Russian oil keeps flowing despite US pressure – Bloomberg
RT | September 30, 2025
Russia’s seaborne crude exports have remained near a 16-month high over the past four weeks, showing little impact from US President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure global buyers into halting imports from Moscow, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
According to vessel-tracking data through Saturday compiled by the outlet, average daily shipments held steady at 3.62 million barrels, matching the highest level since May 2024. The continued flow comes despite targeted US efforts to persuade countries to curb imports.
Trump has pressured the EU, India, and China to stop purchasing Russian oil, describing the move as an effort to advance a potential Ukraine peace settlement. Moscow has criticized Washington’s strong-arm tactics, saying that sovereign nations have the right to choose their trade partners.
New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil have in particular drawn the ire of the US. In August, Washington imposed 25% punitive tariffs on India on top of the earlier 25% tariff imposed after the two countries failed to reach a trade deal. India has refused to scale back imports from Russia and described Washington’s policy as economic coercion.
China has taken an even firmer stance, with its Ministry of Commerce reaffirming intentions to deepen energy cooperation with Russia. The ministry says Beijing will defend its interests as the US pushes G7 nations to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.
European buyers are also resisting. Hungary and Slovakia, which are both reliant on pipeline shipments, have cited economic and logistical obstacles to ending Russian oil imports. Turkish imports have remained steady as well, averaging around 300,000 barrels per day.
Meanwhile, the redirection of oil from Russian refineries damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes may be contributing to the continued export volumes, according to Bloomberg. Export terminal capacity, however, could become a limiting factor if strikes intensify, the outlet adds.
In the most recent week, 36 tankers carried 26.75 million barrels of Russian crude, a rise from the previous week’s 23.69 million, Bloomberg data shows. The total value of exports in the week to September 28 rose by $240 million to $1.57 billion.
Leaked Israeli Transcripts Reveal Trump Lied About Attack on Iran
Mainstream media won’t cover this story
By Kevin Barrett | American Free Press | September 30, 2025
Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran, which the US joined on June 22, was framed as a desperate attempt to pre-empt an imminent Iranian nuclear threat. On June 21, Donald Trump insisted that his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was mistaken when she testified, in March, that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon.
According to CBS News, a reporter asked Trump: “What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? Your intelligence community had said they have no evidence that they are at this point.” Trump responded: “Well then, my intelligence community is wrong. Who in the intelligence community said that?” The reporter answered: “Your director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.” “She’s wrong,” Trump insisted. Later he told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to having one.”
It was all a big lie. Trump was getting his so-called intelligence from Israel, which was reeling from a wave of Iranian counter-strikes and desperately needed the US to join the war. Shockingly, we now know that Israel never really believed that Iran was building a nuclear bomb.
Recently-leaked Israeli documents show that Israel’s real motives for attacking Iran, and drawing the US into its war, were very different from the “immanent nuclear threat” claim. On September 14, Israeli Channel 13 published leaked transcripts of Netanyahu’s security cabinet meetings just before and during the June war. According to Netanyahu’s own words, and those of his advisors, the real aim of the war was not to pre-empt an imminent Iranian bomb—they knew there was no such threat—but rather to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader and as many other leaders as possible, slaughter top Iranian scientists, inflict maximum damage on Iran’s ballistic missile sites, terrorize the Iranian people, cause a mass exodus from Tehran, and thereby, hopefully, instigate a regime change. The nuclear threat, Netanyahu admitted, was “within a few years,” not days, weeks, or months.
Even Netanyahu’s claim that Iran would build nuclear weapons “within a few years” may have been grossly exaggerated. The leaked transcripts show a senior military figure explaining that the real military rationale for bombing Iran—aside from the attempt to instigate regime change—was “to improve Israel’s strategic balance” and “preventing Tehran from going nuclear in the long term.”
Let that sink in. Israel was trying to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons “in the long term.” What does that mean, in years? I knew the approximate answer, but asked ChatGPT anyway: “When military strategists talk about ‘the long term’ what is the time frame, in years, they’re referring to?”
