Tag: science
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CNN Is Not Defending Science. It Is Defending a Technology From Scientific Scrutiny.
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2026 (Aug. 30, 2026) — CNN has published another article in which the label “misinformation” does the work that evidence should have done. The August 23 article, “mRNA Cancer Vaccines: Promising but Dogged by Misinformation”, celebrates Moderna and Merck’s personalized melanoma treatment while dismissing concern about cancer following COVID-19 vaccination.…
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Trump Signs Executive Order on Vaccines
by Sharon Rondeau (Aug. 10, 2026) — At 2:55 p.m. EDT, President Trump began speaking from the Oval Office regarding the CDC’s childhood vaccine schedule, thanking HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for his assistance in contributing to it. Reading presumably from the order, Trump said the recommended number of vaccine doses for children is…
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The Man Who Managed Fauci’s Emails Has Been Charged With Destroying Them
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2026 (Apr. 28, 2026) — Federal prosecutors in Maryland have criminally charged David Morens, a former senior scientific advisor to Anthony Fauci at the National Institutes of Health, with hiding records about COVID-19’s origins from the public. The indictment, unsealed this morning by the Department of Justice, alleges conspiracy, destruction of…
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Moderna Quits Vaccines over Effective Regulatory and Prosecutorial Climates. Here are a Few Reasons Why.
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2026 (Jan. 27, 2026) — In a development as symbolic as it is strategic, Moderna has publicly scaled back its investment in vaccine development, citing a regulatory climate that no longer guarantees impunity. The announcement came during a January 2026 interview with Bloomberg TV, reported by Reuters, in which Moderna…
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An Earned Reckoning: Fired Scientists Cannot Pretend Surprise When Trust Runs Out
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2026 (Jan. 21, 2026) —The human cost is visible, and it is not to be minimized. Researchers cry in federal parking lots, their belongings packed into bags. Lifelong scientific vocations rupture in a single administrative notice. Labs go dark. Careers flatline. Nature’s latest feature on the fallout from U.S. science…
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The Schedule Is the Signal: Why the January 2026 Vaccine Policy Reset Was Necessary, Not Radical
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2026 (Jan. 6, 2026) — The CDC’s January 2026 childhood vaccine schedule realignment is not a retreat from science—it is its restoration. By aligning the U.S. with international norms, reclassifying low-benefit vaccines, and preserving universal access, the policy reasserts informed consent, parsimony, and scientific integrity as central to public health. This…
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“Green Energy” Opponents Ignore the Elephant in the Room
by Tom Harris, ©2025 (Oct. 10, 2025) — Most organizations and individuals who are fighting against the expansion of wind turbines, solar power, and battery energy storage systems (BESS) are not addressing the elephant in the room. The truth is that the science driving the climate scare is wrong, and so the energy transition promoted…
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Science Shows that Day-of-Birth HepB Vaccination has No Added Protection and Disproportionate Added Risk
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Sep. 19, 2025) — Here we review the science that shows the day-of-birth HepB dose has no significant benefit in terms of final immunity. Yet, it adds exposure risk for 100% of infants. The actual risk of benefit applies to <0.01% of the birth cohort—and even then, only…
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You’ll Own Nothing and Be Happy: Only if You’ve Had a Lobotomy or Been Educated in Today’s Schools
by Kathleen Marquardt, American Policy Center, ©2025 (Sep. 5, 2025) — How many people do you know who still believe we have too much C02 on this earth? How many people do you know who are letting their children being taught “sight words” to hinder their reading abilities? How many people do you know who…
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The Empty Revolt: A Rational Rebuttal to the 1,000 Authors of the HHS “Secretary Kennedy Must” Resignation Letter
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Sep. 3, 2025) — Let us begin with what is human. Fear. Grief. Disillusionment. Many who signed the September 3 letter calling for Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s resignation are no doubt good people. They have built careers in public health under an institutional consensus that framed obedience as virtue…
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BREAKING: FDA Rescinds Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19 Vaccines
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Aug. 27, 2025) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rescinded the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for COVID-19 vaccines, narrowing their availability to high-risk groups. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the change on Wednesday, describing it as a step to end…
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A Rational Moment: Kennedy and Oz Kill Back-Door Mandate for COVID Hospital Death Protocol that Killed Hundreds of Thousands
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Aug. 2, 2025) — In a quiet move with enormous consequences, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., advised by Dr. Mehmet Oz, formally repealed a Biden-era CMS policy through regulatory change embedded in the FY 2026 Inpatient Prospective Payment System…
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Follow the Science: The Benefits of Breastfeeding Your Baby Are MASSIVE.
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Jul. 7, 2025) — Introduction: The Case That Shouldn’t Still Need Making Each year, thousands of preventable infant hospitalizations occur—many due to conditions that breastmilk could have prevented. And yet, in a culture steeped in pharmacological convenience and institutional amnesia, breastfeeding remains under-promoted, under-supported, and routinely undercut by…
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Coordinated, Not Consensus: Messaging and the Public Perception of RFK Jr.
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Jun. 8, 2025) — In times of uncertainty, repetition often masquerades as truth. Messaging becomes a proxy for consensus, and uniformity of language is mistaken for a deliberative process. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the growing wave of statements and calls for resignation surrounding Health…
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Science Communication in 2025 Requires Integrity—Not Silence, Not Compliance, Not Branding
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Jun. 4, 2025) — In 2025, science communication stands at a precipice—not because truth has vanished, but because courage has. The problem is not that scientists and clinicians have “gone silent” out of some noble fear of doing harm, as some writers suggest. It’s that too many have…
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Moderna Canceled: How the U.S. Government Stopped Gambling
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (May 29, 2025) — On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officially terminated its $700 million partnership with Moderna to develop and stockpile a vaccine for the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The termination included both the $590 million awarded in January 2025…
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Using Education to Attack Farmlands?
by Lynne M. Taylor, American Policy Center, ©2025 (May 1, 2025) — If you’ve heard of “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) or STEAM (the “A” stands for Arts) or even STREAM (the “R” stands for reading/writing); you may NOT know that there’s a new acronym around called “STEAMA”. Now, depending on where you live…
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An Operational Vision for NIH Reform: Rebuilding the Scientific Core
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Apr. 22, 2025) — I have already outlined the scientific research priorities I see as necessary and good to help America meet its goals of becoming healthy again. Now I want to share my vision as a hard-nosed strategic reformer. The NIH is no longer trusted. Not by…
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Rebuilding Trust the Right Way
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Apr. 19, 2025) — Good Saturday Morning, Popular Rationalists! Remember – #SharingIsCaring Time again, outbreak after epidemic after pandemic, we have heard public health authorities tell us that the only problem they had that led to their failure was the need for “better messaging”. But they did not…
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Reclaiming Scientific Integrity: A Call for Objective, Predictive Research on Autism Risk
by James Lyons-Weiler, PhD, Popular Rationalism, ©2025 (Apr. 7, 2025) — Finally, The Fork in the Road.. Never a More Exciting Time for Science, But WashPo is Debby Downer On April 4, 2025, the Washington Post reported on the National Institutes of Health’s upcoming initiative to investigate the causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Rather than welcoming…