It is time for the government, the scientific community and the MSM to admit that they were wrong about Covid and the vaccine and that those decisions they made and the mandates cost lives.

Of course they were wrong about some things: It was a novel coronavirus. However, the fundamentals were right; that the pandemic had the potential to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans, and that rapid deployment of a vaccine could save thousands of lives.

Meanwhile, some Americans continue to try and tear down their scientific infrastructure, even as H5N1 influenza virus is spilling over into mammals (including mink).

JustMe: There is no evidence that the lockdowns, the mask mandates or the vaccine prevented any of those deaths or hospitalizations.

Multiple empirical studies show that the probability of hospitalization or death from COVID is significantly reduced by vaccination. For each 200-300 doses one life was saved in the first year the vaccine was available.

JustMe: There is considerable evidence that Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine would have saved lives

Blind, randomized trials show no beneficial effect on COVID for either of those drugs.

ruralcounsel: These experimental "vaccines" are likely going to end up killing and/or disabling more people than the virus itself.

The evidence is that the COVID vaccine saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and side effects are rare. There is no reason to suppose that mRNA technology will cause more side effects than other vaccines, and side effects are almost certainly much less likely than actual infection which involves the same spike protein that the mRNA produces.

ruralcounsel: And nobody can trust anything being said about ivermection or HCQ

Blind, random trials are the best way to determine efficacy. Such trials find no evidence that those drugs are effective in the treatment of COVID.

Two Years of U.S. COVID-19 Vaccines Have Prevented Millions of Hospitalizations and Deaths. Also, see Watson et al., Global impact of the first year of COVID-19 vaccination, The Lancet 2022.

See Naggie et al., Effect of Ivermectin vs Placebo on Time to Sustained Recovery in Outpatients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19, Journal of the American Medical Association 2022. See Avezum et al., Hydroxychloroquine versus placebo in the treatment of non-hospitalised patients with COVID-19 (COPE – Coalition V): A double-blind, multicentre, randomised, controlled trial, The Lancet 2022.