Tom Comerford
@tomcomerford.bsky.social
info tech consultant and lifelong student of archaeology, astronomy, journalism, economics... and aspiring philanthropist
He cites gaps in vaccine safety research, oblivious to his own gaps in understanding decades of research. RFK Jr is uniquely unqualified and a clear danger to public health.
This needs to stop! RFK Jr needs to go! He is destroying the meaning of science, scientific evidence, and science-based medical practice. He needs to be removed from his position asap.
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
November 22, 2025 at 2:07 PM
He cites gaps in vaccine safety research, oblivious to his own gaps in understanding decades of research. RFK Jr is uniquely unqualified and a clear danger to public health.
Reposted by Tom Comerford
RFK Jr. apparently promised Senator Bill Cassidy that he wouldn’t delete the statement “Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
Instead, RFK Jr. published a litany of lies claiming that vaccines *do* cause autism, left the statement with an asterisk, and added this:
Instead, RFK Jr. published a litany of lies claiming that vaccines *do* cause autism, left the statement with an asterisk, and added this:
November 20, 2025 at 5:04 AM
RFK Jr. apparently promised Senator Bill Cassidy that he wouldn’t delete the statement “Vaccines do not cause autism” from the CDC website.
Instead, RFK Jr. published a litany of lies claiming that vaccines *do* cause autism, left the statement with an asterisk, and added this:
Instead, RFK Jr. published a litany of lies claiming that vaccines *do* cause autism, left the statement with an asterisk, and added this:
Reposted by Tom Comerford
Scientific misinformation is a carcinogen.
November 19, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Scientific misinformation is a carcinogen.
"Silence, for me, is now intolerable." As it should be for more of us.
Gifting this article from The Atlantic by a judge appointed by Reagan, who is resigning so he can speak out about how Trump is destroying the rule of law. Must read.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why I Am Resigning
A federal judge explains his reasoning for leaving the bench.
www.theatlantic.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:26 PM
"Silence, for me, is now intolerable." As it should be for more of us.
Reposted by Tom Comerford
When you see alarming health headlines, always ask:
– Has the study been peer-reviewed?
– Was it observational or experimental?
– How big was the actual risk difference?
Science takes time, and context matters!
– Has the study been peer-reviewed?
– Was it observational or experimental?
– How big was the actual risk difference?
Science takes time, and context matters!
November 4, 2025 at 4:00 PM
When you see alarming health headlines, always ask:
– Has the study been peer-reviewed?
– Was it observational or experimental?
– How big was the actual risk difference?
Science takes time, and context matters!
– Has the study been peer-reviewed?
– Was it observational or experimental?
– How big was the actual risk difference?
Science takes time, and context matters!
Reposted by Tom Comerford
MBFC's Weekly Media Literacy Quiz Covering the Week of Oct 26th - Nov 1st
MBFC’s Weekly Media Literacy Quiz Covering the Week of Oct 26th – Nov 1st
Welcome to our weekly media literacy quiz. This quiz will test your knowledge of the past week's events with a focus on facts, misinformation, bias, and general media literacy. Please share and compare your results. Media Literacy = the ability to critically analyze stories presented in the mass media and to determine their accuracy or credibility. Do you appreciate our work?
mediabiasfactcheck.com
November 2, 2025 at 11:18 AM
MBFC's Weekly Media Literacy Quiz Covering the Week of Oct 26th - Nov 1st
Reposted by Tom Comerford
This Media Literacy Week, I’m highlighting three research-backed habits that help us stay grounded and think clearly online:
🧠 Critical ignoring
💡 Actively open-minded thinking
🔍 Lateral reading
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/three-medi...
🧠 Critical ignoring
💡 Actively open-minded thinking
🔍 Lateral reading
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/three-medi...
Three Media Literacy Must-Haves
Critical ignoring, open-minded thinking, and lateral reading are essential skills for navigating today’s information chaos.
matthewfacciani.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 10:19 PM
This Media Literacy Week, I’m highlighting three research-backed habits that help us stay grounded and think clearly online:
🧠 Critical ignoring
💡 Actively open-minded thinking
🔍 Lateral reading
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/three-medi...
🧠 Critical ignoring
💡 Actively open-minded thinking
🔍 Lateral reading
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/three-medi...
"Discrediting science and scientists is thus an essential first step for authoritarian regimes to then discredit any other types of learning and truth and destabilize their societies."
The current war on science, and who’s behind it arstechnica.com/science/2025...
