Happy landings, A**hole

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David Strom insists that we watch this entire 4-minute video of Gordon Guyatt’s immolation — “I promise you it’s worth it”. And he’s absolutely right (if just for the hilarious enjoyment of watching a “noted scientist” blow himself up), but be sure to read Strom’s entire column as well.

A Perfect Encapsulation of Why Nobody Trusts the Establishment Anymore

Dr. Gordon Guyatt is commonly referred to as "the father of evidence-based medicine."

That's a pretty lofty title to have, even if it's spoken informally. But Guyatt came to have it for a reason: he helped formalize a method and a movement to inject more scientific rigor into the practice of medicine, making it less of an art and more of a science. 

The goal is simple: base medical practice on high-quality research that removes bias by using systematic reviews of the literature to ensure people don't just pick results they favor. 

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But what happens when the "father of evidence-based medicine" takes a swipe at systematic reviews that demonstrated that "gender affirming care" is based on quack science? Hilarity ensues, if all you care about is a man who is full of himself gets taken down a peg; the destruction of the credibility of the entire medical infrastructure, if you actually think about it. 

Please watch the entire four minute video. I promise it is worth it:

The statement is still up, complete with the words medically necessary and Dr. Gordan Guyatt's name. https://t.co/kE6S5V6ZRi

— Mia Hughes (@_CryMiaRiver) February 25, 2026

Guyatt heads the McMaster University Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, and as the lead he penned a letter along with four—just four—colleagues arguing that, despite systematic reviews showing that gender medicine is based on low quality evidence, it should continue to be allowed to be used on children. 

On the webpage where this letter was released, the term "medically necessary" was used and included in the letter was the accusation that any attempt to stop sterilizing and mutilating children was anti-2SLGBTQIA+ bias. 

Here's how it all begins:

Systematic reviews related to gender-affirming care

Posted on August 14, 2025

Members and allies of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities have raised concerns about recent systematic reviews related to gender-affirming care. These concerns center on the funding source, and specifically on the potential for the research to be misused to harm trans youth and to deny gender-affirming care. 

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The letter ends by noting that the department, or perhaps the signatories including Dr. Guyatt, contributed to a legal defense fund to be used to ensure that children could continue to be sterilized and mutilated. 

So Guyatt, the man to whom the entire movement to based medicine on high-quality evidence, was the primary signatory of a letter from a department he heads, trashed people trying to save children from mutilation. And when confronted on the contradiction, he...whiffs.

"I didn't say that!" 

Oh, I did? Well, I, the man who insists on careful examination of the evidence, didn't actually read a statement put out under my name and including paragraphs I wrote. How dare you call me on it! It's unfair! That was then, this is now!

Is it any wonder that our trust in the medical establishment has collapsed? It absolutely, positively, should have collapsed, because this is what "trust The Science™" looks like. 

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I like the idea of EBM—rely, to the extent you can, which is limited—on the best evidence possible to make treatment decisions. At its best, medicine should produce better results than witch-doctory, and even though we are in a position where there are a lot of diseases and conditions for which we really don't have great evidence for treatments, we should do our best to get it, and rely on the best evidence where possible. 

That is, unless a powerful interest group bullies you into violating every principle you have. In that case, do everything you can to discredit the people who want to rely on the evidence. 

That's how you get the signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration, who opposed the COVID pandemic insanity, being called "fringe epidemiologists" by the most powerful doctors in the world. Evidence is one thing, but when ideology interferes, drop the evidence and go with the crowd. 

Watch that podcast clip again. It is the self-destruction, in real time, of a man who had the power to make a difference by doing the right thing and who chose not to. He literally didn't read what he helped author and sign, using his well-earned authority to trash people whom he was told to trash. He tossed his whole identity away because the 2SLGBTQIA+ "community" told him to. 

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Unfortunately, this behavior is common among our "expert" class, who use their prestige as a political cudgel. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which sounds all expert-y, is a bunch of cranks lecturing us about foreign policy. Climate "scientists" are politically-motivated bullies shilling for politicians and industries who are burning trillions of dollars to change the weather. 

"We only have 7 years to save planet earth!" Yeah, right. Heard that one back in 1981. All the glaciers will be gone by 2018! Yada yada. 

It isn't just cranks—it's most of the "expert" class, who deserve the same credibility as journalists and Adam Schiff. 

This is both a tragedy and a crisis. A tragedy, for obvious reasons. And a crisis because science and expertise are the foundation of the modern world. We need medicine that is not dangerous quackery, yet when push comes to shove, the "best and the brightest" sacrifice science to the political gods. 

In this case, they sacrificed children. 

Guyatt promised "If you can find the words medically necessary in my statement I'll have to jump off a bridge." 

I suggest he do so, at least metaphorically. Resign.