Jacqueline Houtman, PhD

National Academies - Statement on CDC’s Updated Vaccine Guidance National Academies respond to CDC’s updated vaccine guidance, offering scientific context and clarity on vaccine safety.

Appreciate @nationalacademies.org speaking up about the RFK jr directed changes to CDC website and pointing out that the science cited did not include the greater context or full body of research. Where is the “radical transparency”?

The "Alt National Park Service:" On Plagiarism, Part 1 The first in a three-part series.

Four-part series of posts about AltNPS’s ongoing plagiarism problem.

jjoycelynch.substack.com/p/the-alt-na...

jjoycelynch.substack.com/p/the-alt-na...

jjoycelynch.substack.com/p/the-alt-na... (CW: suicide)

jjoycelynch.substack.com/p/the-alt-na...

(Published Aug through Oct.)

Rad power bikes battery

CPSC Warns Consumers to Immediately Stop Using Batteries for E-Bikes from Rad Power Bikes Due to Fire Hazard; Risk of Serious Injury or Death www.cpsc.gov/Warnings/202...

Grist opens applications for new rural reporting grants on climate and environmental justice Applicants can request up to $5,000 per project.

Opportunity for journos: @grist.org is giving out grants of up to $5K each for climate and environmental justice reporting on the rural US. The deadline is rapidly approaching, so get your application in! grist.org/updates/gris...

You could skip The Atlantic&read @thinkingautism.com newsletter abt RFK the Lesser's motivation&the wellness-grifter whisperers who fuel it.

He has 1 "encompassing motivation&that is Being Right About This whether he has to lie, cheat, or let children die to do it."
buttondown.com/TPGA/archive...

The 2025 BirdLife Australia photography awards – in pictures A preening brush turkey, a wise cassowary and some hungry terns are among the winning and shortlisted photos in this year’s prize

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Books We Love Here are 380+ great reads from 2025 handpicked just for you by NPR staffers and trusted critics.

Books We Love is back with a brand new batch of hand-picked titles. Mix and match tags like “Book Club Ideas” and “Eye-Opening Reads.” Find 380+ new 2025 reads, and stick around to browse more than 4,000 books from the last 13 years.

Holiday reminder!
Do not shame/scold your young relatives Thursday if they do not show you affection.
You do not have the right to hugs or kisses.
Teach consent early by showing them you value theirs.
I like to say “Good to see you! Do you want to gimme a hug? or a high 5?” If they say no, cool.

X1.2 speed
Jenna Norton
@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social

🧵

YouTube video by National Council for History Education The Piggy Problem

Hey folks:

On my podcast "History Matters" on Friday, I discussed "The Piggy Problem" -- and what that comment shows about the vital role of the press in serving US -- American citizens.

We forget that fact at our own peril.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMUF...

The CDC Data Project In the proposed FY26 budget, programs that help Americans live safer, healthier, longer lives are on the chopping block.

New-to-me but very helpful visualizations how all the actions of the past ten months are affecting the CDC www.cdcdataproject.org

Video Former CDC chief on agency webpage saying autism, vaccines link ignored Dr. Debra Houry, who resigned from her position as chief medical officer of the CDC in 2025, called the change on the CDC’s website "disturbing."

My thoughts on ABC news- Scientists, not political appointees, should be who advises the public on clinical guidance. RFK needs to meet with CDC career leaders and learn about the agency's responses to outbreaks and overall programs vs directing CDC website changes based on ideology not science

YouTube video by Dr. Joanne Freeman What the Heck Just Happened? With Heather and Joanne

Hey folks:

For those who missed it, here's a link to this morning's "What the Heck Just Happened? With Heather and Joanne"

AND NO I DIDN'T GO FOR A RUN

www.youtube.com/watch?v=etZz...

Judge blocks IRS from sharing data with DHS for immigration enforcement A federal judge blocked the Internal Revenue Service from sharing data with immigration enforcement officials, ruling that the tax agency violated federal law and individual rights in its support for ...

Judge blocks IRS from sharing data with DHS for immigration enforcement

How ProPublica Investigated a Bird Flu Outbreak in America’s Heartland Early this year, bird flu ripped through 80 farms in Ohio and Indiana. Using genetic markers, wind simulations, satellite imagery, property records and more, we found that the virus could’ve been airb...

After a cascade of bird flu cases drove egg prices to record highs, ProPublica reporter @natlash.bsky.social unraveled the outbreak and revealed major flaws in how we combat the disease:

Preview: Is Bird Flu Back? With guest Dr. Angela Rasmussen. (Yes, we managed to book her again 🙌) Join us today, Friday, November 21 at 11 a.m. ET on Instagram Live.

Is bird flu back?

Yes and it’s everywhere. I just can’t say no to @jeremyfaust.bsky.social when he keeps asking me back to talk about viruses.

Today we’ll be on IG Live for @medpagetoday.com at 11 am ET. Let’s discuss all the H5 viruses!

open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

This is incredible

Tomorrow on my live podcast, “History Matters:”

The Piggy Problem

The American press is almost a branch of government, and has been since the founding.

Let’s see how politicians have ignored that fact—at their own peril.

Friday 10AM ET
NCHEteach.org/conversations

We'll have a lot more to say about this one tomorrow, but I'm so proud of this update and our tireless all-volunteer timeline-building and sensemaking crews.

Unbreaking How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

This week, we updated our pages on data security and surveillance, immigration, the federal workforce, and medical research funding. Our brisk, rigorously cited weekly briefing is live at Unbreaking:

unbreaking.org/blog/this-we...

Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged.

Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.

After unprecedented autism-vaccine messaging change, scientists, advocates say CDC no longer trustworthy

Scientists tell Americans not to trust the CDC.

Instead of a global leader in science, the CDC has devolved into “a propaganda machine for RFK Jr.'s fixed, immutable, science-resistant theories,” said @pauloffit.bsky.social.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...

Changing the basic scientific functioning of the CDC undermines the safety of our children. The post on the CDC website is a dangerous and unprecedented departure from the CDC’s longstanding commitment to communicating evidence-based public health information.

Under RFK Jr., CDC reverses course on stance that vaccines don’t cause autism A CDC website now promotes the debunked idea of a link between vaccines and autism.

"Essentially Cassidy asked for a promise. And all he got was an asterisk." Former CDC senior leader Dan Jernigan on how, after promising not to do so, Kennedy's HHS has rewritten #CDC 's webpage on whether there's a link between #vaccines & autism. www.statnews.com/2025/11/20/c...

“The tentpole event of the conference was a conversation between Hines and accused rapist Russell Brand, who is currently out on bail (his trial is scheduled for June 2026 in the UK) and who I saw entering the hotel wearing just a bathrobe.”

This is deftly written, funny but also packs a punch.

The Punctuation Collection™️

CDC in turmoil after agency backpedals on debunking vaccines-autism link The CDC’s website now says health authorities ignored evidence of a potential connection between vaccines and autism, despite dozens of studies showing no link.

When the government fails to provide trusted scientific information, people get hurt. This is why we need independent science outside of government right now. (🧵)

www.motherjones.com The anti-vax movement's wildest claim yet: Polio wasn't so bad

The Anti-Vax Movement’s Wildest Claim Yet: Polio Wasn’t So Bad

Montage of 19 clips of Trump insulting, berating, demeaning and attacking female reporters over the past few months. Part 1.