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Toxic Plastics Causing ‘Silent Epidemic Of Kids With Lower IQs,’ Pediatrician Tells RFK Jr.

Dr. Leo Trasande, one of the nation’s leading experts on environmental health and toxic exposures, warned this week that plastics pose “a multidimensional and urgent threat to human health,” with children facing some of the greatest risks.

Speaking on “The Secretary Kennedy Podcast,” Trasande — a pediatrician, professor at New York University and director of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Division of Environmental Pediatrics — described mounting evidence linking chemicals in plastics to developmental, hormonal, metabolic, reproductive and neurological harm.

“The impacts run from cradle to grave and womb to tomb,” he said.

The discussion comes as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launches STOMP — Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics. The $144 million initiative aims to measure, study and eventually remove microplastics and nanoplastics from the human body.

The program will develop standardized testing methods, map how plastics accumulate in organs, rank plastics by biological harm and pursue future removal technologies.

Trasande said the growing concern extends beyond visible plastic waste to microscopic and chemical exposures embedded throughout modern life.

“We know that there are 16,000 chemicals — synthetic chemicals — that are in plastic,” Trasande said. “We don’t know anything about 10,000 of them.”

Among the chemicals with the strongest evidence of harm are bisphenols used in plastics, phthalates found in food packaging and personal care products, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — also known as “forever chemicals” — used in nonstick and stain-resistant products.

Trasande said the evidence is “extremely strong” that many of these chemicals disrupt hormones, which in turn regulate metabolism, reproduction, growth and brain development.

‘A silent epidemic of kids with lower IQs in the U.S.’

As a pediatrician, Trasande repeatedly emphasized that children are uniquely vulnerable.

“Pound for pound, they eat more food, drink more water, breathe more air, so they’re uniquely susceptible,” he said. “Their organ systems are also just being primed. And so if you disrupt that, there are lifelong and permanent consequences.”

He pointed to evidence linking phthalate exposure during pregnancy to roughly 50,000 premature births in the U.S. each year, along with impaired brain development and poorer educational outcomes.

Trasande warned that some of the most damaging effects may be subtle and population-wide, rather than immediately obvious in individual children. Even small disruptions to thyroid hormones during pregnancy are associated with cognitive deficits, autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), he said.

“What you see is a silent epidemic of kids with lower IQs in the U.S.,” Trasande said. “Just to put this in context for the audience, a kid loses an IQ point, mom doesn’t notice, pediatrician doesn’t notice.”

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. compared the issue to the impact of lead exposure on the national average IQ before leaded gasoline was phased out in the 1980s.

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California Democrat Governor Candidate Tom Steyer Just Can’t Stop Focusing on Trans Athletes in Girls’ Sports 

Tom Steyer, the liberal billionaire Democrat who’s running for governor of California, seems to think that trans athletes in girls’ sports is the biggest issue facing the state.

He talked about this during a recent podcast appearance, and now he has released a video of himself talking with a trans athlete and making his support completely clear.

Steyer is obviously trying to signal his wokeness to the far left base of his party, but his relentless focus on this particular issue makes him look completely out of touch with Californians who care very deeply about more pressing matters for their state.

FOX News reports:

California Dem gov candidate Tom Steyer prompts mixed reactions for video with trans athlete AB Hernandez

California Democrat gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer posted a video with prominent transgender athlete AB Hernandez on social media on Friday, expressing support for the trans teen as Hernandez looks to win another set of state titles in girls’ track and field.

The video went viral across social media, with a mix of praise and criticism across the political spectrum…

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton condemned Steyer for supporting trans athletes in girls’ sports in an interview with Fox News Digital on Friday.

“Tom Steyer has taken a wildly extreme position on this issue that is totally out of touch with most California families and young people,” Hilton told Fox News Digital before the rally,” Hilton said.

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WHEN REALITY BITES: Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Factually Vacant ‘Rich Pay 8%’ Tax Claim

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) would likely today be a quarrelsome local education union official somewhere in her native Oklahoma had she not left the Sooner State in search of greener pastures following her father’s death.

She was born in Norman, home of a certain college football team associated with a university that is actually a left-wing troll manufacturer in one of America’s reddest states, and somehow, according to Wikipedia, ended up graduating from Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City in 1966.

Having myself grownup on Okie City’s southside — aka the “poor side of town” where we rednecks resided —my classmates and I in Moore High School’s class of 1968 mostly viewed Classen as a school for rich kids because it drew students from some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the state.

Interestingly, Warren’s Classen debate team won a state championship. As it happens, I was on Moore’s debate team with a then-young fellow named Tom Cole, who was a year ahead of me. You may have heard of Tom as he’s now Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, a position from which he wields vastly more influence on the nation than Warren likely ever will have.

