Monday, December 15, 2025
Donald Trump's bonkers social media post about the murder of Rob Reiner and his wife.
If his people won't invoke the 25th Amendment, they should at least take away his cell phone
Kash Patel's terrible pre-mature victory lap in the Brown shooting
Eager to show he isn't the total screw-up most non-MAGA feel he is, Patel tweeted this yesterday to claim credit for the capture and arrest of THE WRONG GUY. No thanks to Patel, his false statement interrupted the investigation for the real killer who, at this writing, is still on the loose.
Doctor groups form united front against RFK Jr’s efforts to limit vaccine access
Doctors stand up to Bobby Jr.'s vaccine insanity
Experts were responding to a vote by members of the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—all handpicked by Health and Human
Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—to
limit the use of hepatitis B vaccines in newborns, in spite of
evidence that the shots prevent
cancer and save lives.
“Children will
acquire hepatitis B and die as a result of these recommendations,”
said Aaron M. Milstone, MD, representing the American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP). “My colleagues or I, not a committee member, will be the ones supporting
the parents of a dying child and trying to explain how they were let down and
lost a child from a preventable infection.”
The ACIP recommended vaccinating all healthy newborns
against hepatitis B at birth for 34 years, because mothers can pass the virus
to infants during delivery. That recommendation helped
to reduce the number of hepatitis B infections in children by 99%.
But last week, the ACIP voted to recommend a birth dose of
hepatitis B vaccine only for newborns whose mothers test positive for the virus or
whose infection status is unknown. Mothers who aren’t infected with hepatitis B
should discuss the risks and benefits with their health provider, the group
advised. Babies who aren’t vaccinated against hepatitis at birth should wait at
least 2 months for their first dose, the committee decided.
Experts note that blood tests aren’t always accurate,
producing “false negative” results about 5% of the time. About 90% of
infants exposed to hepatitis B at birth develop a chronic, incurable infection
that can lead to liver failure, liver cancer, and early death.
Babies and children also can be exposed after birth by
family members.
Research has shown that postponing an infected baby’s first
dose of hepatitis vaccine by 2 months could could
cause at least 1,400 preventable hepatitis B infections among
children, 300 additional cases of liver cancer, 480 preventable deaths, and
over $222 million in excess health care costs a year.
Amnesty Int'l says ALL deaths from Trump's boat attacks are murder, not just the slaughter of ship-wrecked survivors
‘All of Them Constitute Murder,’ Amnesty Says of Trump Boat Bombings
Brad Reed for Common Dreams
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| The Coast Guard demonstrates the correct, legal way to make ocean drug arrests |
Daphne Eviatar, director for security and human rights for
Amnesty International USA, said that it would be a mistake to merely
condemn the Trump
administration for launching a double-tap strike aimed at killing
shipwrecked survivors of an initial attack, because the entire campaign of
bombing vessels based on the suspicion that they are carrying illegal narcotics
is unlawful.
Sunday, December 14, 2025
MIDNIGHT UPDATE on the Brown shooting
Deadly Brown Shooting Spurs Calls for Action on Guns
Jessica
Corbett for Common Dreams
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A suspect ("person of interest") was arrested just before 5 AM at a hotel in Coventry. Shelter in place orders were lifted at 7 AM. Tonight, he was identified as Benjamin Erickson, 24, from Wisconsin. Police say they found two handguns in his hotel room. NEW: Just after 11 PM, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and police officials held a unscheduled briefing to say that Erickson was being released, noting that it was unfortunate his name was released. That means there is NO suspect in custody and the killer is still on the loose.
“Our hearts are with the victims, survivors, their families,
and the entire community of Brown University and the surrounding Providence
area in this horrific time,” said Brady president Kris Brown in a statement. “As
students prepare for finals and then head home to loved ones for the holidays,
our all-too-American gun violence crisis has shattered their safety.”
“Guns are the leading cause of death for youth in this
nation. Only in America do we live in fear of being shot and killed in our
schools, places of worship, and grocery stores,” she continued. “Now, as
students, faculty, and staff hide and barricade themselves in immense fear, we
once again call on lawmakers in Congress and around the country to take action
against this uniquely American public health crisis.
