Patrick Brown

Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint

The dismantling of US science continues. RFKJr fired the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, basically for believing in the germ theory of disease.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/h...

Opinion | Autism Has Always Existed. We Haven’t Always Called It Autism.

Great article on autism.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/o...

Dit gaat niet (primair) over "populisme" maar over "nativisme" (xenofoob nationalisme) en zelfs "racisme".

Royal Parks responds to Farage's claim that swans are being eaten by eastern Europeans in the UK The Reform leader had accused migrants living in the UK of taking both carp and swans - a protected species - from ponds in Britain's Royal Parks and killing them.

The Royal Parks has rejected Nigel Farage's claim that migrants are killing and eating swans from their grounds.

The RSPCA has also poured cold water on the claim, saying a video that has been circulating on social media was from 15 years ago

news.sky.com/story/royal-...

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

Incredible good news

Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians Exclusive: Tech firm ends military unit’s access to AI and data services after Guardian reveals secret spy project

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

UK officially recognises Palestine as a state Sir Keir Starmer said the UK - alongside Australia and Canada - was taking the step "in the face of growing horror" in the Middle East.

UK officially recognises Palestine as a state

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK - alongside Australia and Canada - was taking the step "in the face of growing horror" in the Middle East

news.sky.com/story/uk-off...

Tweet From Obama mentioning my firing from the Washington post. Wirh a photo of me

The last political column I was allowed to write in the @washingtonpost.com was a criticism of Obama.

His people took issue with my piece, but we were respectful.

Now he is tweeting in support of me.

This is how free political speech and respect for debate *actually works*.

Or used to work.

Ed Davey has written to Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, urging them to join him in condemning Elon Musk's remarks yesterday

Opinion | Brazil Just Succeeded Where the U.S. Failed

Brazilian institutions, notably the judiciary, rose to the challenge of defending democracy. The US failed to and now is descending into authoritarianism. Gift column in the Times.

Ahem

I just left the Everglades Immigrant Interment Camp. No, I’m not using their ridiculous name. It was a very tough to witness humans in those cages. Every Floridian should be ashamed that our taxpayer money is being used for this.

Trust fall Discover how social capital is changing with technology. Trust expert Rachel Botsman discusses the importance of real-world connections.

An important read on the epidemic of loneliness:

"In England today, local authorities spend nearly £330m less per year on parks and open spaces than a decade ago, which has led to the rapid deterioration of those spaces."

www.thersa.org/rsa-journal/...

Disability protection groups in two states pause services after missing federal funds "We are fighting for our very survival."

State organizations that advocate for disabled residents in New Jersey and Arkansas announced that they will have to limit their work after not receiving the full funds they are owed by the US federal government.

A pause in NIH funding leaves these Alzheimer’s studies in limbo: ‘This is alarming’ | CNN Zahydie Burgos Ribot and her husband Francisco are working on completing their travel bucket list and spending quality time together before Francisco will no longer be able to travel and before his br...

Yikes. They froze the funding of 14 of 35 Alzheimer’s disease research centers?! amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/04/...

At least 27 killed in Israeli bombing of shelter in Gaza City, rescuers say Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee from southern city of Rafah in one of war’s biggest mass displacements An Israeli bombing of a school turned shelter in Gaza City has killed at least 27 people, rescuers said, and hundreds of thousands in the Rafah area are fleeing in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war amid Israel’s newly announced campaign to “divide up” the Gaza Strip. Three missiles hit Dar al-Arqam school in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon, the civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said, killing several children and wounding 100 people. Continue reading...

At least 27 killed in Israeli bombing of shelter in Gaza City, rescuers say

Painting of a woodland carpeted in light purple flowers and with slim tree trunks and fresh green foliage

Britain is home to almost half of the world’s bluebells, found in ancient or semi-natural woodlands, flowering in April and May. 'Bluebell woods' by contemporary UK painter Susan Entwistle #WomensArt

YouTube video by bicyclinghub 2015 Het Nieuwsblad Bike Race Last 20KM

I was thinking the same... Though Yogi's was may be even more impressive. Found this footage of that great ride... www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW2D...