ChatGPT replied:
“Short term: Months to 1–2 years (immediate operations, contingencies, current deployments).
Medium term: About 3–7 years (building readiness, procurement cycles, training new units, near-future conflicts).
Long term: Typically 10–30 years…”
So to the extent that there was any real prospect of Iran building nuclear weapons, it was in the time frame of ten to thirty years. Yet Netanyahu and Trump risked World War III by massively bombing Iran on a blatantly false pretext—a pretext that makes George W. Bush’s lies about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction seem tame by comparison.
Ironically, the failed Israeli-American attack on Iran may create the very scenario it ostensibly sought to avoid. Iran’s aging Supreme Leader has repeatedly re-issued a religious edict banning nuclear weapons and other WMD. He insists that such weapons are sinful. That’s why strategists have long known—as Tulsi Gabbard said, and a top military advisor to Netanyahu confirmed—that it is highly unlikely that Iran will build a nuke in the foreseeable future…at least it was unlikely, until Netanyahu and Trump kicked the hornet’s nest with their June attack. That attack caused the Iranian people to rise up in fury behind a new generation of hardline leaders, far more militant than the current Supreme Leader, who are open to the argument, now supported by the majority of the Iranian people, that Iran must scrap its prohibition on WMD and build or buy nuclear bombs to deter future attacks.
According to a leading expert, Theodore Postol of MIT, Iran may have already built nuclear weapons in response to the June attack. In an interview with Glenn Diesen headlined “Iran Is Now an Undeclared Nuclear State,” Postol explained that the Israeli-US attack didn’t harm Iran’s now-hidden stockpile of 60% enriched uranium, which can be quickly, easily, and secretly made into bombs.
So the real reason Iran wasn’t building nukes was that it didn’t want them. But now, thanks to Netanyahu and Trump, it probably does.
The June attack wasn’t just a big lie, and a crime. It was a mistake—a blunder of epic proportions.
Israel invests millions to ‘game’ ChatGPT into replicating pro-Israel content for Gen Z audiences
The Cradle | September 30, 2025
The Israeli government has hired a company to help it “train ChatGPT” to be more “pro-Israel,” Responsible Statecraft reported on 30 September, citing a contract with US conservative-linked firm Clock Tower X LLC.
The report says the contract is worth $6 million.
A minimum of 80 percent of the content produced by Clock Tower will be “tailored to Gen Z audiences across platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, and other relevant digital and broadcast outlets,” the contract states. The quota is at least 50 million impressions monthly.
The company will also use “websites and content to deliver GPT framing results on GPT conversations” on behalf of Israel.
Additionally, it will allow for the “integration of narrative messaging into Salem Media Network properties and aligned distribution channels.” Salem Media Network is a conservative Christian media network in the US.
US President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, is playing a leading role in the agreement and will receive $6 million over a four-month period.
The contract frames the project as “strategic communications, planning, and media services in support of Havas’ engagement by the State of Israel to develop and execute a nationwide campaign in the US to combat antisemitism.”
The contract is part of an Israeli effort to control social media narratives in the US and other countries.
TikTok recently hired Erica Mendel, a former Israeli army instructor, to oversee the popular application’s hate-speech policy.
Mindel is also a former US State Department contractor who worked for Deborah Lipstadt, special envoy to combat antisemitism under the government of former US president Joe Biden.
Google is executing a $45-million advertising contract with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office to spread propaganda denying famine in Gaza, Drop Site News reported on 3 September.
The six-month campaign, launched in June, is run through Google’s YouTube and its Display & Video 360 service, and is described in a government contract as hasbara.
The details were disclosed in official Israeli government contract filings from the state advertising bureau, Lapam, which reports directly to Netanyahu’s office.
Despite this Israeli effort, public support for Israel in the US is plummeting.
A new poll by the New York Times (NYT) and Siena University said that more respondents supported Palestinians over Israel, for the first time since the survey began asking that question decades ago.
Thirty-five percent supported Palestinians, while 34 percent supported Israel. The rest said they did not know or did not support either side.
