Beth Marie Mole

Exclusive: White House uses USAID funds for budget director Vought's security, documents show The White House budget office is using millions of dollars from the former U.S. foreign aid agency to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's budget chief and an architect of the government overhaul that has cut thousands of federal jobs, according to three documents seen by Reuters.

Exclusive: White House uses USAID funds for budget director Vought's security, documents show reut.rs/408Bam1

RFK Jr. food pyramid site links to Grok, which says you shouldn’t trust RFK Jr. Grok generated a meal plan to fit RFK Jr.'s food pyramid, then explained why it's bad.

RFK Jr. says we should check with AI about what to eat and then AI totally dunked on his stupid dietary guidance.

Also @bethmariem.bsky.social is doing some downright incredible work, and this article is another tour de force of very professional shade.

Thread. I really liked James Van Der Beek, but he supported RFK jr in the ‘24 election. His wife is a MAHA type health influencer. They moved to TX to a 36 acre ranch in 2020, and he’s worked steadily as an actor. He has two projects out this year. SAG insurance is very good.

1/ The death of James Van Der Beek is tragic and has understandably reopened fears about colon cancer among younger people. It has also opened a well-deserved conversation about the outrageous realities of healthcare costs.

So let’s ground this in data.

Huge respect to Georgia Fort for continuing to report what was happening and why it was unconstitutional while the Feds were literally at her door.

Even though all evidence showed they were wrong, and they could not win the suits they filed, antivaxxers bullied the manufacturer of an effective vaccine for Lyme disease into withdrawing from the market just to avoid their bullying tactics. That was 24 yrs ago & we still don’t have a Lyme vaccine.

This may be the grossest eye pic ever—but the cause is what’s truly horrifying Hypervirulent germ nearly destroys man, invading brain and blowing out an eye.

This may be the grossest #eye pic ever—but the cause is what’s truly horrifying ...

| #bacteria | #vision | #infection | #antibiotics | #Klebsiella | By @bethmariem.bsky.social via @arstechnica.com

South Carolina's measles outbreak jumps again with 124 new cases since Tuesday, bringing the outbreak total to 558.

531 people quarantined.

The outbreak began in Oct, but is wildly accelerating now. Since Jan 6, there have been 347 new cases (62% of total cases).

dph.sc.gov/news/friday-...

Oh God, this is good news. I had been trying to bring myself to blog about this trial, but every time I was too enraged to get something together.

This was a hideously stupid and unethical idea, and no one promoting it should have anything to do with medicine or public health.

Controversial US study on hepatitis B vaccines in Africa is cancelled $1.6m project drew outrage over ethical questions about withholding vaccines proven to prevent disease

BREAKING: The controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau has been *cancelled,* I can now report. A senior official with Africa CDC confirmed the cancellation and said GB officials are working to make sure any research is conducted ethically:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

FDA deletes warning on bogus autism therapies touted by RFK Jr.‘s allies The agency used to warn of chelation, used by RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine ally David Geier.

FDA deletes warning on bogus autism therapies touted by RFK Jr.‘s allies

"The agency used to warn of chelation, used by RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine ally David Geier."

This is the video.

Children will die with RFK Jr.'s new vaccine recommendations. We're NOT doing the "experts disagree" game. The US vaccine schedule was painstakingly constructed through a deep & thorough process by experts with unquestionable expertise. This is policy by fiat. It is pre-meditated murder. 1/

Healthy 18-year-old welder nearly died of anthrax—the 9th such puzzling case Welder's Anthrax" was first coined in 2022, when seven cases had been identified.

Healthy #welder nearly died of #anthrax ...

| #pneumonia | #infection | #Bacillus | #bacteria | #pathogen | By @bethmariem.bsky.social via @arstechnica.com

what happens when you fire every tobacco control expert at CDC? email from CDC's MMWR staff person to a tobacco prevention and control author.

Tobacco use is leading cause of preventable disease, disability, & death in USA.

Why did admin fire CDC's tobacco prevention & control experts? Illegal RIFs didn’t just eliminate jobs, they have silenced science. Critical data on tobacco use & its harms are NOT being published through MMWR.

1/2 🧵

What does it mean when your doctors keep insisting you redo the cognitive exam

Awww. Not sure about that, but thanks! You're awesome!

They're lining up because the deals are weak...

"“When you saw the lack of impact to earnings of the initial companies’ deals, for most coming after, it’s a no-brainer,” said Chris Meekins, a managing director at Raymond James.

I was on an IRB at UW Madison for 6 years, and chair for 2. We would have run this proposal through a shredder, set fire to the detritus, mixed the ashes with concrete, and buried it in a salt mine. It's just outrageous.

If you aren't able to watch this now, make sure to watch it when you can.

Thank you, @bethmariem.bsky.social & @arstechnica.com.

I can’t tell you how glad I am to be released from the disgrace of Temu ACIP.

I made a commitment to watch and comment on these proceedings. Not sure I’ll do it again.

In summary, ACIP is no longer a legitimate scientific body.

Every U.S. state needs to decouple their vaccine policy from ACIP.

Dr. Hoeg: I would pay to see the debate between Dr. Meissner and you. Note: She is an anti-vaccine activist, and she just showed it. Not a regulator. She does not have the qualifications, not the ability, and she is just biased.

lol the ACIP committee let Aaron Siri speak for some 90 minutes and cut off CDC experts and scientists off after two minutes (sometime yelling at them to shut them up). Incredible stuff.