As the brother of an autistic American, as a person who worked on US scientific integrity policy at the White House, and as human being, I'm boiling at the RFK idiocy. And though I have little to offer beyond surpassing rage and national shame, I did smile at this statement from NYU's Arthur Caplan:

Arthur Kaplan really did lay into them, rightly so. It’s beyond egregious, it’s abominable.

Hey, lots of good people are addicts. RFK is a bad person. It has nothing to do with his heroin use. My mom was a heroin addict and an amazing person. I'm a recovering alcoholic. Stop shitting on addicts. It is not a moral failing, it's a disease. You're part of the problem if you're doing this.

This is a great read. Love the last question. #nzpol Four departing mayors tell us what they really think thespinoff.co.nz/politics/23-...

The even more unbelievable crime fact (which I learned relatively recently) is that burglary has fallen by more than 90% since the 1990s. Did anyone notice? Nope. Does anyone believe it? Nope. But is is true? It is!

we don't talk enough about how this paranoid freak released virtual insanity in 1996. years before the average person in the uk had even sent a text message, he was dancing like a maniac in his big moving gaff, enraged to the point of song by faxes, teletext and encarta 95.

"This is categorically false," a representative for Fleetwood Mac tells Rolling Stone" archive.is/2025.09.21-0...

Israeli attacks force Gaza hospitals to close as healthcare system nears collapse - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-attacks-force-gaza-hospitals-close-healthcare-system-nears-collapse

“Kirk's views would be shared by millions. It's such a shallow understanding of the political Right” Hard disagree Populism and far-right politics are fairly analogous right now In an age where fascism is the new black, lots of people sharing someone’s views doesn’t make them any less “far-Right”

Every election is a sort of collective entrance exam into the future. It occasionally happens that populations fail the exam. But for the US to fail essentially a resit of its 2016 exam, featuring the same questions, having studied the answers for eight years, is much rarer and pretty unforgivable.

'Tylenol' is known in the civilised world as Paracetamol 2.4 million children born in Sweden between 1995 and 2019. Studied 186,000 children whose mothers were treated with paracetamol during pregnancy. news.ki.se/no-link-betw...

Can’t explain it but of course they want to take away one of the only painkillers that’s safe for pregnancy, a condition that causes weird and unusual pains. these people WANT pregnancy to be a punishment and handicap. they want to control.

I’m guessing the collapse of the NHS is just a bonus to him. Brits have no idea how bad things might get if this happens. People over here complain about parking costs at hospitals. What will happen when they have to pay for their heart surgery or appendectomy?

Telegraph are angry the BBC described Charlie Kirk accurately

“First, the use of parliamentary urgency needs constraining.” #nzpol

This is also a great listen: former Australian PM Gillard interviewing former Aotearoa NZ PM Adern. (It made me really miss intelligent & articulate leaders with principles & grit) #auspol #NZpol #kindness podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/a...

ACT truly are the Party of extreme bastardry

Highest meth use in years, doubled in a year. Now the highest gun related homicide in 20 years and calls for strong gun laws Psst the Minister in charge of firearms is ACT Party gun lobbyist Nicole McKee #nzpol #kiwi

You can’t fix autism because autistic people are not broken.

Fred Brown recreated Banksy’s removed mural on Scarborough beach. Amazing.

Is this the same project? So it's another Labour project that was always scheduled to start this year? www.horowhenua.govt.nz/Growth-Proje...

Bishop is so full of shit

Are you an archaeologist working on quarries or rock-cut structures? Please submit a paper proposal at this upcoming conference (Edinburgh, UK, 14-15 May 2026) hca.ed.ac.uk/updates-even... @edinburgharchaeo.bsky.social

Not wholly surprising that he's never met a scientist.

Please know that this is Trump scaremongering. There is no good scientific evidence linking paracetamol (Tylenol) to autism. A 2024 Swedish study of 2.4 million births found no relationship whatsoever between exposure to paracetamol in utero & subsequent autism. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Makes you wonder how the pandemic would have panned out if it were just health journalists penning the headlines rather than political journalists.