Days before, a poll released by Quinnipiac University revealed that only 47 percent of US citizens believe that backing Israel is in Washington’s interest.
The poll also found that 49 percent of US voters have a negative view of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Only 21 percent hold positive views on the premier.
It also revealed that 56 percent of US voters disapprove of US President Donald Trump’s handling of the Gaza war.
Young adults across the US have shown the biggest decline in approval of Israel.
The Republican–Israel love affair hits a generational rift
By José Niño | The Cradle | September 29, 2025
The sniper’s bullet that silenced Charlie Kirk on 10 September at Utah Valley University did more than end the life of America’s most prominent conservative youth activist. It ignited a firestorm of theories that illuminated the deepest fractures within the Republican Party since the Cold War. Within hours, social media exploded with speculation that Israel’s Mossad had orchestrated the assassination to neutralize what some saw as a rising threat to Israel’s influence in Washington.
While speculative, the speed and ferocity with which such conspiracy theories spread reveal something profound. Kirk’s assassination has become a symbol of the impossible balancing act facing Republican leaders as younger conservatives shun pro-Zionist sentiments, abandoning Israel in numbers that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
The unraveling Republican–Israel consensus
Kirk’s assassination was a flashpoint, but the deeper story is in the data. A University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll (29 July–7 August) exposed a dramatic generational schism: While 52 percent of Republicans aged 35 and over sympathize more with Israel, only 24 percent of Republicans aged 18–34 say the same.
The gulf widens when it comes to Gaza. Among older Republicans, 52 percent say Israeli actions in Gaza are justified. Among younger Republicans, only 22 percent agree. “The change taking place among young Republicans is breathtaking,” said Shibley Telhami, the poll’s principal investigator. “While 52 percent of older Republicans (35+) sympathize more with Israel, only 24 percent of younger Republicans (18–34) say the same – fewer than half.”
The shift accelerated dramatically after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023. Pew Research Center data shows that unfavorable views of Israel among Republicans under 50 jumped from 35 percent in 2022 to 50 percent in 2025, a remarkable 15-point increase. In contrast, Republicans aged 50 and older moved only marginally, from 19 percent to 23 percent unfavorable.
The University of Maryland poll found that 41 percent of Americans believe Israeli military actions in Gaza constitute either “genocide” or are “akin to genocide,” including 14 percent of Republicans. Notably, the survey discovered that 21 percent of Republicans consider US President Donald Trump’s administration’s policy toward Israel–Palestine “too pro-Israel,” while 57 percent of Republicans said Washington’s support has enabled Israeli war crimes.
Even evangelical Republicans – long Israel’s most fervent base – are shifting. Among older evangelicals, 69 percent express more sympathy with Israel. But that number drops to 32 percent among their younger counterparts. Only 36 percent of younger evangelical Republicans believe Israeli actions in Gaza are justified.
In a sharp rebuke to the bipartisan tradition of unconditional aid, a September 2025 AtlasIntel poll found that just 30 percent of Americans support financial assistance to Israel, showing that Israel’s “blank check” in Washington is increasingly out of step with public opinion. A growing number of Republicans now argue that US policy prioritizes Israeli interests over American ones.
In a similar vein, the University of Maryland poll found that the rise of social media has significantly accelerated this attitudinal shift on Israel while fueling broader support for a more restrained foreign policy approach.
While 32 percent of Republicans aged 35 and older say Fox News is their primary news source, only 12 percent of younger Republicans rely primarily on the news channel. By contrast, nearly half (46 percent) of Republicans aged 18–34 get their primary news from the internet and social media, where resistance narratives and Palestinian voices are far more accessible, despite efforts to censor them. This is compared to 29 percent of older Republicans. This shift matters. Seventy-two percent of Republicans who rely on Fox News support Israel. Among those whose main source is social media, support drops to 35 percent. Conservative youth are consuming a radically different discourse, one that challenges the old dogmas.
