The Skeptical Witch

03/17/2026

Mood.

03/16/2026

I often think - what trauma did I inflict on my children that will come out when they’re older? Is there truly any way to parent without causing any trauma at all?

I think about my own mother, the things she did and said that have shaped and affected me my whole life. Things that I still feel the effects from in my 40s. I think of how much she struggled to do her best. How hard she fought to do better than her own mother (who in turn had done the same).

And I know I will never tell her the ways she damaged me. I know how much it would absolutely break her. I will continue to carry my trauma and I will leave my mother out of that process.

03/16/2026

"Science," like law, "is far from a perfect instrument of knowledge." History is littered with once-universal truths that have since come under scrutiny. Nevertheless, science is still "the best we have." — Carl Sagan, quoted by Judge Brian Murphy in today's ruling

That's how a federal judge opened his decision blocking RFK Jr.'s entire vaccine agenda. And it matters, because RFK Jr.'s HHS has spent the past year pretending that dismantling evidence-based vaccine policy was itself a form of scientific inquiry. Today, a court said otherwise.

Here's what the ruling actually means for you:

The 13 ACIP members Kennedy appointed after firing every qualified expert on the committee are effectively sidelined; they cannot meet in an official capacity, and every vote they cast is seemingly nullified.

The meeting scheduled for this week? Not happening... at least not as an official ACIP meeting.

The January memo that cut the childhood schedule from 17 routine vaccines down to 11 is now blocked. The hepatitis B birth dose recommendation (which had been stripped) is restored. These changes matter a LOT for what comes next, preventing further erosion of the federal schedule and restoring the legal and policy baseline.

For now, most families won't see an immediate change in what their insurance covers, as major insurers had already committed to honoring the pre-change schedule through 2026. But this ruling stops the damage from compounding.

The court was unambiguous: there is a method to how these decisions get made, one grounded in science and codified into law. This administration ignored it entirely.

This will be appealed. The fight isn't over. We are still processing the full implications of this ruling — and we'll have more for you as we work through it. But after months of watching science get sidelined, politicized, and replaced with ideology, today, we needed this win. And today, we got one.

TODAY, SCIENCE HELD.
TODAY, THE COURTS HELD THE LINE.
TODAY, CHILDREN WON. FAMILIES WON. EVERY LIVING BREATHING AMERICAN WON.
WE ALL WON.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/health/childhood-vaccines-lawsuit-kennedy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TlA.Il18.6tmMNkrUyrDu&smid=url-share

03/15/2026

The US healthcare system is just atrocious. I see people suffering because of it every single day and it is only getting worse. I’ve been disgusted by it all for decades, how is anybody okay with this?

03/12/2026

03/12/2026

If your whole argument for why you don’t believe in science is “random influencer’s social media post”, for the love of humanity please just shut up.

03/11/2026

Good morning to everybody who doesn’t believe that showing children love, affection and compassion is spoiling them. 🌞

03/11/2026

There are so many things I’ve done as a parent that I could have done better.

My kids have zoned out in front of the tv when we could have used that time to go outside.

They’ve had chicken nuggets for dinner when I could have cooked the fresh chicken I just bought.

Bedtimes have been quick and to the point when I could have read them any one of the books sitting on the bookshelf.

They’ve brought toys into the living room to play because the playroom is absolutely trashed, when I could been cleaning it instead of sitting on the couch drinking coffee.

Children’s crafts sit in the drawer forever when I could have easily taken 20 minutes to work on it with them.

But the one thing I have always gotten right is that I will ALWAYS be a safe space for my children. They can always tell me about any problem, worry, issue. They can question me about anything and I’ll do my best to explain the “why”. They can come into my bed in the middle of the night if they wake up scared, every single time.

The world has always been cruel and unfair and unforgiving. I refuse to let my home be the same.

03/10/2026

Human suffering somewhere far away doesn’t make it any less real. Practice having empathy and compassion for your fellow humans. We’re all stuck here together and we need way more people who care.

Tara Shannon

03/09/2026

Worked an absolutely miserable shift recently. But asking an elderly veteran who the president is and having them respond with “ugh, some jackass” (then name him correctly) somehow made it all a little more bearable.

03/08/2026

As a vampire, I fundamentally disagree with this time change and days making their way toward the violent claim of becoming longer. Prepare to see substantially less of me as I hiss myself away from all of this bothersome sun and back into the darkness of my writing den until things become safe again.