If the military academies are purging libraries of “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.,” “Einstein on Race and Racism,” and a biography on Jackie Robinson, how long will it be before they eliminate classes on the Geneva Conventions and military obligations under international laws of war?

Why aren’t you wearing a suit?

Have you said “Thank you” to Greenland and Denmark for allowing you to have a base on Greenland?

One consequence of tolerating pseudoscience is that people die when its legitimatization becomes baked into our culture, health care systems, and institutions.

« Il faut les prendre au mot » « Il faut les prendre au mot »

✏️ « L’histoire ne se répète pas. Je ne pense pas que le nazisme soit en train de revenir, mais les analogies servent à comprendre la réalité et à adresser des signaux d’alerte. » - @oliviermannoni.bsky.social 

Does Columbia still merit the name of a university? | Rashid Khalidi Columbia has long been run more as a business empire than as an educational institution. Now it’s acting like Vichy on the Hudson

Appropriate question. Poignant metaphor (Vichy on the Hudson).

And this is of course precisely the point, as it's laid out in think tank pieces: they want to destroy the universities.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What labor powers our clicks, likes & views? 📱

Prof. Ashley Mears (sociology) unveils the hidden economy of attention, in her inaugural lecture 'Attention! A New Labor Theory for an Old Commodity', tomorrow - 27 March at 16:30 CET.

🎥 Watch it live: hva-uva.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Page...

Thoughts on Signal gate, as someone who spent 19 yrs at CIA. I'm thinking of all the times I accidentally brought my phone into the office and had to not only immediately walk it across the massive parking lot to my car, but report myself to security. Do that too many times=real repercussions

Grensoverschrijdend gedrag aan de UGent: wat we nu nodig hebben, is institutionele moed Sofie Avery is filosoof aan de Universiteit Antwerpen en de Universiteit Gent en auteur van Over de schreef: macht en grenzen aan de universiteit.

www.demorgen.be/meningen/gre...

We are learning the wrong lessons from lockdown And unless we learn the right ones, we risk making the same mistakes in a new pandemic

It's 5 yrs today since lockdown started in England, but "We must never have lockdown again" is the wrong lesson.

Lockdowns are terrible but so are deadly pandemics.

Our choices 5 years ago were limited - we can & must do better in the future.

Do read my post.

open.substack.com/pub/christin...

Gaza medics issue malnutrition alert as total Israeli blockade enters fourth week Israel continues to batter territory in renewed offensive as death toll from nearly 18 months of war passes 50,000 Malnutrition is spreading in Gaza, medics and aid workers in the devastated Palestinian territory are warning, as a total Israeli blockade of all supplies enters its fourth week. There has been no sign that Israel will open entry points to allow essential aid to flow or ease its new offensive in Gaza, which started on Tuesday with a wave of airstrikes that killed 400 people, mostly civilians, ending two months of relative calm. On Sunday, Palestinian officials said the total death toll from nearly 18 months of conflict had passed 50,000. Continue reading...

Gaza medics issue malnutrition alert as total Israeli blockade enters fourth week

South African ambassador expelled from US welcomed home by supporters Ebrahim Rasool, declared persona non grata by Washington, was surrounded by crowds at Cape Town airport The South African ambassador who was expelled from the US and declared persona non grata by the Trump administration was welcomed home on Sunday by hundreds of supporters who sang songs praising him. Crowds at Cape Town International airport surrounded Ebrahim Rasool and his wife Rosieda as they emerged in the arrivals terminal in their home town, and they needed a police escort to help them navigate their way through the building. Continue reading...

South African ambassador expelled from US welcomed home by supporters

MPs could axe clause in bill banning forced labour in GB Energy supply chain Measures blocking companies involved in modern slavery from receiving public money could be overturned Measures that would have blocked companies found to have used forced labour in any part of the state-owned Great British Energy supply chain from receiving public money could be overturned this week. Labour MPs are being whipped on Tuesday to throw out the clause that was inserted into the energy bill in the House of Lords in February. Continue reading...

MPs could axe clause in bill banning forced labour in GB Energy supply chain