Poll: If we rebrand "mRNA vaccines" as "DIY peptide makers", will more people accept them?

Is Erica Schwartz a good pick for #CDC director? Experts say as long as she reports to Kennedy, it doesn't much matter. “She could be terrible, she could be great. But it’s really: What is the secretary going to allow?”
Kennedy y'day at a Senate hearing. (NYT) www.statnews.com/2026/04/18/e...

CDC won’t publish report showing covid shots cut likelihood of hospital visits The report, which had cleared the agency’s scientific-review process, had been delayed. It now won’t be published at all, people familiar with the decision told The Post.

SCOOP: Two weeks ago, the head of the CDC delayed publication of a report showing covid vaccine cut likelihood of ER visits and hospitalizations by half. Now that report is no longer allowed to be published in CDC’s flagship scientific journal. My latest. 1/2
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Why Are People Injecting Themselves with Peptides? Health and wellness influencers are hawking unapproved treatments on the gray market. The future of the F.D.A.—and the health of consumers—is at stake.

Top notch and terrifying piece about this in the @newyorker.com Unbelievable what was allowed BEFORE MAHA
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Ah, Peptides. Where to Begin?

Like most drug discovery researchers, I’ve been watching the “peptides for everything” craze with a mixture of amusement and alarm:

MAGA Boomer dudes are Charmin soft.

Iran posted this. What a humiliation for Trump.

At this point I don't wonder how much insider trading is going on. I wonder how much policy is being made with the purpose of insider trading on it.

This Dear Leader cult-of-personality bootlicking is just excruciating to watch. It’s shameful, disgusting bullshit that is the exact opposite of what our government is supposed to be.

or stood in the mirror and talked to himself

RFK Jr’s pick to review Covid vaccines authored misleading research, experts say HHS says the MIT professor is ‘more than qualified’ to serve on the agency’s vaccine advisory panel and calls ‘attacks’ on him ‘politically motivated’

I wrote about the MIT professor who is leading a review of Covid-19 vaccine safety for Robert F Kennedy Jr's HHS. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

!!!

Former surgeon general: The Senate must not approve someone who can't practice medicine as the nation’s top doctor “The surgeon general is not a wellness influencer,” writes former Surgeon General Jerome Adams of Casey Means.

"The surgeon general is not a wellness influencer": Former surgeon general Jerome Adams on why the Senate should not confirm surgeon general-nominee Casey Means, who is not a licensed physician. www.statnews.com/2026/02/27/c...

Jerome Adams & @JeromeAdamsMD X.com As a former U.S. Surgeon General who held an active medical license and practiced medicine while in the role (at Walter Reed and aboard the USS Comfort) it is incomprehensible that the Senate is even considering a nominee for this role who lacks any active license and has never practiced unsupervised. 7:49 PM • 2/25/26 • 369 Views

Trump’s first-term Surgeon General speaks out against Trump’s current nominee for the job, Casey Means

Community meme: I CAN EXCUSE FASCISM. BUTI DRAW THE LINE AT MERCANTILISM.

The Supreme Court:

RFK Jr statement after Bayer, corporate owner of glyphosate, agrees to billion-dollar settlement for glyphosate health claims. "If my life were a Superman comic, Monsanto would be my Lex Luther I’ve seen this company as the enemy of every admirable American value since Rachel Carson visited my home in 1962 at a time when Monsanto had her under fierce assault for her expose on DDT in Silent Spring. My first legal case as an environmental lawyer arose out of Monsanto’s PCBs in the Hudson. I’m so grateful to Michael Baum, Brent Wisner and all the our legal team for finally bringing Monsanto to justice."

RFK Jr' statement: “Donald Trump’s executive order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply,” Mr. Kennedy said in the statement. “We must safeguard America’s national security first, because all of our priorities depend on it.” Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/us/politics/trump-boost-weedkiller.html

On the left, RFKJr in 2020, denouncing Monsanto--"the enemy of every American value"--and cheering its court loss on glyphosate (Roundup).

On the right, RFKJr in 2025, obediently cheering Donald Trump's executive order boosting the production of glyphosate.

Craven even by current standards.

Getting shown up in the arena of elite impunity by *the British monarchy* is an incredible “America at 250!” achievement

There’s only 1 person in Congress who doesn’t trade stocks, doesn’t take corporate PAC money, and has a public schedule. That’s me. And it should be the standard.

Shame on @gallup.com. Sellout scumbags.

stating the obvious that this deplorable administration is perpetuating the destruction of the US biotech sector...handing china the reins

to say nothing of the ~100-150M $MRNA spent on the PRV it used in pursuit of this application

screw the GOP (esp cassidy) for paving this path of destruction

Files Detail Epstein’s Dealings With Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick

The gruesome cast of Trump II never disappoints. This prick, and his snot-nosed offspring, have enriched themselves by being gutter garbage.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/n...

How TrumpRx drug prices compare to generic alternatives Patients could save more buying non-branded copycat drugs, even if they don't have insurance.

More than half the drugs on the TrumpRx site have a cheaper generic version on the market.

Pristiq, an antidepressant, is available with a TrumpRx coupon for ~$200 for a 30-day supply.

A generic version is on GoodRx for less than $30 and Mark Cuban's CostPlusDrugs for $16.65.

if only a bag of cash could have made a difference...

As mentioned in my post today, here's the US measles situation. What will the rest of 2026 bring?

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

The US government has lost more than 10,000 people with PhDs in the STEM or health fields since Trump 2.0 took office — 14% of the federal civil servants with PhDs in those areas, a @ScienceMagazine analysis shows.
What could possibly go wrong? www.science.org/content/arti...

Whatever is in the Epstein Files is so explosive that the leaders of the Department of Justice are openly breaking the law every day to keep us from seeing it. (Just a reminder amongst all the other stuff flying around.)

The #NobelPeacePrize medal. It measures 6.6 cm in diameter, weighs 196 grams and is struck in gold. On its face, a portrait of Alfred Nobel and on its reverse, three naked men holding around each other’s shoulders as a sign of brotherhood. A design unchanged for 120 years. Did you know that some Nobel Peace Prize medals have been passed on after the award was given? A well‑known case is Dmitry Muratov’s medal, which was auctioned for over USD 100 million to support refugees from the war in Ukraine. And the medal displayed at the Nobel Peace Center is actually on loan and originally belonged to Christian Lous Lange, Norway’s first Peace Prize laureate. But one truth remains. As the Norwegian Nobel Committee states: “Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time.” A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.

The Nobel Prize museum in Oslo subtweeting the fuck out of Trump today.

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.

👇👇