LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR
We used to allow people the space to be decent humans instead of making it a government mandate.
Hey y’all, welcome back to Unfit to Print.
As we head into the New Year, I’ve been thinking a lot about our modern policymaking. Let’s get to it.
LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR
For a decent chunk of my childhood and young adulthood, I went to the same hairdresser. She lives just down the street from my mom and converted part of her house into a home salon years ago. She tipped us off to a new law the Maryland legislature passed in 2025, which takes effect in the New Year.
The State Board of Barbers and the State Board of Cosmetologists will now require barbers, hairdressers, estheticians, blow dry stylists, and eyelash extension technicians to take a one-hour course on domestic violence awareness.
The course is supposed to train these folks to recognize signs of domestic abuse, learn how to talk to potential victims, and connect them with appropriate resources.
At the risk of pulling a 2010-era Koch brothers move, is it really necessary to require hairdressers to effectively be state-trained domestic violence reporters?
We used to allow people the space to be decent humans instead of making it a government mandate. If a longtime hairdresser notices odd bruises on a client’s neck, you don’t think they’re going to say anything?
This seems to be part of a larger trend of “lowest common denominator politics.” That means our policymaking is oriented toward the dumbest or worst 10% of people who unnecessarily inhibit the flourishing of the other 90%. All of our lives are a little more annoying, a little less convenient because our nanny state politicians hold us all to the same low standard.
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As another example, let’s look at gabapentin prescriptions.
If you have a dog or cat that gets anxious during car rides, you’re probably familiar with the drug. It’s typically prescribed to pets in 50 or 100 mg doses and helps chill them out so they don’t puke on your backseat.
It is sometimes prescribed to humans to treat nerve pain or epilepsy. Like with most drugs, it can be habit-forming if taken regularly and for long periods of time and can have serious side effects if mixed with other prescriptions.
Apparently there have been some cases of vets stealing gabapentin for resale or humans overfilling their pets’ prescriptions to take the pills themselves.
I recently discovered this when I moved my cat from a Maryland-based vet to a Virginia-based vet. At the Maryland vet, I could get an annual supply of gabapentin so I didn’t have to run back for refills every couple of months. But Virginia is one of seven states in which gabapentin is a Schedule V controlled substance. My vet can prescribe only a week’s worth of pills for little Bentley at a time.
With a dosage schedule of one pill the night before travel and a second pill two hours prior, I’m looking at four pills per trip to and from grandma’s. That means just four trips with Bentley before I have to request another refill. As someone who travels a fair amount, it’s annoyingly inconvenient.
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One of the holy grails of lowest common denominator politics is the childhood vaccine schedule.
Prior to 1991, the Hepatitis B vaccine was only recommended for infants who were considered high-risk: typically, infants whose mothers had tested positive for Hep B. Outside of mother-to-child transmission, it would be incredibly difficult for a baby to get Hep B unless they were in an abusive household. It typically spreads through infected needles or unprotected sex.
Yet in just three short years — 1988 to 1991 — the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) moved from recommending mothers get tested for Hep B to recommending all infants get vaccinated for Hep B. Allegedly there were “gaps” in identifying at-risk infants, so they all had to get it.
Common side effects from the Hep B vaccine include swelling, pain, soreness, headaches, fevers, fatigue, diarrhea, loss of appetite, vomiting, and drowsiness. Basically, you have to make your newborn baby miserable because some drug addicts fail to get tested while pregnant.
WHAT ELSE IS ON MY RADAR
Absolute idiocy and cowardice.
Minnesotans Begged GOP Rep To Stop The Somalis Over A Decade Ago — He Told Them It Was Impossible
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Plants > humans
Los Angeles Fire Captain Reportedly Prioritized Saving Endangered Plants Over Stopping Fire
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An important analysis of one of the biggest threats currently facing Western civilization.
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