Congressional outliers and rising dissent
The conservative grassroots revolt has found limited but vocal expression among Republican elected officials. Three figures stand out as exceptions to the party’s overwhelming pro-Israel consensus: Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz.
Greene’s evolution has been the most dramatic. In November 2023, she proudly defended her “history of voting to fund Israel’s Iron Dome and other defense systems.” By July 2025, she was describing Israel’s Gaza war as “genocide.” On 28 July, she wrote on X, “It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza.” Greene’s most pointed critique came days later, when she questioned American priorities with respect to West Asia foreign policy:
“Are innocent Israeli lives more valuable than innocent Palestinian and Christian lives? And why should America continue funding this?”
“The secular government of nuclear-armed Israel has proven that they are beyond capable of dealing with their enemies and are capable of and are in the process of systematically cleansing them from the land.”
Her criticism intensified through August, when she told One America News Network that “Israel is not hurting, and they’ve already proven that they are more than capable of not only defending themselves, but annihilating their enemies to the point of genocide. And that’s what’s happening in Gaza.”
Massie, the Kentucky libertarian, has been consistent in opposing Israel’s wars. In June 2024, he told a House Rules Committee hearing:
“I don’t want to condone what Israel’s doing. I don’t want to condone the way Netanyahu is waging the campaign against Hamas because I think there are too many civilian casualties. One percent of the civilian population of Gaza is no longer breathing air, no longer on this planet, and we’ve just somehow accepted that that level of civilian casualties – whether it’s two civilians for every enemy combatant is okay, which I do not accept.”
On 30 May 2025, Massie posted on X, “Nothing can justify the number of casualties (tens of thousands of women and children) inflicted by Israel in Gaza. We should end all US military aid to Israel immediately.”
Gaetz’s transformation has been more recent but equally sharp. In October 2017, while he served as representative for Florida’s first congressional district, Gaetz delivered a House floor speech declaring his support for “our friend and ally, Israel,” condemning the UN’s “antisemitism” and “attempts to punish and delegitimize Israel.” In 2025, now hosting The Matt Gaetz Show, he asked, “If Israel is a democracy, when do all the Arabs who live there get to vote?” He has raised concerns about “Jewish supremacy” and the state’s treatment of Palestinian Christians.
At the height of the 12-day war in June between Iran and Israel, Gaetz was highly critical of any belligerent action toward Iran and had choice words about Israel’s nuclear program:
“There’s a secret nuclear program in the Middle East – and it’s Israel’s. They won’t allow inspectors, they operate in full secrecy, and everyone in Washington knows it … To drag us into a regime change war over secret nuclear weapons when your ally also has secret nuclear weapons – that’s hypocritical.”
His shift began earlier. In 2020, following the US assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, Gaetz called for restraint. By 2025, his rhetoric had clearly broken with pro-Zionist orthodoxy.
The money firewall
Despite the changing winds, institutional Republican support for Israel remains ironclad, enforced by immense donor pressure. Greene, Massie, and Gaetz represent isolated voices in a caucus that continues to pass pro-Israel legislation by overwhelming margins.
The pro-Israeli lobby group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), responded furiously to Greene’s genocide comments, telling The Hill, “Anti-Israel extremists – of the right or the left – will not deter us in our participation in the democratic process to stand with Israel. It is an outrageous betrayal of American values and interests to abandon an ally fighting terrorist aggression.”
AIPAC’s influence remains formidable throughout the Republican caucus. As Massie revealed in a 2024 interview with Tucker Carlson, every Republican member of Congress has a dedicated “AIPAC babysitter” – a lobbyist who is “always talking to you” on behalf of the organization, pushing for pro-Israel votes.
The current skepticism toward Israel among young Republicans represents the culmination of long-standing anti-war sentiments within the American Right. From Pat Buchanan’s opposition to the Persian Gulf War to Ron Paul’s consistent non-interventionism, a minority strain of conservative thought has always questioned foreign entanglements.
This “America First” current experienced a notable resurgence during the Trump era, with figures like Carlson warning against involvement in West Asian conflicts. The Gaza war has provided a focal point for these concerns, particularly among younger conservatives who came of age during the post-9/11 Iraq and Afghanistan wars and became disillusioned by the cost and aimlessness of these conflicts.
