My 40 Year War on Psychiatry

Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard

“Forty years ago, I attended the annual meetings of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington and my sanity never recovered. Or at least that is what therapists presume based on my writings about their endless fabrication of bogus mental illnesses.” (06/16/26)

https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/06/16/my-40-year-war-on-psychiatry/

NY: Mangione will assert psychiatric defense in murder case in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Luigi Mangione plans to assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial, claiming he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a judge said Wednesday. That could mean less prison time if he’s convicted. A jury that accepts such a defense would be obligated to convict Mangione of manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, instead of murder, which could put him behind bars for the rest of his life. An emotional disturbance defense isn’t available in Mangione’s federal case, where he also faces a possible life sentence. New York Judge Gregory Carro announced the defense’s decision in court two weeks after holding a secret hearing on the matter. He said he will unseal a transcript and other records from that hearing once redactions are made.” (06/17/26)

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2026/06/17/luigi-mangione-defense-argument-ruling/stories/202606170041

Norway: Crown princess has “successful” lung transplant

Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]

“Norway’s ⁠Crown Princess Mette-Marit has undergone ⁠a successful lung transplant and is recovering ⁠from the procedure, the royal household said in a statement on Wednesday. The 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a chronic disease that causes scarring in the lungs and leads to a reduced oxygen uptake. … Oslo University ⁠Hospital on June 5 said Mette-Marit had been placed on a waiting list for a lung transplant after ‌a significant deterioration in her health that likely gave her only a year to live without the surgery.” (06/17/26)

https://archive.is/Jiffc

The FDA Can’t Manage Its Own Risk Problem

Source: Independent Institute
by Raymond J March

“Private companies—whether making medical goods or anything else — flourish or fail by assessing risk well. The FDA doesn’t face that discipline. The agency’s only real power is to remove products from the market or stop them from entering it. That is a blunt instrument applied to an incredibly dynamic market for medical goods. More importantly, accepting risk is a matter of personal preference and available alternatives — circumstances that differ for every patient and cannot be aggregated into a one-size-fits-all standard without discarding what makes medical treatment effective in the first place.” (06/16/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/16/fda-risk-problem/

Never Cross a River Four Feet Deep on Average

Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Sasha Putilin

“The results of my ACX Grants 2024 project are in. The project attempted to replicate the 2023 study ‘Learning at your brain’s rhythm: individualized entrainment boosts learning for perceptual decisions.’ It claimed that if you read a person’s brain waves, figured out an individual peak alpha frequency, and flashed a bright white light at that frequency, then they learned a certain perceptual task faster. Why bother? The result hinted that learning may depend in part on how well the brain keeps its rhythms coordinated.” (06/16/26)

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/never-cross-a-river-four-feet-deep

UK teen social media ban is anonymity-killer for adults

Source: Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
by Sarah McLaughlin

“The United Kingdom is unveiling a grand new policy it claims will protect children on social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and X. The exact rules governing the ban will be released before its launch next year, but it will use age verification tools to restrict youth access to social media and other programs. But this new ‘under-16’ policy, like many others before it, is a misnomer. Because whether you’re 15 or 55, it will affect people regardless of age — and drain away all UK citizens’ ability to speak freely and anonymously online.” (06/16/26)

https://www.fire.org/news/blogs/free-speech-dispatch/uk-teen-social-media-ban-anonymity-killer-adults