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◼︎ GOVERNMENT
Kennedy’s Future: Will Democrats Try to Impeach Him, or Actually Work With Him?
Three days after last week’s “blue wave” election, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a warning on X to anyone suspecting his Make America Healthy Again movement had been weakened. “It’s time to unleash the Kraken,” he wrote.
The phrase, a reference to the 1981 movie “Clash of the Titans” that gained currency in 2020 among far-right internet personalities who claimed Democrats stole the election, suggests Mr. Kennedy will fight for his agenda and has no intention of leaving his job despite the defeat of several MAHA-backed candidates.
The question now is whether Democrats will use their new majorities in Congress to try to push him out. Many want to investigate him, saying his vaccine agenda and handling of measles outbreaks have put American lives at risk. Some, including Senator-elect Annie Andrews of South Carolina, want to impeach him. Senator Angela Alsobrooks, Democrat of Maryland, wants Mr. Kennedy removed, but has not said how.
Trump Administration Makes Another Push at MAHA Priority
The Trump administration is again pushing to finalize a definition of ultraprocessed foods, a fresh post-election effort after progress stalled last month, according to two people familiar with the policy discussions, granted anonymity to discuss ongoing conversations.
The latest effort comes the week after Stephen Miller was appointed chief of staff. He and his wife Katie Miller have long been reliable allies of the Make America Healthy Again movement, which prioritizes defining ultraprocessed foods. Susie Wiles, the former chief of staff, has been accused by a former HHS staffer of blocking MAHA goals including the definition of ultraprocessed food — claims that she has denied.
The MAHA movement hopes that defining ultraprocessed foods is the first step toward labeling them, which would in turn steer Americans toward what the movement believes are healthier choices.
Trump Officials Will Fund New Research on Controversial Psychedelic Drug Ibogaine
Federal officials on Thursday announced new funding to explore the medical potential of ibogaine, a controversial psychedelic drug championed by veterans, conservative lawmakers, and podcasters aligned with President Donald Trump.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his department is awarding up to $4.9 million to prepare for the first U.S. studies of ibogaine for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a hard-to-treat condition linked to higher suicide and substance abuse rates among veterans.
The money will not go directly to patient research, Kennedy said, but to lay the groundwork needed to manufacture, dose, and design studies of the drug.
◼︎ CHILDREN’S HEALTH
He Spent 14 Years Trapped in Silence. Now He Has a Message for the World
Tall, dark and classically handsome, Payam sits at his kitchen countertop, steadily typing answers to my questions. Using only one finger, he taps each letter on the keyboard with purpose, his words flowing smoothly onto the screen in front of him.
“My world was wildly unsafe. I lived in silent, suffocating fear,” he tells me. “Imagine not being heard ever. Wouldn’t you be terrified too?”
Next to Payam sits his communication partner, Roxy Sewell. It’s her job to hold the keyboard steady at eye level, while creating a calm, safe space that allows Payam to focus on spelling his truth, letter by letter.
“Figuring out that I may be trapped in silence forever occurred to me around the age of nine,” Payam wrote in 2018. “Tears would sometimes pour like rain on a river. The thought of never expressing my wonderful, deep inner thoughts scared me tremendously. Would my parents see the real me?
Across the U.S., Homegrown Experiments Aim to Save Kids From Their Phones
Kat Zilka sat on the floor of her living room, beside a glowing Christmas tree and a pile of essays, and felt like weeping. It was late in 2022, and she had asked her 12th grade digital journalism students to reflect on their relationships to devices. “The things they were writing were deeply disturbing,” she said.
Teenagers quietly enduring online abuse, using their phones all night without their parents’ knowledge, or trapped in a cycle of deleting and redownloading social media. Their words made real what Zilka had been observing for years — how the light in students’ eyes was dimmer, especially since Covid — and revealed the astonishing magnitude of the problem.
Not All Sports Help the Brain in the Same Way. This Is What May Be Best for ADHD.
There’s a bit of folk wisdom among mothers of kids with ADHD: Want your kid to sit still and focus at school? Get them to run around outside first. The assumption has long been that kids simply need to burn off excess energy. But research points to something more surprising: While exercise is good for nearly everyone’s brain, some studies suggest the cognitive boost may be especially pronounced in people with ADHD by aiding executive function.
These abilities — holding information in the mind, resisting impulses and distractions, and shifting gears when circumstances change — are often challenging for people with ADHD. Which raises a new question about the playground prescription: Does it matter how you move?
In the past year, there’s been a surge in ADHD and exercise studies providing new information about what kind of exercise and how much might make a difference. The evidence is converging on the idea that movement that forces the brain to react, plan and make split-second decisions — say, basketball rather than running laps — may help the most.
