Was the civil war about slavery?

Yes.

Placebo explained?

I've long secretly feared the effects of my own SSRI medication was nothing but placebo magic; and like magic, might mysteriously disappear one day in a puff disbelief. I didn't think about it too much, but it appears I'm safe for now, in the land of objective reality.

The bidirectional abilities of the body mind connection will continue astound and confound.

All acts of public violence (violence broadly on the public body[1]) have the same root causes -- the purported politics and manifestos are just window dressing; the ideological last straw.

Sad people without identity or purpose, lacking hope, but bearing a heavy grudge and a simmering rage. If you want to make it stop, you've got to address the root; and at the root are tough issues of social justice, economic development, and civic organism.

[1] school shootings, workplace shootings, baseball shootings, mass stabbings, concert bombings, church shootings, train knifings, etc.

It *wasn't* in

This is becoming something of a theme in the playoffs. It really was obviously a high stick.

Importing Crime

They're not sending us their murders; their rapists. If anything we get the best.