Margaret C. Searing @MCSearing

Fred Rogers met with a child psychologist every week for 22 years to build his show. She shaped everything: every script, prop, and song. The whole point was to give a child's nervous system time to slow down. In 1984, a single regulatory decision ended all of it. The psychologist was Dr. Margaret McFarland, who co-founded the Arsenal Family and Children's Center alongside Benjamin Spock and Erik Erikson. She and Rogers understood that the prefrontal cortex in children, the part of the brain that controls impulse, emotion, and attention, takes decades to fully develop. At the start of every episode, Rogers tied his sneakers and changed his sweater while children settled in. Those pauses were intentional, designed to help a child's nervous system shift into a calmer, more focused state. What ended it had nothing to do with child development science. In 1984, Reagan's FCC chairman Mark Fowler abolished the advertising limits that had protected children's programming from commercial pressure. Toy companies moved within months. Between 1984 and 1985, cartoons tied to toy lines increased by 300%, from a handful of shows to more than 40 animated series. In almost every case, the toy was designed first. The cartoon was built to sell it. Researchers later put numbers to what parents were already noticing. A 2011 study in Pediatrics from the University of Virginia tested 60 four-year-olds across three groups: one watching SpongeBob, which cuts scene every 11 seconds; one watching a slow PBS show, which cuts scene every 34 seconds; and one drawing. Nine minutes later, all three took tests on attention, impulse control, short-term memory, and problem-solving. The SpongeBob group scored significantly worse across every measure. In the 1970s, children began watching television around age 4. Research from pediatrician Dimitri Christakis found that by 2009, the average age of first screen exposure had dropped to 4 months, as the content got faster and the audience got younger. Researchers separately found that each additional hour of daily screen time at ages 1 or 3 raised the risk of attention problems at age 7 by 9%.

ɴᴀᴅɪ.🎀༘ @luvblessingz

2 days ago

We didn’t realize it then, but kids’ shows used to be this calm on purpose.

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@BeschlossDC Yes. I’d just graduated from college & starting my 1st job in my profession (nursing.) Ancestors had fought & spied for Washington during the Revolution. I drove to work every AM along the retreat route from NYC (McCarter Hiway). Connected & grateful, that’s how I felt.

Let's be clear about what Gabbard released today and what it actually says. The US did fund biological laboratories in Ukraine through the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program - a program designed to secure Soviet-era biological warfare pathogens and prevent their spread. This was publicly acknowledged by then-Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland under oath in March 2022. The DOD confirmed 46 labs the same year. None of this was classified information requiring revelation. The newly released documents confirm the program's scope. They also contain a telling detail that Gabbard's press release omits: the IC assessment on the Kharkiv facility explicitly states it is "an ongoing target for Russian misinformation" and that Russia's accusations about bioweapons work in that facility were the disinformation problem - not evidence of actual bioweapons work. Gregory Koblentz, director of George Mason University's biodefense graduate program, told Newsweek that Gabbard has "irresponsibly exaggerated" the risks, endorsed Russian and Chinese disinformation narratives, and notably: ignored that the first Trump administration played an active role in supporting this same public health research in Ukraine. This release comes on Gabbard's last day as DNI - before she hands the role to Bill Pulte next week. The framing that previous administrations "lied" and "covered up" the labs is contradicted by Nuland's 2022 Senate testimony and the DOD's own 2022 public acknowledgment. The labs are real. The threat reduction mission is real. The "cover-up" claim is not supported by the record.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard @DNIGabbard

4 days ago

Today, I’m releasing never before seen intelligence revealing new evidence of past US government funding for more than 120 biolabs in over 30 countries, including Ukraine. In support of President Trump‘s Executive Order to end federal funding of dangerous gain of function

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In case you missed it: The Trump admin tried to say the Presidential Records Act was unconstitutional and stop requiring recordkeeping. We sued and won. Now their nonsensical policy is reversed. citizensforethics.org/news/press-rel…

Stephen Miller wants to flip a switch and erase one of your oldest rights. It’s called habeas corpus. Fancy words but a simple idea that the government can’t just grab you and lock you away. It has to prove to a judge why you’re behind bars. That right is 800 years old. It’s older than America itself. And Miller tried to kill it. New reporting confirms it. Inside the White House, Miller pushed to suspend habeas corpus so agents could seize people, detain them, and deport them with no judge, no hearing, no chance to say “you’ve got the wrong guy.” Even Trump’s own lawyers put in writing that this is illegal. Miller pushed anyway. Miller screams “invasion” because the Constitution only allows this sort of thing during an invasion. But this same crowd brags every day that border crossings hit record lows. So which is it? The right to challenge your own detention is the line between a republic and a regime. Lose it, and the government can disappear anyone. I will fight this with everything I have. The Constitution is not optional. Not for Stephen Miller. Not for anyone. nytimes.com/2026/06/15/us/…

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tern @1goodtern

17 hours ago

There are some people who would have you believe that vaccines basically all work the same for different infections, and all have the same effect, but that's not true. Let me explain this as simply as I can:

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#LongCOVID may leave a visible metabolic fingerprint in the brain—years after the initial infection. ➡️ Using 18F-FDG PET-CT, researchers found persistent areas of reduced brain glucose metabolism (hypometabolism) in Long COVID patients, particularly those suffering from fatigue and post-exertional malaise (PEM). 1/

NEW: Florida’s Supreme Court refused to suspend or disbar Kenneth Chesebro, a key architect of Trump’s fake electors plot. Instead, it restored his ability to practice law and gave him a "public reprimand" — despite a blistering dissent. democracydocket.com/news-alerts/fl…

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Zdenek Vrozina @ZdenekVrozina