Democracy is in decline, including in NZ. Warning from Sir Geoffrey Palmr - and interesting comments at the end. #nzpol #nzpolitics newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/22/g...

Pro-democracy Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah was released from prison late Monday after being granted a presidential pardon.

So Ruth Richardson & Roger Douglas want Nicola Willis to adopt the Liz Truss libertarian playbook, even though its failed. everywhere And Douglas wants David Seymour to take her place. What could go wrong with the Atlas Network (NZI/TPU) formula? A lot - as every country they touch knows #nzpol

No, Stuff. Not "unproven". The word you are looking for is "DISproven", or you could use "thoroughly debunked". I would also accept "A steaming pile of horseshit" but I doubt you'd consider printing that. #nzpol

This is cool

Steve Silberman is not here to shout it — so it’s up to all of us. Vaccines don’t cause autism. Neither does Tylenol. (I mean seriously WTF?!?!) The “epidemic” of autism is the result of increased testing, broader definitions, and raised awareness. LOUDER.

If New Zealand doesn't recognise Palestine it will show us on the wrong side of history on the global stage, but I suspect it would have domestic repurcussions as well, as it would be another example of the government looking like it's controlled by it's minor coalition partners

🟠Severe Weather Update🟡 🟠🌧 Taranaki Maunga and the Tararua Range Heavy Rain Warnings will expire this afternoon 🟡🌧 Heavy Rain Watches have been issued for Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Waikato and Bay of Plenty 🟡🌧 The headwaters of the Otago lakes and rivers also has a Heavy Rain Watch

If you, like me, are the parent of a neuro-atypical child dreading this autism press conference, please remember: These are the people hurting our kids. Not us. They are the ones stigmatizing and pathologizing them. They are the ones peddling untested science. And we should be very, very angry.

Do you understand that a huge portion of the wellness podcaster and influencer community is now going to be paid to push folic acid as a treatment for autism despite no actual evidence for it. This is a windfall for the supplements industry. It's all a grift.

A lot of journalists follow me, so let me just say that if you're at all talking about this deep dark bullshit in the coming hours and days, then Matthew Cortland is one of the people you absolutely want to be talking to.

I think it's not that they're misinformed, it's that they're lying and trying to change history. Any media that allows lies to be presented as facts should be shamed into bankruptcy.

I think it is important to note that there’s nothing wrong with having a different neurotype, such as Autism (ASD), ADHD, etc. Pathologizing someone with Autism potentially exacerbates existing harms they’re likely already struggling with. It leads to harmful labeling and stigma.

I took Tylenol as needed throughout my pregnancy. I am a doctor. I order Tylenol for pregnant women regularly. Tylenol is safe in pregnancy. RFK Jr is ignoring a huge recent well-done study because he doesn't like the answer it gives. There is no causality between Tylenol and autism.

Auē. Moe mai rā, te ariki. Kua hinga te tōtara o Te Waonui a Tāne. www.teaonews.co.nz/2025/09/23/a...

Aspirin can be lethal to babies and young children. There’s a reason they’re giving them Tylenol. I worry that the more Trump says “don’t give your babies Tylenol!” The more we’re going to see babies succumbing to Reye’s Syndrome & other aspirin related complications.

I think Junior Disprin causes left handedness. I was given it as a baby and I'm left handed. So the evidence is certainly compelling.

It’s another day ending in Y so I am once again pissed off at the govt. I remember watching debate where the lady with bowel cancer wanted to lower the screening age which both Chrises said they would. Luxon said he would match australia which is 45. www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Unions in Italy have launched a one-day strike to protest Israel's war on Gaza. Thousands of workers are demonstrating in the general strike that's brought schools, transit and ports to a halt.

I know its debatable, but this might be the most dangerous press conference Trump has ever held.

If Tylenol causes autism, which is absolutely bullshit, how does one explain the existence of autism where there's no Tylenol? Honestly, you truly have to be wilfully gullible to believe this nonsense.

Trump's America is going to pay you to take drugs

So I'm assuming that financial journalists are hard at work figuring out who in the administration shorted Kenvue today, right?