Category Archives: Propaganda

When HHS Secretary Kennedy and Other Trump Appointees Foment Stochastic Terrorism Against Public Health Workers

Posted on August 11, 2025 by mikethemadbiologist

Last Friday, someone who was convinced that COVID vaccines caused his depression and suicidal tendencies murdered a police officer and fired dozens of rounds at CDC facilities in Atlanta. So it’s clear, high profile members of the administration, all of … Continue reading →

Posted in CDC, Conservatives, COVID-19, Propaganda, Public Health, Terrorism | Comments Off on When HHS Secretary Kennedy and Other Trump Appointees Foment Stochastic Terrorism Against Public Health Workers

We Need to Stop Saying Scientists Can’t Communicate: A Few Quick Thoughts on Indirect Rates

Posted on February 19, 2025 by mikethemadbiologist

One claim I see on the internetz is the claim scientists are bad at communication. Yet, in the last few weeks, scientists–not their universities*, or Democrats who purport to support scientists–managed to make NIH indirect grant costs part of the … Continue reading →

Posted in NIH, Propaganda | Comments Off on We Need to Stop Saying Scientists Can’t Communicate: A Few Quick Thoughts on Indirect Rates

A Modest Proposal for a Flu Vaccination Campaign

Posted on December 30, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

By way of background, we go to the Great State of Louisiana (boldface mine): Flu season is ramping up across the US, but Louisiana—the state that has reportedly barred its health department from promoting flu shots, as well as COVID-19 … Continue reading →

Posted in Influenza, Propaganda, Public Health | 1 Comment

Twitter Is Nothing but a Hellhole at This Point

Posted on November 1, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

Charlie Warzel describes setting up a new account on Xitter (boldface mine): There are three major components to this tool. The first is that X exposes its users to right-wing political content frequently, whether they want it or not. To … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Propaganda, TWEET!!! | Comments Off on Twitter Is Nothing but a Hellhole at This Point

The Lab Leak Story Has Always Been Popular

Posted on June 13, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

In the midst of a very good Xitter thread (it happens) rebutting Zeynep Tufecki’s pandemic revisionism, this bit of polling data on the origins of the pandemic is noteworthy: Several obvious takeaways. First, support for a lab leak was always … Continue reading →

Posted in COVID-19, Propaganda | Comments Off on The Lab Leak Story Has Always Been Popular

How Should the Media Cover Republicans?

Posted on March 28, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

Not adjucated rapist and serial fraudster Donald Trump, but Republicans–and I don’t mean the small minority of ‘Never Trumpers’, but actual Republicans? In light of former Republican National Committee Ronna McDaniel’s hiring and unhiring by NBC, Josh Marshall gets at … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Democrats, Propaganda | 3 Comments

Debate Me, Bro

Posted on June 21, 2023 by mikethemadbiologist

While in Houston over the long weekend, I did manage to catch the whole ‘debate me bro’ harassment of Peter Hotez by anti-vaccination sympathizer and podcaster Joe Rogan. Dr Sky Skull blows apart the inanity of Rogan’s argument, so, fortunately, … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Fucking Morons, Propaganda, Vaccination | 1 Comment

The ‘Biolabs’ Bushwa

Posted on March 16, 2022 by mikethemadbiologist

In the last week, a conspiracy theory about U.S.-funded Ukrainian ‘biolabs’, first germinated by Q-Anon, has now been incorporated into Russian propaganda (boldface mine): Russia’s early struggles to push disinformation and propaganda about Ukraine have picked up momentum in recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Fucking Morons, Propaganda | Comments Off on The ‘Biolabs’ Bushwa

Things We Know Are True, Yet Are Not: Reasons Why People Aren’t Getting Vaccinated

Posted on August 13, 2021 by mikethemadbiologist

When it comes to why people aren’t getting vaccinated, one reason proffered is that it’s difficult for people to get the vaccine due to access-related issues–can’t get time off from work, and so on. In other words, well-intentioned people lack … Continue reading →

Posted in Census, COVID-19, Propaganda | 8 Comments

The Two Types of Scandals

Posted on March 11, 2020 by mikethemadbiologist

Now that the Democratic primary has settled into a choice between Biden and Sanders, it’s worth thinking about how Republicans are going to attack them. Keep in mind, Republicans are trying to depress Democratic turnout, mostly by discouraging infrequent but … Continue reading →

Posted in Democrats, Propaganda | 1 Comment