Despite a marked shift in sentiment among younger conservatives, many of whom are increasingly skeptical of unconditional support for Israel, pro-Israel money continues to dominate Republican politics. In the 2024 election cycle alone, analysis by Track AIPAC found that pro-Israel groups spent over $230 million to re-elect Donald Trump.
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) raised more than $18 million, a 50 percent increase from 2020, and spent over $15 million to strengthen Trump’s campaign and support other Republican candidates. The Israeli-American super-donor Miriam Adelson‘s (widow of the late US businessman Sheldon Adelson) Preserve America PAC by itself provided more than $215 million to advance Trump’s presidential bid.
In short, while the conservative base moves one way, the money moves another. For now, the latter still calls the shots.
A conservative youth uprising
The pro-Zionist torrent of funding highlights a harsh reality. Even as the Republican base grows increasingly critical of Israel, the financial influence of pro-Israel donors continues to ensure that party leaders remain firmly aligned with Zionist priorities, often in direct conflict with the wishes of grassroots conservatives. The real test will come as this generation ages into political power. Greene, Massie, and Gaetz may be lone voices today, but they are amplifying a groundswell of dissent that could soon reach critical mass.
Whether this revolt reshapes the Republican party’s stance on Israel or remains smothered by donor-class discipline will determine the next era of Republican politics – and the fate of Tel Aviv’s blank check in Washington.
The Real Jan. 6th Coup
By Ron Paul | September 29, 2025
In my first column after the events of Jan. 6th, 2021, I criticized those who called the protest a “coup,” pointing out that, “Some of the same politicians and bureaucrats denouncing the ridiculous farce at the Capitol as if it were the equivalent of 9/11 have been involved for decades in planning and executing real coups overseas. In their real coups, many thousands of civilians have died.”
The media at the time played up the violence committed by a relative few at the protest to stoke a national outcry and demands for “justice.” More than 1,500 Americans were charged over the incident and nearly 500 were imprisoned, including outrageous prison sentences for relatively minor crimes like entering the Capitol building through doors opened by the police, and filming the event.
While most Democrats and Republicans in Congress harshly denounced the January 6th “insurrectionists,” a few Members displayed the appropriate skepticism over accepted government narratives. Rep. Thomas Massie, for example, was relentless in his search for answers to a simple but critically important question: How many of the “insurrectionists” were actually undercover FBI agents and other law enforcement officers and what role might they have played in inciting the violence.
Massie grilled then-Attorney General Merrick Garland several times, but Garland would not budge. He refused to say whether there had been any undercover federal agents in the crowd, though of course he must have known.
Last week we learned a little more of the truth. With the release of the FBI’s long lost “after action” report, we now know that more than 250 undercover agents were in the crowd. According to the report, they were given roles including crowd control that they were not suited for. Some agents cited in the report complained of political biases in the Bureau against conservatives. What other tasks might have been given to a “politicized” FBI undercover team?
In addition to the undercover agents, there were more than two dozen paid informants in the Jan. 6th crowd. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who chairs the subcommittee investigating the matter, asks an important question: “With that many paid informants being in the crowd, we want to know how many were in the crowd, how many were in the building, but I also want to know, were they paid to inform or instigate?”
Were they paid to inform, or to instigate? That is a good question. We do know that the event was used by the incoming Biden Administration to demonize and persecute the political opposition. There is no telling how many Americans would have liked to use their First Amendment guarantee of free speech to criticize the Biden Administration but were silenced by fear of persecution, or worse. It’s easy to conclude, seeing so many arrested and handed long sentences for non-violent “crimes,” that it’s better to keep quiet. At the time, the US was still in the grip of Covid tyranny, where speaking out against “the Science” could get you “cancelled” or worse. This was another way to silence people who were not “going along with the program.”
In the end, January 6th, 2021, was a coup of sorts. It was a coup against the First Amendment. The lesson for all of us is that if we do not regularly but peacefully exercise our First Amendment guarantees we will definitely lose them, regardless of who is in power.
