jtriangle

How exactly do you do a blind study without literally giving people measles? It sounds like an impossible ethical situation.

That, and the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We had about 20 years of nearly no measles cases, and didn't get them again until people stopped vaccinating.

Also, without knowing what exactly went wrong, 4 billion dollars is a meaningless number. Most malpractice suits are borderline frivolous too, so that further biases your number.

Like anything, it's about how you filter the data. If you want the absolute worst number possible, you can get that with a good data set. If you want an absolutely accurate number of people actually harmed by the vaccine and only the vaccine, you can also get that with a good data set.

I've read the studies, the worst thing that I can see about it that's proven with any scientific backing is that it wears off a little when you get old. Easily fixed with a mid-life booster, but there's some debate as to when exactly that should happen.

If there are any serious risks with the vaccine itself, the empirical data shows that it's well below the margin of error.

Now, because we're on a conspiracy sub, it's probably a better conversation to think about why people are getting measles in general. Are the feds infecting people to coax people into getting a vaccine? I can see a 'good' argument on their side that it's worth maintaining herd immunity for national security reasons, and it wouldn't be the first time they'd done something like that.

Hell, it pales in comparison to spraying Serratia Marcescens on San Francisco or giving poor black people syphilis.

Most of the iraq vets that I know tend to be cool as a cucumber. Way less hot-headed than the average cop, and they do get fairly frequent psych evals ("going to the wizard") for awhile after they're out.

I'd say they're more qualified for this kind of gig than most. It's the gig itself that's questionable. There are probably easier ways to secure a school than big iron. My idea is that if there's a secure fence with perimeter detection (commodity nowadays) you can run everyone through metal detectors going in and out and be pretty certain that everyone on campus is supposed to be there and isn't a threat.

At that point, you can have a single guard with a concealed weapon keeping tabs on the fence and a group of people watching the metal detectors (that are more or less unskilled) and be way safer than just having a dude with a gun or dudes with guns patrolling around.