Joe Rogan Doesn’t Understand Graphs

Joe Rogan spread false information based on a graph that he appeared to misunderstand. The article that the graph is from explained why what he was saying is false, so he appears to have not read or understood the article. Many other popular influencers and show hosts brought up Rogan’s false information, spreading it further and cheering on Rogan’s spread of falsity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1bMJekCiBw

RFK Jr. Shifts $500 Million From mRNA Research to ‘Safer’ Vaccines. Do the Data Back That Up?

“in June, vaccine manufacturer Moderna reported the results of a clinical trial pitting its mRNA influenza vaccine against both high-dose and standard-dose licensed seasonal influenza vaccines. The conventional vaccines used inactivated flu viruses to induce an immune response. Moderna’s mRNA-1010 achieved a relative vaccine efficacy against influenza illness of 26.6 percent in the trial. That means that the mRNA-1010 group had 26.6 percent fewer influenza cases than the group that got the standard-dose flu shot. For example, if the standard flu vaccine group had 100 cases per 1,000 people, the mRNA-1010 group would have had about 73–74 cases per 1,000.

The clinical trial roundly contradicts RFK Jr.’s claim that mRNA vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections, especially in comparison to old-fashioned flu vaccines.

A simple Google Scholar search for mRNA vaccine trials for infectious diseases turns up over 10,000 results for just 2025 alone. But let’s just take a look at a comprehensive new review of promising vaccine formulations for emerging infectious diseases. In that study, a team of Korean researchers compares the pros and cons of different vaccine production platforms, including whole-organism-based, live-attenuated, subunit, virus vector-based immunity, and nucleic acid-based (DNA and RNA) vaccines.

The researchers’ analysis concludes that “mRNA vaccine formulations offer significant advantages, such as rapid development and production, over other vaccine platforms.” They also note that it is “necessary to develop an analysis system that can verify the effectiveness and safety of the mRNA vaccine, as well as the development process of the vaccine itself.” Just what the now-cancelled BARDA mRNA vaccine contracts could have helped to figure out.

These vaccines might indeed have a significant impact on mitigating the spread of infectious diseases, if RFK Jr. would just stop standing athwart biomedical progress yelling, “Stop.””

https://reason.com/2025/08/07/rfk-jr-shifts-500-million-from-mrna-research-to-safer-vaccines-does-the-data-back-that-up/

Does reflection increase accuracy rather than bias in the assessments of political fake news?

“Our findings indicate that individuals from
both political affiliations are prone to believing and disseminating politically aligned fake news via social media. Despite
employing a stronger reflection manipulation in contrast to past research, we failed to replicate the mitigating effect of
the reflection on the acceptance of fake news. We observed that reflection reduced Democrats’ willingness to spread fake
news, yet it did not affect Republicans.”

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12144-025-07578-5.pdf

Three reasons why Republicans cut Medicaid

“As Republicans began to consider their bill in January, Trump promised to “love and cherish” Medicaid. But he ultimately embraced the cuts as necessary to get the bill passed and lobbied reluctant GOP representatives and senators to go along.”

“Other entitlements like Medicare and Social Security, which both serve elderly people, were deemed too politically risky to touch. Trump has been even more adamant about not reducing benefits in Medicare and Social Security, a cornerstone of his first campaign in 2016, than he was about Medicaid.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-republicans-t-quit-medicaid-184536906.html

Jon Stewart – One of My Favorite People – What Now? with Trevor Noah Podcast

‘Social media like Twitter/X isn’t free speech. It’s ultra-processed speech. It’s speech like how Doritos is food. It is toxic and designed as such.’

‘Conspiracy believers are not just asking questions. They question the narrative but not the counter narrative. Their questioning isn’t the problem, but their certainty.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44uC12g9ZVk

Trump’s Ceasefire Chaos

Seems like Trump announced a ceasefire before many Israeli and Iranian government officials knew about the talks or agreement. There was a period between the announcement of a ceasefire and the time it went into effect when Israel and Iran struck each other while they still could. The ceasefire appears to have been broken, but may be holding now.

Claims that the Iranian nuclear program was obliterated sound like silly propagandistic lies by the Trump administration. The nuclear program was greatly damaged, but not obliterated, and Iran can rebuild. Depending on how fast Iran can rebuild, this may have ultimately been a futile attack that only makes Iran more determined to get a nuclear weapon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCTS8h7hjZw

DOJ Brings Kilmar Abrego Garcia Back to the U.S. After Insisting It Couldn’t

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the U.S. to appear in court on Friday, more than two months after being deported to a prison in El Salvador, the country of his birth. No matter how the trial shakes out, it’s just the latest example of the Trump administration playing fast and loose with both the facts and the law.”

“Xinis “order[ed] that [the administration] return Abrego Garcia to the United States.” The Supreme Court intervened, staying Xinis’ order but otherwise affirming its finding to “facilitate…the return of [Abrego Garcia] to the United States by no later than 11:59 PM on Monday, April 7.”
But the administration refused, illogically claiming it had no right to do so. During an Oval Office meeting in April, both Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele mocked the idea of returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States,” Bukele said. In a legal filing that same day, DHS acting general counsel Joseph Mazzarra said the department “does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.”

“He is not coming back to our country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News. “President Bukele said he was not sending him back. That’s the end of the story.”

So, the news on Friday that Abrego Garcia was coming back—and at the Department of Justice’s direction, no less—was a bit stunning.”

“even though the indictment could very well just be retroactive justification for deporting someone in violation of numerous court orders, it remains the case that a court of law is the ideal place to adjudicate allegations against Abrego Garcia—not unsourced allegations delivered in press conferences and on social media.”

https://reason.com/2025/06/09/doj-brings-kilmar-abrego-garcia-back-to-the-u-s-after-insisting-it-couldnt/

Trump business success was “never true” | US Politics | The New Statesman

Trump inherited money and business from his dad, and made a lot of money through his celebrity, but as far as his actual businesses, he mostly spent a lot of money and then used courts to not pay debts he owed. He was a bad and dishonest businessman, and his image as a successful businessman is mostly false.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvGS0V1MKoM

Trump Says They’re Foreign Gang Members. Are They?

Many people that Trump deported and imprisoned without due process, claiming they were violent gang members, appear to not be violent or gang members.

The government’s system for identifying a “gang member” is clearly flawed and easily misidentifies people. And remember, these non gang members are not simply being sent home, but imprisoned in El Salvador, whether or not they are Elsaslvadorian or committed deserving crimes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDU0cAsbg_A