Ed Cara

Florida's Surgeon General Is Now Peddling Fake Water In a recent social media post, Joseph Ladapo endorsed the use of structured water, which doesn't actually seem to exist.

Over the weekend, Florida surgeon general Joseph Ladapo endorsed the use of “structured” water—a fictional form of water that doesn't seem to actually exist, much less have any added health benefits. gizmodo.com/floridas-sur...

@drdemetre.bsky.social added: "Decisions about your child’s health should be grounded in medical expertise and familiarity with your circumstances, not dictated by federal political appointees."

Trump, RFK Jr. Are Officially Tearing Down the Childhood Vaccine Schedule Vaccines for diseases like rotavirus and meningococcal disease will no longer be universally recommended by the CDC.

The Trump administration's unilateral decision to shrink the childhood vaccine schedule is "dangerous and unnecessary," Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told me. gizmodo.com/trump-rfk-jr...

uh holy SHIT?

'We Are Doing Harm': RFK Jr.'s ACIP Guts Universal Hep B Vaccination at Birth Outside experts and groups widely condemned the decision.

My latest on the ACIP's tearing down of a policy that has kept kids safe from hepatitis B for 30 years: gizmodo.com/we-are-doing...

As for the #ACIP meeting today, this is the only thing you need to watch.

And, to be clear, you do need to watch this.

finally back

yep!

ACIP just took an unplanned break, in part because its own members are complaining that they're not sure about what they're voting on today. So things are going great so far.

Raccoon found passed out in bathroom of Virginia ABC Store after breaking in, ransacking shelves A raccoon was found passed out in the bathroom of the Virginia ABC Store in Ashland after breaking in and ransacking shelves, according to Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter.

A raccoon was found passed out in the bathroom of the Virginia ABC Store in Ashland after breaking in and ransacking shelves, according to Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter.

Opinion | A Serious Journalism Scandal Hiding Inside a Frivolous Sexual One

yeah, this gets at the problem with these despicable cretins www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/o...

The Story of How Cats Conquered the World Just Got Weirder Scientists have found genetic evidence that cat domestication didn't start as early as commonly assumed.

You may have heard that the tale of cat domestication began some 10,000 years ago. But new research today throws a furry wrench into that assumption, suggesting our pet cats aren't quite as ancient as we thought.

gizmodo.com/the-story-of...

Olivia Nuzzi’s Real Victims More than her fiancé, or fellow female journalists, the public will pay the price for these misdeeds. RFK Jr. will see to that.

Don't get so distracted by the Nuzzi sex stuff, @melodyschreiber.com writes, that you forget about the dead kids.

newrepublic.com/article/2035...

The CDC is lying to you about vaccines and autism The CDC webpage about vaccines and autism now misrepresents the science and lies to the public about vaccines and autism. It's just part of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s continuing war on vacc

The CDC is lying to you about vaccines and autism sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-cdc-is-l... by @gorskon.bsky.social

"The CDC webpage about vaccines and autism now misrepresents the science and lies to the public about vaccines and autism.

It’s all part of RFK Jr’s "continuing war on vaccines."

underrated bit of handwaving in the lizza blog

But now that we are in the full fury of American media prurience and self-righteousness, I am going to risk my neck on a slightly contrarian view. Reporters have all sorts of compromising relationships with sources. The most compromising of all, and the most common, is a reporter’s fealty to someone who gives them information. That’s the real coin of this realm. Sex barely rates.

ben smith’s take from last year when the nuzzi/rfk story first broke aged like cheese on a dashboard

Olivia Nuzzi is an overwrought writer, frequently unethical journalist, and quite possibly the world's dumbest adulterer. www.telos.news/p/part-1-how...

Nothing - and I mean nothing - will prepare you for how this ends

The experts I spoke to would appreciate more research looking into the causes of mass shootings, and the data at the CDC's disposal could certainly yield a lot of important observations. But with RFK Jr.'s track record, it's unlikely we will get any reliable answers from this fishing expedition.

That's not to say that poorer mental health can't be a contributor to mass shootings. But other research has suggested the most relevant factor isn't severe mental illness or even depression, but suicide ideation.

Just this past September, Columbia researchers examined one of the largest databases on mass shootings. And they actually found a substantially lower rate of antidepressant use among shooters than the general public. The exact opposite pattern you would expect if these drugs had any role.

Kennedy has been hinting at this study since the summer, following a mass shooting in Minnesota. Contrary to his accusation that this is a "taboo" question scientists won't touch, though, research on this topic dates back at least a half decade. And most, if not all of it, hasn't shown a clear link.

RFK Jr. Wants to Link Antidepressants Like SSRIs to Mass Shootings. Experts Aren’t Buying It Studies show that people who commit mass shootings aren't more likely to be taking antidepressants. But is RFK Jr. paying any attention?

Earlier this month, RFK Jr. said he would task the government to study whether SSRIs are fueling mass shootings, while implying that scientists have been afraid to find out. But several studies have already tried to look for this link and haven't found much of anything.

gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-wants...

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫

If you read one thing today about public health, make it this one from Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, on the CDC under RFK Jr and how we go forward.

“We should practice detachment from the organizations and focus on the mission. And the mission is the health of the public.”

halloween couples costume: monday 6am embargo and friday night news drop

Truth. Local and state public health are doing their level best to hold the line, and to build multi-state cooperation. Also: you’ll need to increase your state’s public health budget in the next few years. They are taking up an enormous new burden and likely losing their federal funding.

I love the sobriety of this message. It’s all fucked but we must plan for a brighter day.

“what we can do is turn to local jurisdictions, states, and other professional organizations outside the federal government. They’re going to have to be the renaissance that will follow after the dark ages”

Bleak. Dangerous.
Those are the words that come to mind while reading this- and actions like those of Desantis and Lapado in Florida with a legislature considering the end of school vaccine requirements will hasten and compound the harms.