We cannot continue to allow politics and special interests to take priority
over our lives and safety.”
 |
| THIS is the misinformation posted by Trump just two hours after the shooting. Local and university officials scrambled to correct this malicious interference. At 6 PM, he posted a retraction that blamed Brown University police for having "reversed their previous statement." There was no such previous statement. |
The law
enforcement response is ongoing and Brown remains in lockdown, according to a 9:29 pm
Eastern update on the university’s website. Everyone is urged to shelter in
place, which “means keeping all doors locked and ensuring no movement across
campus.”
The Ivy League university’s president, Christina H. Paxson,
said in a public message that “this is a deeply tragic day for Brown, our
families, and our local community. There are truly no words that can express
the deep sorrow we are feeling for the victims of the shooting that took place
today at the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building.”
US Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said on social media that
he was “praying for the victims and their families,” and thanked the first
responders who “put themselves in harm’s way to protect all of us.” He also
echoed the city’s mayor, Brett Smiley, “in urging Rhode Islanders to heed only
official updates from Brown University and the Providence Police.”
In a statement, US Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) also acknowledged everyone
impacted by “this horrific, active, and unfolding tragedy,” and stressed the
importance of everyone listening to law enforcement “as they continue working
to ensure the entire campus and surrounding community is safe, and the threat
is neutralized.”
The state’s two Democratic congressmen, Brown alumnus Seth Magaziner and Gabe
Amo, released similar statements. Amo also said that “the scourge of mass shootings is
a horrific stain on our nation. We must seek policies to ensure that these
tragedies do not strike yet another community and no more lives are needlessly
taken from us.”
Elected officials at various levels of government across the country sent their condolences to the Brown community. Some also used the 389th US mass shooting this year and the 230th gun incident on school grounds—according to Brady’s president—to argue that, as US House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) put it, “it’s past time for us to act and stop senseless gun violence from happening again.”
New York City’s democratic socialist mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, noted that
this shooting occurred just before the anniversary of the 2012 massacre
at Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Newtown, Connecticut:
This senseless violence—once considered unfathomable—has become nauseatingly normal to all of us across our nation. Tonight, on the eve of the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, we find ourselves in mourning once again.
The epidemic of gun violence stretches across America. We reckon with it when we step into our houses of worship and out onto our streets, when we drop our children off at kindergarten and when we fear if those children, now grown, will be safe on campus. But unlike so many other epidemics, we possess the cure. We have the power to eradicate this suffering from our lives if we so choose.
I send my deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and to the Brown and Providence communities, who are wrestling with a grief that will feel familiar to far too many others. May we never allow ourselves to grow numb to this pain, and let us rededicate ourselves to the enduring work of ending the scourge of gun violence in our nation.
Fred Guttenberg has been advocating against gun violence
since his 14-year-old daughter was among those murdered at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida nearly eight years ago. He said on
social media that
he knows two current students at Brown and asserted that “IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE
THIS WAY!!!”
Students Demand Action similarly declared: “Make no mistake: We DO NOT have to live and die
like this. Our lawmakers fail us every day that they refuse to take action on
gun violence.”
Gabby Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman from
Arizona who became an activist after surviving a 2011 assassination
attempt, said that “my heart breaks for Brown University.
Students should only have to worry about studying for finals right now, not
hiding from gunfire. Guns are the leading cause of death for young people in
America—this is a five-alarm fire and our leaders in Washington have
ignored it for too long. Americans are tired of waiting around for Congress to
decide that protecting kids matters.”
John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, warned that “we either take action, or we bury more of
our kids.”
The Associated Press noted that “Rhode Island has some of the strictest gun
laws in the US. Last spring the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed an
assault weapon ban that will prohibit the sale and manufacturing of certain
high-powered firearms, but not their possession, starting next July.”
Gun violence prevention advocates often argue for federal
restrictions, given that, as Everytown’s latest analysis of
state-level policies points out, “even the strongest system can’t protect a
state from its neighbors’ weak laws.”
Under Former Chemical Industry Insiders, Trump EPA Nearly Doubles Amount of Formaldehyde Considered Safe to Inhale
Your lungs are the cost of corruption
Industry lobbyists have long pushed the federal government to adopt a less stringent approach to gauging the cancer risk from chemicals, one that would help ease regulations on companies that make or use them.
Last week, in a highly unusual move, the Environmental Protection Agency embraced that approach in announcing that it is revising an assessment of the health dangers posed by formaldehyde, a widespread pollutant that causes far more cancer than any other chemical in the air. Working on that effort were two of those former industry insiders, who are now top EPA officials.