◼︎ BIG CHEMICAL
Jenny McCarthy Says She Threw Away All of Husband Donnie Wahlberg’s Clothes Amid Mold Poisoning Ordeal
Jenny McCarthy is opening up about the steps she has taken in dealing with her mold and mycotoxin poisoning. On the Tuesday, Nov. 10 episode of her podcast, The Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show, the 53-year-old shared that she threw away all her and her husband Donnie Wahlberg’s clothes following her traumatic diagnosis.
“I wound up throwing everything away,” said McCarthy, who was joined by guest and autoimmune expert Dr. Amy Meyers. “Literally, this is the first outfit I bought last night because I didn’t have any clothes. I’ve been wearing clothes from TikTok Shop.” “…I had to try to convince my husband that guess what? Your clothes also have to go bye-bye,” she added.
McCarthy and Wahlberg, 57, tied the knot in August 2014. McCarthy admitted she is “afraid to spend money on clothes anymore,” after giving “everything away” following her mold poisoning diagnosis.
“I’m like, that’s 30 years of clothes, of red carpet events and memories,” she said. “But then again when you’re as sick as you are from mold, it doesn’t matter.” In October 2024, McCarthy said she developed a persistent toothache that painkillers didn’t relieve. She underwent oral surgery, but the procedure was ineffective. McCarthy revealed that she was finally diagnosed with mold and mycotoxin poisoning in December 2025.
University of Iowa Study Finds Pesticides in Water, Leaves and Indoor Dust
Researchers at the University of Iowa have found several pesticides commonly used on farms are showing up in surface water, urban canopies and even household dust. They say their results provide new insights into how this large and diverse group of chemicals travel through Iowa’s environment.
‘Pesticide’ is an umbrella term that includes insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and other -cides intended to control pests. They’re used heavily in farm country. After California, Florida and Illinois, Iowa ranks fourth in the U.S. for pesticide usage by weight, according to the latest U.S. Geological Survey estimates.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is required by federal law to balance the benefits of a pesticide with the potential risks to human health and the environment when deciding whether to approve it. However, science is always evolving.
◼︎ BIG FOOD
Is Big Food Influencing the Debate Over Ultra-Processed Food?
Environmental Working Group reported:
Many researchers who criticize a common classification of ultra-processed food have ties to the food industry, a recent study finds. Those researchers frequently fail to disclose these relationships, and some go so far as to promote the benefits of ultra-processed foods, the study shows.
How UPF are classified is worthy of scientific debate — but this particular pattern is causing experts to draw comparisons between Big Food and Big Tobacco. Beginning in the 1950s, the tobacco industry funded a steady stream of research designed to manufacture doubt about the links between cigarettes and cancer, often calling for more research as a way to delay action.
The new study examined 69 academic articles that either questioned the widely used Nova system or highlighted the potential benefits of UPF. The Nova system, which categorizes food by how much and why it’s processed, is prevalent in major studies examining links between UPF and health harms. The study was published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Bird Flu Hits Oregon Dairy Herd as Virus Strikes Northwest
A dairy herd in Morrow County in Oregon has been infected by bird flu, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed Nov. 10, as the virus continues to strike the Northwest. “While this detection is significant, it is not unexpected given the continued spread of (avian influenza) among dairy cattle nationally,” State Veterinarian Ryan Scholtz said in a statement.
USDA and the Oregon Department of Agriculture are collecting information on the farm, USDA said. Prior to the detection of bird flu, milk from the herd was being routinely tested for the virus. Oregon’s only previous case of bird flu was two years ago in the livestock of a backyard producer.
Bird flu has infected 1,232 dairy herds in 22 states since the outbreak began in March 2024. USDA confirmed two new cases in Idaho on Nov. 6, bringing the state’s total cases to 180, the second-most in the U.S. behind California. Washington has had all 43 of its cases confirmed since Oct. 8.
◼︎ BIG BROTHER
‘Backroom Conversations’ Derail Data Center Group
An ambitious effort to hash out an agreement between tech companies, green groups and philanthropists on guardrails for data center development may be about to unravel amid infighting among environmentalists.
The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the country’s biggest climate funders, has been quietly supporting private convenings among major power players in the national data center brawl.
The Responsible Data Center Collaborative it launched this summer includes participants from Google, Meta, Microsoft, Anthropic, Nvidia, the Chamber of Commerce and the Sierra Club and aims to craft a “national compact” ensuring projects benefit local economies, run on “affordable and reliable clean energy” and create good jobs, according to a group charter obtained by POLITICO.
