“What gave [Sen. Joseph] McCarthy his fame and his influence was the spectacle of arbitrary power. Alone among rivals, he demonstrated that a single loose-cannon senator could do and say whatever he wanted—nobody could stop him. To speak out against McCarthy was to invite his scrutiny and intimidation. But remaining silent was no guarantee of […]

How did the vaccine-autism connection ever come about? It was an instance of scientific fraud: “In 1998, Andrew Wakefield published a paper based on just 12 children that linked the MMR vaccine to autism. The results have not been replicated, and it later transpired that he had falsified data, for which his medical license was […]

Proud to see this coming from Rhode Island: “A new bill introduced to the United States House of Representatives would withhold federal funding for any American “operations to invade or seize territory from” Canada, Panama or Greenland — unless Congress agrees to it first, that is. “Introduced Thursday by Rhode Island Rep. Seth Magaziner, the […]

”Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”~Napoleon Bonaparte What should Senate Democrats do about the GOP continuing resolution? Filibuster and send it back to the house, which will certainly mean a shut-down? Or let it pass on the grounds that Democrats can’t be blamed for the consequences? James Carville’s argument is that […]

Is Tesla a car company? An AI company? A projection of Elon Musk’s ego? In Europe, it’s a greenwashing company. Selling credits to other automakers looking to avoid paying penalties for not meeting European Union emissions targets has proved lucrative for all-electric Tesla. “Since its founding, the electric vehicle company has brought in billions from […]

Candidate Trump promised he would not allow any cuts to Social Security or Medicare if elected. Looks like President Musk didn’t get the memo: “Despite reporting from The Washington Post on Monday suggesting that DOGE officials are starting to worry about bad “PR,” Musk suggested later in the day he could push for big cuts […]

Oops! Poor RFK Jr. He’s had to tiptoe back his attacks on childhood vaccines in the face of a measles outbreak in Texas. What’s a poor anti-vaxxer to do. Well, since vaccine denialists can never be wrong, they can only be wronged, Kennedy blames the victims: “In later comments, Kennedy suggested that severe symptoms mainly […]

President Musk’s superpower is that elected officials (Trump, GOP Congressmen) can just claim to be out of the loop and cede the staffing of government and the power of the purse to an unelected billionaire. I can’t think of another example of such an egregious failure of Constitutional government in the US. All the historical […]

Let’s call Medicaid by its real name. “While 80 million Americans are insured through Medicaid, many people don’t think of themselves as “on Medicaid” — even when they are. “Why? Because Medicaid is not branded as Medicaid in most states. If you tell a patient in South Carolina they might lose Medicaid, their eyes may […]

American universities are the envy of the world—for now. If President Musk’s cuts to the NIH budget hold, that will likely change*. But for JD Vance, that’s a feature, not a bug: “When President Trump and his allies think of the idealized version of higher education, they don’t look to the Ivy League or the […]