The current war on science, and who’s behind it
A vaccine developer and a climate scientist walk into a bar write a book.
arstechnica.com
September 27, 2025 at 2:59 PM
"Discrediting science and scientists is thus an essential first step for authoritarian regimes to then discredit any other types of learning and truth and destabilize their societies."
Reposted by Tom Comerford
September 22, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Tom Comerford
Experts say the FCC commissioner's conduct—testing how far the agency can go to limit speech without ever quite formally censoring it—is flatly unconstitutional. That won't make it stop. www.wired.com/story/brenda...
Brendan Carr Isn't Going to Stop Until Someone Makes Him
Experts say the FCC commissioner's conduct—testing how far the agency can go to limit speech without ever quite formally censoring it—is flatly unconstitutional. That won't make it stop.
www.wired.com
September 18, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Experts say the FCC commissioner's conduct—testing how far the agency can go to limit speech without ever quite formally censoring it—is flatly unconstitutional. That won't make it stop. www.wired.com/story/brenda...
Reposted by Tom Comerford
Defend Public Health’s Press Release on RFK Jr.’s ACIP.
“I have never personally witnessed more dangerous misinformation presented at a putative scientific meeting in my entire life”.
-Me
“I have never personally witnessed more dangerous misinformation presented at a putative scientific meeting in my entire life”.
-Me
ACIP Presentation on COVID Vaccines “Smoke and Mirrors, Designed to Cause Fear” | Defend Public Health
Defend Public Health called today’s attempt by officials under the direction of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. using this week’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting to cast doubt...
www.defendpublichealth.org
September 19, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Defend Public Health’s Press Release on RFK Jr.’s ACIP.
“I have never personally witnessed more dangerous misinformation presented at a putative scientific meeting in my entire life”.
-Me
“I have never personally witnessed more dangerous misinformation presented at a putative scientific meeting in my entire life”.
-Me
Correlation is not causation. Also, VAERS accepts reports by anyone, not just health professionals.
Bob Morris has written an excellent post about Makary’s false claims that COVID19 vaccines cause pediatric deaths.
He points out that, based on epidemiological data, in the two weeks following COVID19 vaccination, “we would expect 24 childhood deaths BY CHANCE ALONE”.
@rdmorris.bsky.social
He points out that, based on epidemiological data, in the two weeks following COVID19 vaccination, “we would expect 24 childhood deaths BY CHANCE ALONE”.
@rdmorris.bsky.social
VAERS: What It Is, Why It Matters, and What You Must Understand before Thursday
And why the CDC needs to rename it
drbobmorris.substack.com
September 17, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Correlation is not causation. Also, VAERS accepts reports by anyone, not just health professionals.
Reposted by Tom Comerford
* Honest, open dialogue between differing perspectives is a core value worth preserving.
* The form of such dialogue, without the honesty or openness, has been co-opted by bad-faith actors as a cynical strategy to garner respectability.
* There are plenty of suckers eager to fall for the ruse.
* The form of such dialogue, without the honesty or openness, has been co-opted by bad-faith actors as a cynical strategy to garner respectability.
* There are plenty of suckers eager to fall for the ruse.
September 13, 2025 at 2:47 PM
* Honest, open dialogue between differing perspectives is a core value worth preserving.
* The form of such dialogue, without the honesty or openness, has been co-opted by bad-faith actors as a cynical strategy to garner respectability.
* There are plenty of suckers eager to fall for the ruse.
* The form of such dialogue, without the honesty or openness, has been co-opted by bad-faith actors as a cynical strategy to garner respectability.
* There are plenty of suckers eager to fall for the ruse.
Reposted by Tom Comerford
We spend too much time arguing like we're right—and too little time listening like we're wrong.
Diatribes don't change minds. Productive disagreement depends on showing respect, curiosity, and humility.
The most compelling teachers are the ones who are most eager to learn.
Diatribes don't change minds. Productive disagreement depends on showing respect, curiosity, and humility.
The most compelling teachers are the ones who are most eager to learn.
September 13, 2025 at 2:44 PM
We spend too much time arguing like we're right—and too little time listening like we're wrong.
Diatribes don't change minds. Productive disagreement depends on showing respect, curiosity, and humility.
The most compelling teachers are the ones who are most eager to learn.
Diatribes don't change minds. Productive disagreement depends on showing respect, curiosity, and humility.
The most compelling teachers are the ones who are most eager to learn.
Reposted by Tom Comerford
Intriguing data from the Perseverance rover on Mars, but too soon to attribute it to the existence of life. Science takes time, that's okay.