Anyway, enough of the Liz Warren, Okie, history lesson. She ended up at Harvard, ran for the Senate and won in 2012, where she has afflicted the national public policy debate with endless streams of the Left’s nonsensical “government-is-our-salvation” rhetoric masquerading as intelligent discussion.

A recent example of which is her April 15 Tax Day “Reminder: The average taxpayer pays 13% of their income in taxes. The wealthiest 400 families in the U.S. pay just 8% of their income in taxes.It’s time to make the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share.It’s time to pass a wealth tax.” 

If you have paid even the scantest attention to American politics since FDR, you have heard millions of variations on Warren’s claim because it’s conventional wisdom on the Left, which has been failing the test of reality since before the New Deal.

As I expected, Just Facts Daily (JFD) addressed Warren’s assertion and found it wanting:

“IN FACT, the wealthy pay about 33% of their income in federal taxes, even after write-offs. Warren’s 8% figure misleadingly counts paper gains as income and excludes massive amounts of taxes paid by wealthy people,” JFD reported.

Here are the specifics (Actually, there are more, but the following seven points ought to be the end of the discussion. For those who want more, however, JFD is happy to oblige with five more points at the link):

  • The U.S. Treasury estimates that the richest 0.1% of families paid an average effective federal tax rate of 33.5% in 2024.
  • The Treasury’s estimates of effective federal tax rates roughly accord with data published by the Congressional Budget Office, which typically lag the Treasury data by several years.
  • Unlike the incomplete and misleading tax rates reported by the media and politicians of both parties, the Treasury’s and CBO’s computations of effective federal tax rates reflect actual taxes paid (not marginal rates) and account for nearly all forms of income and nearly all federal taxes, such as capital gains, pensions, health benefits, payroll taxes, excise taxes, corporate taxes, hidden taxes and write-offs (aka preferences).
  • Warren cites no source for her figure of 8%, but it accords with a 2021 Biden White House analysis that estimated an “average federal individual income tax rate” of 8.2% for “America’s 400 wealthiest families” during 2010–2018.
  • Contrary to Warren, that analysis is not a full measure of “taxes” because it only includes “federal individual income taxes” and excludes all other types of federal taxes, such as social insurance taxes, corporate income taxes, excise taxes, estate taxes, and gift taxes.
  • Contrary to the law and reality, the Biden White House analysis understates the actual income tax rate by counting “unrealized capital gains” as “income.”
  • Per the Supreme Court’s 1920 ruling in Eisner v. Macomber, “increase in value of capital investment is not income in any proper meaning of the term,” and “mere growth or increment of value in a capital investment is not income.”

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MSNOW Host Claims Joe Biden’s Health Was ‘Litigated Exhaustively’ But Trump’s Health is Getting a Pass

MSNOW Host Jonathan Capehart appeared on PBS this weekend and claimed that Joe Biden’s health was examined closely by the media and the public, then suggested that Trump is getting a pass on the same issue.

While this is laughable, it exposes the fact that the liberal media is really angry at Jill Biden for making the public focus on this issue once again through her recent comments about her husband.

It also shows how dishonest they are. Biden’s health issues were denied by the media for years. Anyone on the right who brought it up was labeled as a conspiracy theorist and accused of pushing ‘cheap fakes.’

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

JONATHAN CAPEHART, MS NOW: That’s not what she even said.

The day after, said, you answered every question, Joe.

This is not helpful. This is not helpful, certainly for Democrats, who have a unique ability to circle the wagons and then just fire at each other while Republicans watch with glee. This is a sort of a second self-inflicted wound on the party, the first one being earlier last week with the draft of that autopsy that was released.

To my mind, to your point, Joe Biden’s health has been litigated up and down, even when he was in the White House, which stands in stark contrast to what is happening today with the current sitting president, who went in for yet another physical at Walter Reed. He’s only been in the job for 18 months.

Three visits to Walter Reed? Why are we, as a profession, not talking as extensively and exhaustively and urgently about the health of the sitting president of the United States, when we did that to Joe Biden for four years?

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The Hard Math Of Big Wars

In spite of the rough lessons on the importance of mass in the Korean and Vietnam Wars in the second half of the 20th Century—and even the cold bucket of sand thrown in our face about what is required for even heavy imperial policing like we had in Iraq and Afghanistan at the end of the first decade of this century—a large segment of the national security nomenklatura was content with boutique-levels of warstocks in our relatively shallow magazines.