Hamas: We have not received the US proposal
Palestinian Information Center – September 29, 2025
DOHA – Senior Hamas official Taher an-Nunu denied that the Movement had received any copy of the US proposal to end the war on Gaza.
In press statements on Monday evening, Al-Nunu said, “Hamas was not part of any negotiations concerning the current US plan.”
He clarified that the release of Israeli captives held by the Palestinian resistance is tied to ending the war and the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation from Gaza. He emphasized that the resistance’s weapons are tied to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Al-Nunu affirmed Hamas’s readiness to agree to a multi-year truce and noted that the Movement had accepted Egypt’s proposal to form an independent administration for Gaza.
“We are serious about releasing the captives as part of an agreement that ends the war on Gaza and ensures the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation,” he added.
He confirmed Hamas is ready to coordinate with the Palestinian Authority to form a unity government to manage both Gaza and the West Bank.
He stressed that the Movement does not wish to prolong the war, adding that Hamas is “prepared to consider any proposal that does not conflict with the interests of the Palestinian people.”
He also emphasized that the Palestinian people are not incapable of self-governance and reject any external guardianship.
On Sunday, The Washington Post revealed details of US President Trump’s proposal to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has continued for two years.
According to the paper, the 21-point plan includes an immediate halt to all military operations and freezing of battle lines at their current positions.
Meanwhile, Hamas confirmed it had not received any new proposal from mediators regarding a ceasefire in Gaza.
In a statement, Hamas reiterated its willingness to positively and responsibly consider any proposals from mediators, so long as they safeguard the Palestinian people’s national rights.
Hamas reviews Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan as PIJ rejects
Al Mayadeen | September 30, 2025
Hamas negotiators told mediators they would study the plan “in good faith” and provide a formal response, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Reuters reported that Egypt and Qatar briefed Hamas on United States President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war. Earlier, the White House confirmed that Trump had discussed the ceasefire proposal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing it as a framework supported by “Arab and Islamic leaders.”
At a joint press conference with Netanyahu, Trump said he believed Hamas would eventually approve the proposal, adding that “Doha has taken it upon itself to convince the movement.”
PIJ rejects plan as ‘US-Israeli agreement’
The announcement drew sharp criticism from Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Its Secretary-General, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, dismissed the initiative outright, calling it “nothing but a full American-Israeli agreement.”
Al-Nakhalah stressed that the announcement reflected “the Israeli position in its most precise details” and constituted “a recipe for the continuation of aggression against the Palestinian people.”
He warned that the proposal amounted to “an attempt to impose new realities through the US after the occupation failed to achieve them through successive wars.”
The Islamic Jihad leader further cautioned that the so-called agreement was “a ready-made recipe to ignite the entire region and fuel further conflicts.”
Regional mediation continues
The White House had presented the proposal on Monday evening, saying that if both parties agree to this proposal, the war will end immediately.
Mediation efforts led by Qatar and Egypt remain ongoing, with Hamas yet to issue a formal stance, while the resistance maintains that any deal must address the root causes of the war, including the siege and occupation.
Tylenol, FDA Knew About Autism Risk For Years, Newly Surfaced Emails Show
By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. | The Defender | September 29, 2025
Makers of Tylenol and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) knew for years about the likely association between the drug’s use during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, according to documents obtained in lawsuits against Kenvue.
“The weight of evidence is starting to feel heavy to me,” Rachel Weinstein, U.S. director of epidemiology for Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) pharmaceutical division Janssen, said in an email commenting on several studies showing the link.
Daily Caller News Foundation obtained the emails from Keller Postman LLC, the law firm representing plaintiffs in a federal class action lawsuit against Kenvue.
J&J made Tylenol until 2023, when it spun off production to Kenvue, a separate company.
The email revelations follow President Donald Trump’s announcement last week that pregnant women should not take Tylenol, and the FDA’s announcement that it will add warnings to products containing acetaminophen.
