Today in media news

My children can now say 6-7 in 3 languages.

All based on a “gotcha” video claiming that 3 daycares had no kids. One hadn’t opened yet for the day; one is actually closed. Dude arrived with no I.D. No call ahead. They DIDN’T LET HIM IN! The fraud they’re referencing was investigated & prosecuted by the Biden DOJ. The ringleader was white.

For those continuing to monitor the interaction between the various drug pricing models, as Kristi and I note in our Health Affairs piece, CMS has a new update to the GENEROUS manufacturer RFA which raises additional concerns about this question. 1/4 www.cms.gov/priorities/i...

Here’s an NPR explainer from Oct on the Post Office’s proposed changes to its definition of postmarks. *These changes went into effect on Dec. 24.* So, if you want to prove that you mailed a ballot (or sent a check) in by a certain date, it needs to be hand-stamped by a clerk. tinyurl.com/3bdu28ne

Reached the point of winter break where the children are fighting over which kitchen chores they can help with but also refusing to clean up any of their toys…. make it make sense.

In America, where irony is dead, a hotel chain uses a policy denying shelter to local people, for fear of accidentally housing homeless persons… To deny a reservation to the author of a much-lauded book on how American economic unfairness forces working people into homelessness.

Imagine it being easier to just pay the 8 billion dollars and it won't affect you in the slightest. Man what have we done lol

“These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless.”

Going to try and stay off social media and away from the news as much as possible until after the new year to recover and have the energy to keep going in 2026 without having to figure out how to cease being an empath. "Joy is not made to be a crumb."

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.

Here's a good piece that talks about an area where FDA probably does need to ramp up enforcement to avoid real harm... of course the irony is the concern here is they don't go after these guys... ipscell.com/2025/12/gop-...

This story was already fascinating and then there is a dietary supplement & food vs. drug regulation angle! www.sciencenews.org/article/vacc...

Where is the legal line between clothes & a med device as this company seems to think they are selling clothes? ALS- FDA doesn't have nearly enough enforcement staff, time, resources to go after the REAL bad actors in the spaces it regulates. It is a moral choice to spend time and resources here.

This building is a memorial. It feels a bit like desecrating someone's grave.

I'm supposed to evaluate whether I've met company values this year my PE-owned company doesn't even come close to showing its staff....

Staffers said some vouchers have been awarded over the concerns of FDA career staff that they need more time to assess safety of certain products. Really important read from @lizzylawrence.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/12/19/f...

Drug center staff were also asked to scramble amid talks on a White House drug-pricing deal with Novo to find a product from the company to bestow a voucher on, two government officials told STAT. www.statnews.com/2025/12/19/f...

Reading about Medicaid coverage of off-label drug use after midnight when mentally and physically exhausted makes sense right? healthlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-04-07-Off-Label-Paper-Final.pdf

“I do think this exercise of regulatory authority, if upheld, could spell further politicization of necessary health care, including transgender health care, vaccines, abortion pills, or contraception.” - Daniel Aaron, U Utah insights.citeline.com/pink-sheet/m...

I also was searching literature and couldn't find a single example of a minor getting phalloplasty Did, however, find that 97% of breast reductions performed on minors were on cisgender males (of course...) pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Pediatric phalloplasty is something that takes place when there is severe genital injury or a congenital condition. I have not been able to find a single report of phalloplasty performed on a transgender minor. This is grotesque fear-mongering.

I wish a single journalist or leader would reach out to me I have the scientific expertise, lived experience of a trans person, and am literally a science communicator for my career I'm willing to explain this even though I know it will decrease my personal safety!! bsky.app/profile/jeym...

You don’t know what’s happening inside someone else’s body!!! Jfc I cannot fuck these fools.

This is the best piece I’ve read so far on why the Guinea-Bissau RCT, in which a proven life-saving vaccine will be deliberately WITHHELD, is unethical “When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”

Yikes. GOP lawmakers ask RFK Jr. to make FDA unleash risky peptides like BPC-157 ipscell.com/2025/12/gop-... These are unproven drugs so enforcement discretion should not be used on them, but probably will #stemcells #peptides

this is from HHS's own rule "Although the HHS Review acknowledges that systematic reviews offer limited evidence regarding the harms of sex-rejecting procedures in minors..." NIH of course is also cutting off further study in this area...