The proposed revisions to the assessment, released Wednesday, nearly double the amount of formaldehyde considered safe to inhale compared with the version that was finalized in the last weeks of the Biden administration. Even that older assessment significantly underestimated the dangers posed by formaldehyde, a ProPublica investigation published last year found.
Under previous Republican and Democratic administrations, EPA scientists were instructed to assume that chemicals that cause cancer by damaging DNA — the largest group of carcinogens, which includes formaldehyde — pose a “linear” risk, meaning that even small exposures can be dangerous. The agency adopted the approach almost 40 years ago to protect against the multitude of low-level cancer threats the public faces daily. But the industry’s favored method assumes that certain carcinogens pose no risk at lower levels and that the danger should only be considered once exposure reaches a certain threshold.
The Trump administration has already criticized the use of the linear model for calculating the risk of cancer from radiation and could scrap its use in examining other chemicals.
The EPA’s adoption of this threshold model for formaldehyde might come as little surprise given that some of the scientists who have promoted the approach on behalf of companies are now running the agency.
While Scientists Race To Study Spread of Measles in US, Kennedy Unravels Hard-Won Gains
Trump and Bobby Jr. end US's measle-free status
More children would be hospitalized because of this preventable disease. Some would lose their hearing. Some would die. Measles is also expensive. A new study — not yet published in a scientific journal — estimates that the public health response to outbreaks with only a couple of cases costs about $244,000. When a patient requires hospital care, costs average $58,600 per case. The study’s estimates suggest that an outbreak the size of the one in West Texas earlier this year, with 762 cases and 99 hospitalizations, costs about $12.6 million.
America’s status hinges on whether the country’s main outbreaks this year stemmed from the big one in West Texas that officially began Jan. 20. If these outbreaks are linked, and go on through Jan. 20 of next year, the U.S. will no longer be among nations that have banished the disease.
Even Fox News gets it
“A lot of people worked very hard for a very long time to achieve elimination — years of figuring out how to make vaccines available, get good vaccine coverage, and have a rapid response to outbreaks to limit their spread,” said Paul Rota, a microbiologist who recently retired from a nearly 40-year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Instead of acting fast to prevent a measles comeback, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lawyer who founded an anti-vaccine organization before taking the helm at the Department of Health and Human Services, has undermined the ability of public health officials to prevent and contain outbreaks by eroding trust in vaccines. The measles vaccine is safe and effective: Only 4% of nearly 1,800 confirmed U.S. cases of measles this year have been in people who had received two doses.
Kennedy has fired experts on the vaccine advisory committee to the CDC and has said, without evidence, that vaccines may cause autism, brain swelling, and death. On Nov. 19, scientific information on a CDC webpage about vaccines and autism was replaced with false claims. Kennedy told The New York Times that he ordered the change.
“Do we want to go back into a pre-vaccine era where 500 kids die of measles each year?” asked Demetre Daskalakis, a former director of the CDC’s national immunization center, who resigned in protest of Kennedy’s actions in August. He and other scientists said the Trump administration appears to be occupied more with downplaying the resurgence of measles than with curbing the disease.
Nine Rhode Island State Senators want to decide where and how you may protest
“Public expression and demonstration are fundamental rights, but…”
“Street take-overs and protesters blocking roadways are both
extremely dangerous for our communities and have no place in our state,” said
Senator Leonidas Raptakis (Democrat, District 33, Coventry,
West Greenwich). “Whether it’s protesters keeping people from getting to work
or going to the hospital for an emergency, and other duties of first
responders, or these outrageous street takeovers that block the use of and
vandalize our roadways, these troubling behaviors need to have consequences for
those who disregard others’ safety and time. Public safety needs to be
protected and upheld.”
RI DINOs need to reacquaint themselves with the Constitution
Because nothing can be better than politicians legislating
punishments for protests they dislike, Senators Raptakis and Patalano will
introduce two bills in January to keep roadways clear and safe for motorists
and pedestrians. They highlight the need for legislation due to protesters
blocking highways and the recent phenomenon of “street takeovers.”
Senators David Tikoian, Peter Appollonio Jr., Brian
Thompson, Andrew Dimitri, Robert Britto, John
Burke, and Stefano Famiglietti will cosponsor the
legislative package.