The updated product labels will warn that acetaminophen may be associated with a higher risk of neurological conditions, including autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in children. The FDA said it will also warn physicians and the public about the risk.
Mainstream media and public health organizations attacked the warnings as unfounded or overblown. Some news organizations quoted scientists — like University of Massachusetts epidemiologist Ann Bauer — who published studies identifying the link between Tylenol and autism and called for warnings, but who are now publicly backpedaling on their concerns.
However, the Daily Caller found that despite confusion in the media and among public health experts, emails show that as early as 2008, officials at J&J were privately concerned about credible evidence of a possible link between autism and acetaminophen. They acknowledged the link in an email and suggested further investigation.
Internal FDA meta-analyses shared with The Defender show that the agency had for years considered adding new warnings about acetaminophen’s side effects for children.
In 2019, FDA scientists conducted a meta-analysis that found urogenital disorders in infants linked to the drug. The scientists also noted links to neurodevelopmental issues. In 2022, the FDA conducted another meta-analysis that found a link to ADHD.
Tylenol makers ‘closely tracked a drumbeat of scientific publications’ showing link to autism
The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained emails spanning more than a decade indicating that company insiders at J&J had been alerted about the possible link between acetaminophen and neurological disorders. The emails showed J&J even considered pursuing further research, but decided against it.
The outlet also obtained a 2012 email by Leslie Shur, head of the division at J&J that monitors side effects, acknowledging another consumer complaint about the issue, and a 2014 email showing that the issue was raised with CEO Alex Gorsky, whose name is misspelled in the email.
According to journalist Emily Kopp, who wrote the Daily Caller story:
“The makers of Tylenol have closely tracked a drumbeat of scientific publications finding an association between taking the blockbuster drug in pregnancy and infancy and autism risk, other company documents show.
“A 2018 internal presentation the company labeled ‘privileged and confidential’ acknowledges that observational studies show a ‘somewhat consistent’ association between prenatal exposure to Tylenol and neurodevelopmental disorders.
“Another presentation slide acknowledges that larger meta-analyses — reviews summarizing multiple scientific studies — found an association, but notes weaknesses of these studies like confounding variables and subjectivity in measuring autistic traits.”
A Kenvue spokesperson told the Daily Caller that the company believes there is “no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism” and that its projects are “safe and effective” when used as directed on the label.
Kopp noted the company’s website also states that “credible, independent scientific data continues to show no proven link between taking acetaminophen and autism,” and that “there is no credible science that shows taking acetaminophen causes autism.”
Yet, she found that internal emails showed employees discussing a 2018 study and a 2016 study that both concluded pregnant women should be cautioned about the possible effects of taking Tylenol while pregnant.
She also found emails indicating that J&J considered funding studies on Tylenol’s possible link to autism, but decided against “sticking their necks out,” worried their studies could confirm the findings.
According to Kopp:
“The company also conducted research it described as ‘social listening’ by tracking Google searches and social media posts seeking evidence about Tylenol and autism from January 2020 through October 2023.
“The company initiated the social media trends research after the 2021 publication of a call to action on Tylenol in Nature Reviews Endocrinology by 13 U.S. and European experts ‘in light of the serious consequences of inaction.’”
The company wrote a 2023 review, Project Cocoon, which reported on concerns with urinogenital and neurological side effects of the drugs in babies, which executives noted touches“every aspect of the brand,” Kopp wrote.
FDA also concerned with mounting evidence
The FDA also grew concerned with the mounting evidence of a link between acetaminophen and neurodevelopmental disorders, beginning with a publication in JAMA Pediatrics in 2014 and followed by several major publications over the next several years, according to psychiatrist David Healy.
Healy is an expert witness in a case against Kenvue and Safeway, alleging they failed to adequately warn consumers about the risk of autism or ADHD from prenatal exposure to the drug.
Documents from 2019 and 2022, made available through Freedom of Information Act requests associated with the lawsuit and shared with The Defender, show that based on meta-analysis of the published literature, the FDA identified consistent links between acetaminophen and both urogenital and neurodevelopmental risks.
