But I'm not trying to make the case for the Lancet's report. I'd be trying to make the cranks make a case against it, because, frankly, I see no need to spend time finding thoughtful arguments against an unsupported assertion. If you go down that road, the cranks can engage in a Gish Gallop, making shit up as they go along, and you'll be left trying to refute every little detail - ceding control of the direction of the conversation.

The cranks made a claim about the state and nature of the peer-reviewed literature, and I say that if we engage them over it, we refuse to treat them as mature adults until they have backed it up. They have no claim on our time and effort as long as they're making shit up as they go along.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.