Michelle R. Smith

@bymichellersmith.com

3788 Followers 989 Following

Reporter at Guardian US. Ex-@APNews Investigating the forces behind attacks on science and public health Reach me on Signal: mrsmith.123 michelle.smith@theguardian.com Based in Providence, Rhode Island

Brouillette, 37, told his ex-wife Ashley Brouillette late last year that he had been hired by ICE. She said that because of his long history of psychiatric issues, she thought he was having a mental health episode and she didn’t believe him. She didn’t realize he’d been telling the truth until this week, when videos began circulating online of the moments surrounding the shooting.
“Several Manhattan private-school parents said another key to getting extra time-and unlimited bathroom breaks—is enlisting a gastroenterologist to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome.”
Elon Musk comes from a line of chiropractors. His great-grandmother is believed to have been the first practicing chiropractor in Canada, and his antisemitic grandfather Joshua Haldeman was a lifelong chiropractor in Canada, the U.S., and South Africa. Chiropractic has gained increasing mainstream acceptance in the United States through the decades, despite a lack of supporting scientific evidence, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that chiropractic will grow by at least 10 percent over the next decade out of an apparent combination of an increasing number of Americans leading more static lives and an already threadbare healthcare system fraying further.
If a life threatening emergency is identified where a campus wide BrownSiren activation is necessary, the Department of Public Safety will activate the system. The activation will consist of an alert tone and a voice message regarding the nature of the emergency. Additionally the University will utilize BrownAlert (web based notification system) and the web site to provide further information via telephone, email, or text messaging. The City may activate their Reverse 911 System to provide the details of the siren activation to campus neighbors. Students, faculty, staff, and visitors who hear the siren should seek shelter by immediately going inside of a nearby building.
Screenshot of the BrownSiren website provides "Examples of emergencies where the BrownSiren would likely be activated," including: Hostile Intruder (Active Shooter) Large Chemical Release near Campus Natural Disasters (Tornado)
Three maps showing the 43 states where AP found anti-science legislation, including states with anti-fluoride bills, states with anti-vaccine bills, and states with bills increasing access to raw milk products. Source: Associated Press analysis of bills collected by Plural and the National Conference of State Legislatures
She also has shared links to products sold by other companies that included “affiliate” or “partner” coding, indicating she has a business relationship with the companies. The products include an AI-powered sleep system and Daily Harvest, for which she curated a “metabolic health collection.” On a “My Faves” page that was taken down from her website shortly after Trump picked her, Means wrote that some links “are affiliate links and I make a small percentage if you buy something after clicking them.” It’s not clear how much money Means has earned from her affiliate marketing, partnerships and other agreements. Daily Harvest did not return messages seeking comment, and Means said she could not comment on the record during the confirmation process.
“At the highest level of our medical institutions, there are conflicts of interest and corruption that are actually making the science that we’re getting not as accurate and not as clean as we’d want it,” she said on Megyn Kelly’s podcast last year. But even as Means decries the influence of money on science and medicine, she has made her own deals with business interests. During the same Megyn Kelly podcast, Means mentioned a frozen prepared food brand, Daily Harvest. She promoted that brand in a book she published last year. What she didn’t mention in either instance: Means had a business relationship with Daily Harvest.
Health departments got an influx of cash to deal with COVID-19, but it wasn’t enough to make up for years of neglect. On top of that, trust in vaccines has eroded. Health officials warn the situation is primed to get worse. Recent cuts by the Trump administration have pulled billions of dollars in COVID-19 related funding — $2 billion of it slated for immunization programs for various diseases. Overseeing the cuts is Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who rose to prominence leading an anti-vaccine movement. While Kennedy has said he wants his agency to prevent future outbreaks, he’s also declined to deliver a consistent and forceful message that would help do so — encouraging people to vaccinate their children against measles while reminding them it is safe.
Zhang is not the only one to find herself in the crosshairs of Tesla, which is led by Elon Musk, among the richest men in the world and a self-described “ free speech absolutist.” Over the last four years, Tesla has sued at least six car owners in China who had sudden vehicle malfunctions, quality complaints or accidents they claimed were caused by mechanical failures. The company has also sued at least six bloggers and two Chinese media outlets that wrote critically about the company, according to a review of public court documents and Chinese media reports by The Associated Press. Tesla won all 11 cases for which AP could determine the verdicts. Two judgments, including Zhang’s, are on appeal. One case was settled out of court. It is not common practice for automakers — in China or elsewhere — to sue their customers. But Tesla has pioneered an aggressive legal strategy and leveraged the patronage of powerful leaders in China’s ruling Communist Party to silence critics, reap financial rewards and limit its accountability.
AP NewsAlert that says: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as President Donald Trump‘s health secretary by the Senate.
EDITOR’S NOTE: On Tuesday afternoon, The New York Times republished our scoop from Sunday without attributing us, effectively stealing our work. So today, we put (SCOOP) in our headline—not to be insensitive to the sources we covered in this morning’s news story about a serious topic, but to make it even clearer that we had this story first. Trouble is, NYT has no immigration editor that we know of—someone to politely email, that the Gray Lady may do better in the future. So instead, this morning we gifted a free, one-month, subscription to Migrant Insider to both NYT reporters who ripped us off yesterday—namely, Hamed Aleaziz and Julie Turkewitz—that they do better in the future.
Screenshot from the Nov. 4,2003, Harvard Crimson article that details the origins of Facebook: Just 95 minutes later, at 9:48 p.m., he added another entry. “The Kirkland facebook is open on my computer desktop and some of these people have pretty horrendous facebook pics,” he wrote. “I almost want to put some of these faces next to pictures of farm animals and have people vote on which is more attractive.” Then, just before 1 a.m., a new post: “12:58am. Let the hacking begin.” Starting with Kirkland and moving his way through the Houses, Zuckerberg described how he hacked into online facebooks one by one and put the photos onto his website.
Screenshot of tweet from the Newport Daily News with the following headline: "Thames Street building housing popular Newport shopping spot sold for $4.25 million"
A chart shows a rise in people with a military background accused of committing extremist acts
AP author page showing a link to Bluesky
An alert fuzzy kitten with big ears looks into the camera as she sits in a sunbeam on top of a couch