Free Republic

Ron Paul should have been president. That’s how I see it at least. On everything that has come to matter the most, he has been vindicated. The wars have been a disaster and Dr. Paul knew it. The money printing has run this country’s economy ragged and enriched its most deceitful. And Dr. Paul knew it. Our people are spied on, pried on, cajoled, mocked, and belittled by the intelligence agencies and federal bureaucrats who throw around words such as “terror” while targeting our civil liberties. And Dr. Paul knew it. When it wasn’t pretty, Dr. Paul would say it....

Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, recently warned that “being socially disconnected” has a similar effect on mortality as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. This statement was widely reported in the media, including in the Washington Post, the Times and the Daily Mail. But where does this “15 cigarettes a day” figure come from? Dr Murthy is referring to a study published in 2010 that explored social relationships and mortality rates. The researchers combined the data from 148 studies on the topic, in what is known as a “meta-analysis”, to arrive at a more robust statistical answer to...