We’ve discussed this here and at the OG Blog for a long time, as have others, but until recently the need to purchase and stockpile the weapons we know we will need in the big fight—heck, like we’ve seen in Iran recently, even for extended punitive expeditions—simply has not been getting the support it needs.

It is nice to at last see a shift, but let’s not celebrate it until we understand how we got here. If we don’t have a good understanding why we forgot the need for the magazine depth that is inefficient in peacetime but essential in war, then we are condemned to repeat it when the immediacy of the crisis starts to fade and the accountants, backed by hucksters selling sketchy theories, start clawing back supremacy in the argument.

Generations have grown to positions of power in our defense establishment riding on their success of selling the shallowness of our magazines as a reflection of modern natsec theory.

It started before the guns from WWII were even cold.

Most famous was the nuclear club that convinced everyone, because they were the Smartest People in the Room™, that ‘war was new’ and that they knew that the future was nuclear. No need for large navies, armies, or tactical air forces taking up space with ‘old think’. No. Nuclear war will either be the new normal, or would prevent wars from happening at all.

Oops.

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United Airlines Flight to Minneapolis Diverted Due to Failed Hijack Attempt

A United Airlines flight traveling from Chicago to Minneapolis diverted to Madison, Wisc., after an unruly passenger made multiple attempts to reach the cockpit, prompting the flight crew to declare a security emergency.

United Flight UA2005, a Boeing 737 carrying 147 passengers and six crew members, landed safely at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison on May 29, with no injuries reported.

According to air traffic control communications, the passenger made repeated attempts to access the cockpit before law enforcement officers who were traveling aboard the aircraft were able to restrain him. The pilot activated transponder code 7500, the emergency signal used to indicate a potential hijacking or unlawful interference with an aircraft.

The passenger, whom authorities identified as a 75-year-old man experiencing a mental health crisis, was detained after the aircraft landed. A United spokesperson told NBC News that Flight UA2005 “landed safely in Madison… to address a security concern with an unruly passenger.”

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office deputies took the individual into custody, and the FBI was notified of the investigation. Passenger Mike Rundle told CNN that a disturbance occurred near the front of the aircraft after another traveler observed the man reach toward a flight attendant. Several passengers and officers intervened and escorted him back to his seat.

In air traffic communications that NBC News acquired, flight crew onboard the plane could be heard discussing the attempted cockpit breach with ground control.

“I do not believe they ever cuffed him, but they were able to finally get control of him after multiple attempts to try to breach the cockpit,” a member of the crew said. “I believe at this point he is seated in a seat and flanked with law enforcement officers on either side.”

Rundle said signs of trouble emerged before takeoff from Chicago O’Hare International Airport, when the suspect repeatedly stood during taxiing and crew members sought a Russian-speaking passenger to assist with interpretation.

After landing in Madison, law enforcement officers boarded the aircraft, removed the passenger, and conducted their response. The flight later resumed its trip to Minneapolis, landing early on Saturday morning, data from FlightAware confirmed.

According to FlightAware tracking data, Flight UA2005 had been airborne for roughly 45 minutes after departing Chicago before the incident occurred. The FBI said its Madison Resident Agency and local law enforcement partners responded immediately to the incident. 

“A subject was detained by the Dane County Sheriff’s Office and afterwards passengers resumed their flight,” a spokesperson for the FBI’s Milwaukee office told NBC News.

Authorities have not released the passenger’s name, announced charges, or disclosed additional details about the events that led to his detention. The Federal Aviation Administration said it investigates all passenger disturbance incidents and may pursue civil penalties against passengers who interfere with flight crews. According to the agency, airlines have reported more than 640 unruly passenger incidents so far this year.

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Veteran Who Graham Platner Said Didn’t ‘Deserve to Live’ Slams Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders for Backing Him 

Graham Platner, the Maine Democrat running for senate who has been plagued with multiple scandals calling his character into question, was recently exposed once again, for mocking a fellow war veteran and saying that he didn’t ‘deserve to live.’

That veteran is a man named Teddy Daniels and he just wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, firing back at Platner for his comments.

This weekend, Daniels appeared on CNN and slammed not only Platner, but Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders for backing Platner, despite all of these awful remarks and controversies.

Transcript via Mediaite:

I kind of consider the source on that, first and foremost, and I’ll be honest with you, what really upset me about the comments is — you know, I can’t even say that I was upset. I’m upset about the comment that he made about Chris Kyle. You know Chris Kyle has kids. He’s not here to defend himself.