Has Perseverance found a biosignature on Mars? It's complicated. Interpreting the data is tricky because other non-biological processes could account for the findings. arstechnica.com/science/2025...
Has Perseverance found a biosignature on Mars?
Interpreting the data is tricky because other non-biological processes could account for the findings.
arstechnica.com
September 10, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Intriguing data from the Perseverance rover on Mars, but too soon to attribute it to the existence of life. Science takes time, that's okay.
Reposted by Tom Comerford
Big revisions happen at times of transition. We don’t have a data quality problem, we have an economic policy problem right now.
September 9, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Big revisions happen at times of transition. We don’t have a data quality problem, we have an economic policy problem right now.
Multitasking today: following RFK Jr's testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, via @claudia-sahm.bsky.social, while also following Miran's confirmation hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, via @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social, and watching #LaVuelta25.
September 4, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Multitasking today: following RFK Jr's testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, via @claudia-sahm.bsky.social, while also following Miran's confirmation hearing in the Senate Banking Committee, via @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social, and watching #LaVuelta25.
Reposted by Tom Comerford
Wyden asks about RFK Jr. installing quacks on ACIP.
RFK Jr. says that the American Academy of Pediatrics is “gravely conflicted”.
He then says he “depoliticized ACIP” and that scientists and doctors support him.
No, we do not.
RFK Jr. says that the American Academy of Pediatrics is “gravely conflicted”.
He then says he “depoliticized ACIP” and that scientists and doctors support him.
No, we do not.
September 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Wyden asks about RFK Jr. installing quacks on ACIP.
RFK Jr. says that the American Academy of Pediatrics is “gravely conflicted”.
He then says he “depoliticized ACIP” and that scientists and doctors support him.
No, we do not.
RFK Jr. says that the American Academy of Pediatrics is “gravely conflicted”.
He then says he “depoliticized ACIP” and that scientists and doctors support him.
No, we do not.
Reposted by Tom Comerford
He demands that Pfizer and other companies show their vaccine data (which he calls drugs) to the CDC to show them how good they are.
What does this tell us? That the outrage against RFK Jr. is having an effect and we need to push even harder to force this wedge.
What does this tell us? That the outrage against RFK Jr. is having an effect and we need to push even harder to force this wedge.
September 1, 2025 at 3:47 PM
He demands that Pfizer and other companies show their vaccine data (which he calls drugs) to the CDC to show them how good they are.
What does this tell us? That the outrage against RFK Jr. is having an effect and we need to push even harder to force this wedge.
What does this tell us? That the outrage against RFK Jr. is having an effect and we need to push even harder to force this wedge.
He also cites "policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than improve the public's health". Does RFK Jr have a conscience?
Dr. Demetre, in his resignation from the CDC, said this:
“I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people”.
It is an outrage that RFK Jr. remains as head of HHS.
“I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people”.
It is an outrage that RFK Jr. remains as head of HHS.
August 28, 2025 at 2:47 AM
He also cites "policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than improve the public's health". Does RFK Jr have a conscience?
For us non-macro peeps: it's about avoiding something like the 86% inflation that Turkey had.
hi macro peeps, now is not the time to bring up all the times the Fed made a mistake in the past … this moment is not about optimizing monetary policy … it’s about independence.
August 27, 2025 at 11:36 PM
For us non-macro peeps: it's about avoiding something like the 86% inflation that Turkey had.
"created by real human experts relying on real rigorous data"
MAHA ignores the real causes of poor health in the US, but Defend Public Health doesn’t.
Our report has 11 pillars of actions for Improving the Health of Americans Together, like reducing gun violence, combating scientific misinformation, and removing RFK Jr. from office.
Our report has 11 pillars of actions for Improving the Health of Americans Together, like reducing gun violence, combating scientific misinformation, and removing RFK Jr. from office.
‘Distracting the public’: group of health professionals call for RFK Jr to be removed
Ahead of the second Maha report, grassroots Defend Public Health warns that everything HHS is doing is ‘horrifying’
www.theguardian.com
August 13, 2025 at 1:45 PM
"created by real human experts relying on real rigorous data"
Public trust in our institutions is fundamental to democracy; the public image of the president, not so much.
Instead of firing the commissioner, the president should be giving the agency a raise in the form of a bigger budget. The goal should be to restore public trust in government statistics, not undermine it.
August 8, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Public trust in our institutions is fundamental to democracy; the public image of the president, not so much.
Reposted by Tom Comerford
