Why is the reemergence Andrew Wakefield dangerous? – #vaccines

For some, just the name “Andrew Wakefield” is guaranteed to provoke a reaction, and so his attendance at one of the Trump inaugural balls did just that. He is often billed as a vaccine skeptic, but I would seriously argue that this is an abuse of the term skeptic because there is clear decisive irrefutable proof … Read more

The UN Human Rights Council is seriously flawed

With a Hat Tip to UN Watch, I’d like to introduce you to some of the 2017 members of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The background context here is that nations are selected to sit on this council for a period of three years, and a total of 47 nations have a seat. Who are some … Read more

Is the Effort to copy and preserve U.S. climate data paranoia or appropriate? – #Climate

A rather regular part of office life is the fire drill, an evert that you really do hope never happens when it is tipping down outside. When standing in the car park on one such occasion, I commented that this was a complete waste of time. In response , a colleague told us the story of a time … Read more

US FTC: Homeopathy ‘treatments’ must be labelled to say they do not work

Historically the US FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has tended to turn a bit of blind eye to Homeopathy. That however has just changed … Enforcement Policy Statement on Marketing Claims for OTC Homeopathic Drugs The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is issuing this Policy Statement to provide guidance regarding its enforcement policy with respect to marketing claims … Read more

Trump’s Plan to Eliminate NASA Climate Research Is Ill-Informed and Dangerous

Phil Plait, whom I do know and have personally met, has written an article within Slate that strike a deep cord within me. Normally I would perhaps extract an appropriate quote and suggest that the article merits your attention, and perhaps also offer some additional commentary. This time I am instead reproducing it in full because … Read more

Mike Pence – Myths vs Facts

Let me start by putting my cards on the table here – I’m not a Mike Pence supporter. While writing about how his appearance in the audience at the Hamilton musical resulted him him being booed, I came across one commenter who suggested that booing him was wholly appropriate because he wants to literally electrocute gay … Read more