I have kids and you know with people like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders backing this man, I want them, I want Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to — my youngest is 8, he turns 9 in a couple days — to tell my kids that they’re supporting a man who said their father didn’t deserve to live. I mean, think about that. You know, that’s the issue there. It’s just sad that somebody like this is being considered for a position in leadership in the United States Senate.

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Google to Release 64 Million Bacteria-Infected Mosquitoes Across California and Florida Over the Next Two Years

Google is seeking federal approval to release up to 64 million specially treated mosquitoes across California and Florida over the next two years, according to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcement published earlier this month in The Federal Register, the official journal of the U.S. government.

The tech giant is “requesting an experimental use permit (EUP) for the Wolbachia pipientis wAlbB contained in live adult Culex quinquefasciatus male mosquitoes (DQB Strain),” according to the announcement.

A summary of the request reads:

“Google LLC is proposing to use up to 14.080 mg of the active ingredient Wolbachia pipientis wAlbB Contained in Live Adult Culex quinquefasciatus Male Mosquitoes (DQB Strain) for two years in California and Florida. In Florida, up to 16,000,000 DQB Male Mosquitoes are proposed to be released in year 1, and up to 16,000,000 released in year 2. In California, up to 16,000,000 are proposed to be released in year 1, and up to 16,000,000 released in year 2. Proposed testing will include the states of California and Florida to generate data to support a Section 3 product registration application under FIFRA.”

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CBS Torches Stephen Colbert After His Exit

CBS just handed Stephen Colbert the most brutal farewell a network could offer, and it should end all the debate over how and why Colbert got canceled.

Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed officially took over CBS’s 11:35 p.m. late-night slot on Friday, May 22, under a new “time buy” deal with the network. Under the arrangement, Allen Media Group pays CBS for the time period, handles all production costs itself, and controls the advertising inventory. This means that CBS doesn’t have to spend a dime.

That’s a pretty sharp contrast from what Colbert cost it.

CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show back in July 2025, citing financial reasons. The network said the program was hemorrhaging roughly $40 million a year. At the time, some on the left insisted that the move was political. In their minds, CBS, an anti-Trump network, was doing President Donald Trump a favor by getting rid of one of his critics.

But CBS (again) demolished that narrative.

“With this ‘time buy’ model, we have shifted an hour that was losing roughly $40 million annually to $15 million in profit — a $55 million swing,” the spokesperson said, calling it “a new business and programming model for late night that proactively addresses a network daypart that was cost prohibitive to continue.”

So in axing Colbert, the network turned the whole slot profitable. It sure sounds like CBS has now been unburdened by what has been.

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Thomas and Alito Take a Regrettable Position in a Qualified Immunity Case

Qualified immunity is a judge-made doctrine that routinely shields bad cops from facing civil lawsuits over their abusive and unconstitutional behavior. All too often, a federal judge will hear a case in which a clear constitutional violation occurred, only to then shield the offending officer anyway from facing civil liability over the blatant misconduct. It’s a legal doctrine that deserves to be abolished.

Occasionally, however, the officer will lose one of these cases, and qualified immunity will be denied. That’s what happened last year in Hart v. Grand Rapids, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit actually let a federal civil rights lawsuit proceed against a Michigan police officer whose use of deadly force against a protester was officially reprimanded by his own superiors because of how the officer’s actions violated the department’s training and procedures.

That officer subsequently appealed his loss to the U.S. Supreme Court, which finally turned him down earlier this week, thereby leaving the 6th Circuit’s denial of qualified immunity undisturbed. The civil rights suit against the officer will now move forward in federal court, a welcome result. To be clear, the officer may still prevail in the end, but at least his alleged victim will now get the chance to seek redress for a credible constitutional rights violation.

What makes this case especially notable, in addition to the all-too-rare denial of qualified immunity, is the fact that two members of the Supreme Court went out of their way to let us know just how eager they were to rule in the offending officer’s favor.

In the view of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the officer in this case was fully entitled to receive qualified immunity and to be shielded from facing civil suit. If it were up to Thomas and Alito, the 6th Circuit’s judgment against the officer would have been summarily reversed.

I am sometimes asked which members of the Supreme Court are the most reliably libertarian on various legal matters, such as criminal justice. After clarifying that nobody on the current Supreme Court is a truly consistent legal libertarian on anything, I typically say something to the effect that Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch usually tend to give libertarians the most reasons to cheer on matters of criminal justice.

This case presents us with the flip side of that coin. When viewed from a libertarian legal perspective, Thomas and Alito tend to stand out as the worst on criminal justice issues. In far too many cases, Thomas and Alito have exhibited a kind of overriding deference to law enforcement that undermines the Bill of Rights and thwarts government accountability. Their actions this week continue that unfortunate trend.

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