Opioid orphans, Amazon’s not afraid to fail and other commentaries

Drug Surveillance: Opioid Orphans

“West Virginia’s opioid epidemic” has created “tens of thousands of ‘grandparent families,'” families in which grandparents are raising children whose parents are addicted, incarcerated or dead. Free Press reporter Olivia Reingold reports..

“In West Virginia, which has the highest opioid overdose death rate in the country, more than half of children are raised by their grandparents.”

“And it’s a national issue.”

“Of the more than 2 million children being raised by their grandparents in the United States, the majority are living with older family members due to parental substance abuse.”

“This crisis has raged for three decades, wreaking havoc for generations and claiming more than 800,000 lives across the country since 1999.”

From the right: Amazon isn’t afraid to fail.

“Amazon isn’t run by geniuses who never fail; it’s run by geniuses who fail but who know when something is not working.” Dominique Pino of National Review argues:.

The company said it was “testing its own version of a grocery store,” with the idea that “Amazon Prime subscribers could scan their phone on the way in, pick up their groceries and walk out.”

But, “it turns out this technology didn’t really work in grocery stores.”

Amazon has also “tried unsuccessfully to compete with brick-and-mortar bookstores through its subsidiary Amazon Books,” as well as “attempted to enter brick-and-mortar clothing stores.”

“Amazon is not invincible,” but “it has been successful by taking risks, evaluating the results, and cutting its losses when the results are poor.”

Cultural Critic: March of Dimes Syndrome

Many “supposed crises are all examples of the March of Dimes syndrome,” named after the charity that “financed the vaccine that eventually ended the polio epidemic, but not the organization itself,” and “leaders kept the group afloat by finding new causes.” City Journal’s John Tierney explains:.

For example, because “most Americans now support same-sex marriage,” “activists have again shifted their target: it is no longer enough for conservative Christians to tolerate same-sex marriage; they must now be legally required to bake cakes and design web pages for weddings.”

Needless to say, there is also a demand for “manuals on anal sex to be placed in elementary school libraries.”

The Greens also pivoted to pessimism about climate change, from warnings that billions will starve because of overpopulation and that an ‘energy crisis’ will usher in a new ‘age of scarcity’ as humanity runs out of fossil fuels.

Look out Canada: Stick with LGBT

“Justin Trudeau may have missed the memo, but Canadians are moving beyond their transgender obsession.” Spiked magazine’s Megan Murphy quips. According to an Ipsos poll, “support for LGBTQ2 visibility in Canada is declining.”

While “gay rights became mainstream decades ago,” “enthusiasm for transgender rights has begun to wane.”

“The problem is that gay rights slogans, arguments and demands lose all meaning when applied to transgenderism.”

The transgender movement is a “destructive force” and “not a fight for safety or human rights,” but rather “a cult that demands nothing less than unwavering devotion.”

“Canadians understand that the T is not being neglected, but rather promoted at every opportunity by corporations, politicians, the media and institutions.”

And people “don’t like to be bombarded with meaningless things all the time.”

Libertarian: Federally funded dad jokes

“Did you hear the story about the world’s greatest watch thief? He was always stealing.” Eric Bohm of Kids Reason.

“But even he might be impressed by the cunning of the National Responsible Fatherhood Resource Center, a “little corner” of the Department of Health and Human Services that embezzled about $75 million in taxpayer money last year and, among other things, maintained the official government repository of ‘dad jokes.’ Funny, but not in a good way.”

However “well-intentioned” the program may be, it’s hard to say what it accomplished, or if it even accomplished anything. In the face of a $34.5 trillion national debt, it’s a “stupid way to spend taxpayer money” and “no laughing matter.”

— Edited by The Post Editorial Board