17 hours ago

A macrophage is the lung's cleanup crew. Its job is to clear away dead cells before they leave a mess behind - which is how it keeps inflammation down. In COVID, that same cleanup is how it gets infected. The debris it's clearing has live virus inside it.🧵

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A bombshell NYT article just dropped with shocking new information from inside the Oval Office over the past year. According to the Times, in April of last year, Stephen Miller — a known proponent of Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation's "unitary executive theory" — proposed that the White House simply pretend Trump had "the power to suspend habeas corpus." However, a loyalist attorney shut him down. After ICE gunned two American citizens down in cold blood in Minneapolis earlier this year, JD Vance also floated invoking the Insurrection Act, per the Times. Even legal counsel Will Scharf, described by the paper as an "arch-conservative lawyer serving as the White House staff secretary," sought to quash the unconstitutional proposals, as detailed in several top-secret memos. "But the documents reflected alarm among a small group of senior aides," the Times wrote. "[White House insiders] felt that Mr. Miller’s eagerness to test the limits of executive power — and to accuse other branches of encroaching on it, echoing a president who bristled at any constraint — risked steering the administration, and the country, in a dangerous direction." This administration is looking for any opportunity to unlawfully seize power as their coalition collapses and their support tanks in real time. November is rapidly approaching, and they know it may be now or never — but that is not a given. Remember this when you vote. [Matt Rourke/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo, REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein]

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The DOJ is attempting a cover-up. I discovered a quiet policy change that now lets the AG approve prison transfers at their discretion. This comes after they moved Ghislaine Maxwell to a prison that doesn't allow sex offenders. This is an attempt to cover their tracks. I will keep demanding answers.

Staggering that the NYT reports Trump/Miller are plotting to suspend habeas corpus (i.e. end the constitution) & by the end of the day it's treated as a non-story, not anywhere near top of major news' outlets websites.

Sen Peter Welch (D-VT) & Rep D. Min (D-CA) expand probe of Trump pardons, seeking records on pardons below, arguing: "Trump has a documented history of destroying Presidential Records & it's vitally important to ensure records related to clemency decisions are well maintained"

It means you live in an aurhoritarian political climate with a mob boss style leader.

TheSteadyState @steadystate2025

2 days ago

When people in Washington lower their voices and say, “Please don’t use my name. I’m afraid he’ll come after my family’s livelihood,” it means something has broken. People no longer trust the law to protect them.

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“We are deeply disturbed to learn so many senior members of the Trump administration gathered in the Situation Room to discuss the release of the Epstein Files as a reputational problem… we are separately concerned Todd Blanche was at that table.”

JULIETTE ROSE BRYANT🌈❤️⚔️ @JulietteBryant

4 days ago

Letter from Epstein Survivors

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Snyder: The U.S. is not just unreliable, it is behaving strangely. Allies like Romania, Poland, Taiwan and South Korea expect America to save resources for serious moments, not waste munitions, reputation and focus on wars it cannot explain. 1/

Long Covid Cases Hidden By Widespread Preference For Literally Any Other Diagnosis

Some thoughts on the new Epstein Files revelations: I’ve now read everything that’s come out from the new Haberman and Swan book, and the thing I keep coming back to is the Situation Room. They held multiple meetings in the Situation Room about the Epstein files. That room is for war. It’s for national security emergencies. It is not for figuring out how to spin a scandal you’re telling the country is a hoax. While the President was deflecting or calling this old news, his own Vice President and Chief of Staff were huddled in the most leak-proof room in America because they knew how bad it really was. You don’t take a nothingburger to the Situation Room. And I have to be honest, reading all this brings back a lot of frustration about what happened in the House of Representatives. I sat there and watched Mike Johnson send the House home early to dodge a vote on releasing these files. I watched him refuse to swear in a duly elected colleague for months just to stall the discharge petition. Month after month of excuses, arm twisting, and procedural games, all to keep this information from the public. We only got the files because survivors, families, and a handful of members in both parties simply refused to let it go. So when people ask me why I talk so much about transparency and accountability, this is why. The truth eventually comes out. It always does. The only question is whether your leaders helped reveal it or helped bury it. Everyone who voted to keep these files hidden should have to answer for that. Finally, notice what’s missing from all of this is any sign that Trump’s DOJ will actually investigate the powerful men named in these files. Draw your own conclusions about why a Justice Department run by the President’s former defense lawyers might not be eager to pull that thread.

Let's walk through what actually happened here, in order. DOGE cut the USAID program specifically designed to prevent screwworm from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. DOGE cut USDA's animal disease control and prevention funding. That funding had supported more than 180 outbreak investigations in 22 countries and capacity-building in more than 160 laboratories. The screwworm monitoring and response program that watched the border for exactly this parasite - cut. Then screwworm showed up in Texas cattle. Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a disaster for Zavala and Uvalde counties this week. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins went on CNBC this morning and blamed the Biden administration, 17 months out of office. Her specific words: "obviously not much had been done to push back." The program that was supposed to push back existed. DOGE eliminated it in March 2025. Rollins has been Agriculture Secretary since February 13, 2025. The cuts happened on her watch. Beef prices are already high. Ranchers in south Texas are now dealing with a flesh-eating parasite that was eradicated in this country in the 1960s - eradicated, specifically, using the sterile fly program her department defunded. The flies existed. The program existed. The budget existed. Until it didn't.

The Daily Beast @thedailybeast

a week ago

Trump's agriculture secretary laid the blame for the outbreak on the Biden administration, despite it being more than 17 months since Biden's term ended. thedailybeast.com/brooke-rollins…

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In addition to the Texas COVlD outbreak, notice the hot spot in East Kentucky is dissipating this week. Guam, AL, MS, NC, and OR also have hot spots. Residents in the orange, red, and purple zones who have stopped masking would be wise to resume. THREAD 2/3 🧵