“As both a State Senator and a Major with the Cranston Police Department, I have seen firsthand the catastrophic consequences that occur when our roadways are turned into staging grounds for reckless stunts or obstructed by individuals who believe they can shut down highways without regard for the safety of others,” said Senator Todd Patalano (Democrat, District 26, Cranston). “We have already witnessed incidents across the country where blocked roadways delayed emergency medical care with tragic outcomes. Rhode Island cannot afford to wait until a family in our state suffers that same loss. Passing these bills is not about politics; it is about protecting the innocent and preventing the avoidable.”
“The ACLU will vigorously oppose this proposed legislation
because it is unnecessary and unconstitutionally overbroad,” commented Steven
Brown, Executive Director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. “It is
unnecessary because Rhode Island laws already impose criminal penalties for
obstructing a roadway, and there is no need for another law that is clearly
designed simply to be more punitive. It is overly broad because it could
criminalize a wide variety of innocuous activities and conduct protected by the
First Amendment, including that of panhandlers or activists standing on a
highway median to direct attention to a cause.
Saturday, December 13, 2025
CRMC must enforce its own rulings
From a Save The Bay press release:
Today marks two years since the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC)
issued a cease and desist order requiring Quidnessett Country Club to
remove the illegal rock wall they erected without permission
on Narragansett Bay. Since the issuance of that order, CRMC’s
politically-appointed Council has allowed Quidnessett to retain the unlawful
wall, allowing numerous extensions, at the cost of Rhode Islanders’ access to
the natural shoreline and local habitats like the beach and salt marsh near the
shores of the country club.
“CRMC’s Council is complicit in maintaining this illegal
rock wall on the shores of Narragansett Bay,” said Jed Thorp,
Director of Advocacy for Save The Bay. “First, the Council entertained a
water-type change that would have allowed the Club to keep a massive structure
built on the coast without any permits. Then, when that avenue failed, the
Council gave the Club multiple extensions to deliver restoration plans that
would properly restore the ecosystem to its previous state. Now, a recent
appeal filed by Quidnessett in Superior Court will, in effect, grant the Club
more time to keep the unpermitted and illegal rock wall. The wall has stood for
over two years, constructed by the Club in violation of state and federal law,
and to date, with no consequences. It’s time for the Council to stop protecting
this private golf course and treat it like any other willful violator of the
law–order the Club to rectify the violation, remove the wall, and fully restore
the shoreline.”
Save The Bay staff recently visited the illegally erected
rock wall site on Narragansett Bay. While there, staff observed local wildlife
such as horseshoe crabs and birds that depend on the local habitat for
survival, a habitat that has been partially buried under a 20-foot-tall pile of
rocks on the shoreline. CRMC’s staff stated in its evaluation of the violation
that the massive stone structure could also affect the nesting of the eastern diamondback
terrapin, an endangered species. Additionally, the wall deflects wave
energy along the wall to neighboring properties–in this case, the salt marsh
and sandy beaches–which will increase erosion in those habitats.
Save The Bay continues to advocate for comprehensive CRMC
reform, including removing the Council, leaving coastal decision-making to
CRMC’s expert staff, and putting a full-time staff attorney in place to ensure
that law and science, not politics, guide regulatory decisions.
“We need a coastal agency that will defend our local
habitats and natural resources, not violators of the law,” Thorp said. “By
maintaining this illegal wall in place, the Council is sending the wrong
message to coastal developers that you can build without permits or impunity.”
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Whoa! More than half of new articles on the internet are being written by AI
Is human writing headed for extinction?
Francesco Agnellini, Binghamton University, State University of New York
The line between human and machine authorship is blurring, particularly as it’s become increasingly difficult to tell whether something was written by a person or AI.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I do not write using AI, although it's hard to do a Google search without having their AI tool kick in. I also do not post articles that I know to be AI-generated. I do occasionally use AI images and have reposted some of Donald Trump's bizarre AI videos. - Will Collette
Now, in what may seem like a tipping point, the digital marketing firm Graphite recently published a study showing that more than 50% of articles on the web are being generated by artificial intelligence.
As a scholar who explores how AI is built, how people are using it in their everyday lives, and how it’s affecting culture, I’ve thought a lot about what this technology can do and where it falls short.
If you’re more likely to read something written by AI than by a human on the internet, is it only a matter of time before human writing becomes obsolete? Or is this simply another technological development that humans will adapt to?
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