I think there needs to be some ban on complex legal health policy moves when all the legal scholars are grading exams!

I am not aware of another Medicare/Medicaid condition of participation that bars a provider from using clinical judgment to provide a particular treatment to patients *not* paid for with federal dollars.

CMS is saying they can do this because this care is not "healthcare" and thus they aren't regulating practice of medicine... seems like a slippery slope? what stops them from next saying abortion isn't healthcare?

BREAKING: The House of Representatives passed a bill that would criminalize gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 18 and put doctors in prison for providing this care. This bill is an unjustifiable threat to the well-being of trans youth and their families. The Senate must reject it.

As far as I can tell, RFK Jr.'s latest antivax stunt runs counter to the WMA Declaration of Helsinki. Withholding HepB vaccination clearly does not meet any definition of clinical equipoise. Doing it anyway, overseas, is straight up colonialist medicine. Details in Dr. Jacobs's thread below.

The Vanity Fair photographer from the Susie Wiles story. Holy. Shit. www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/...

made the mistake of going to the post office in december… on the first nice enough day in a bit. blaming my older brother for moving to Canada and messing with my postage situation.

I'm told that HHS has just terminated all funding agreements with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Here's a letter HHS sent canceling one of the grants, relating to work on birth defects. Canceled because the project "emphasizes equity, diversity, and inclusion as key foundational components"

SCOOP: American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding after criticizing RFK Jr. Programs included work on reducing sudden infant deaths and identifying autism early. Me and @Paigecunningham.Bsky.Social www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Inbox --- tele-dermatology company says its expanding it compounded HRT treatments "amisdt the recent news of the FDA's removal" of boxed warning for HRT for menopause...

Seems interesting that CDC is awarding $1.6M to a university in Denmark to study Hep B vaccine in Guinea-Bissau given recent CDC vax changes and FDA's Hoeg's connections to Denmark. Does this study sound ethical? public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-23245.p...

“What is worrisome is that science is replaced with political beliefs, or with sometimes obsession, that it can be easily moved to other areas of the business, so everyone is, let’s say, worried about what is happening." - Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla

Surprised to see the Pfizer CEO this outspoken on vaccines... insights.citeline.com/scrip/therap...

INBOX: Former NIAID director Jeanne Marrazzo is suing the Trump administration. She alleges the NIH violated her constitutional rights and illegally fired her after she blew the whistle on actions that jeopardized public health and violated federal law.

Apparently Prof. Harvey Rich, promoter of the myth that covid vaccines cause turbo cancer and working for a company that sells ivermectin as a cancer treatment, was appointed chair of the President’s cancer panel, overseeing the National cancer program. www.wired.com/story/risch-...

“An FDA commissioner should not attend an event like this for a single company subject to FDA regulation,” said Richard Painter, President George W. Bush’s former chief ethics lawyer. “It creates the appearance of favoritism. And perhaps the reality of favoritism as well.”

@traciepowell.bsky.social: “Journalism will look back on its influencer mania the way it now views the ‘pivot to video’ — as a costly diversion from building real community infrastructure.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...

texas literally has assigned armed state troopers to guard the ladies room. www.texastribune.org/2025/12/12/t...

Are you SERIOUS

“because dietary supplements aren’t reviewed before they’re sold, the products can contain different amounts of ingredients than what’s listed on the label — or ingredients not listed at all.” And now they want to relax warning labels for dietary supplements www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

Having a hard time understanding how you could justify running this interview as it was. It seems to serve only to further confuse the reader about the truth. www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

Just a reminder that at least 600 Americans were fired for failing to show sufficient respect after Charlie Kirk's murder.

There seems to be a trend at FDA (perhaps HHS-wide) to hire people that don't seem quite qualified for particular jobs, but do share similar anti-vax viewpoints.