As early as 2019, FDA study authors recommended that the labels be revised to advise pregnant women to “be careful about casual use of acetaminophen when it is not strongly needed for pain or other purposes.”
The 2022 document, focused largely on neurological outcomes, states that despite study limitations, meta-analyses and other research consistently found links between acetaminophen and ADHD, and as a result, “it may be prudent, as a precautionary measure …” However, the rest of the recommendation is redacted.
Healy said the revelations by Weinstein and others working with J&J are particularly significant because drugmakers have the responsibility to inform consumers when they know a drug may be linked to an adverse event.
“The onus to warn does not arise when there is a clear cause and effect,” Healy said. “It arises when there are grounds to think there might be a problem.”
This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.
The Kremlin Threatens to Attack US Troops Who Help Ukraine Fire Tomahawk Missiles Into Russia
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | September 29, 2025
Russian officials warn Washington that US troops assisting Ukraine using Tomahawk missiles would become targets. The remarks were a response to Vice President JD Vance, who said the White House is considering sending the long-range munitions to Kiev.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov questioned what role the Americans would have in assisting Ukraine in firing Tomahawk missiles. “The question… is this: who can launch these missiles…? Can only Ukrainians launch them, or do American soldiers have to do that?” Peskov told reporters.
“Who is determining the targeting of these missiles? The American side or the Ukrainians themselves?” he added. In 2023, The Discord Leaks revealed that there were 100 US troops in Ukraine, along with approximately 100 soldiers from several European nations.
Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian State Duma’s defence committee, explained that the American troops could become targets if they assist Ukraine in attacking Russia with Tomahawk missiles. “And no one will protect them. Not Trump, not Kellogg, nor anyone else,” he said.
The threats from Moscow follow several aggressive statements from Washington and Kiev. Trump claimed on Truth Social that Ukraine was in a position to win the war and the Russian military was a “paper tiger.”
Then, President Zelensky called for the US to give Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine and threatened to attack the Russian leadership. Vance and Trump’s envoy to the conflict, Keith Kellogg, gave some legitimacy to Zelensky’s remarks by explaining that the White House was considering allowing Europe to buy Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine.
Kellogg went on to argue that Ukraine should be allowed to conduct strikes deep inside Russian territory. “Use the ability to hit deep. There are no such things as sanctuaries,” he said.
Tomahawks have a range of about 1,500 miles.
Peskov downplayed the impact the missiles would have on the conflict. “Even if it happens that the United States sends its Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, currently, there is no cure-all that could be a game changer on the front lines for the Kiev regime. No magical weapons exist, and Tomahawk or other missiles simply won’t be a game changer,” he said.
Trump can’t rely on CIA – ex-national security adviser
RT | September 29, 2025
The White House needs its own operations center to provide President Donald Trump with reliable intelligence, operating in parallel to the Pentagon and CIA, according to former US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
Speaking in an interview with Alex Jones on Saturday, the retired general argued that the president cannot fully trust the US intelligence community to avoid manipulating its reports.
“The CIA has a very robust operations center. You can see and do anything you want from there – certainly globally,” he said. “And you [could] understand what’s happening, if you had a CIA that was actually working on your behalf.”
“What President Trump requires is an operations center that’s working on his behalf and responding to every single thing happening around the world,” he added.
Flynn’s proposal was endorsed by Kirill Dmitriev, an economic adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin involved in normalization talks with Washington. Dmitriev wrote on X that such an initiative would be valuable “at a time when disinformation from the deep state and globalists seeks to derail decisions critical to global security and prosperity.”
Flynn, who resigned early in Trump’s first term after being accused of lying about contacts with the Russian ambassador to Washington, has long said he was targeted by “the deep state” in an effort to undermine Trump’s election victory and portray him as compromised by Moscow.
Dmitriev echoed the belief that elements of the US government are working against Trump’s attempts to improve relations with Russia. He cited renewed suspicions that then-FBI Director Christopher Wray had nearly 300 plainclothes agents present during the January 6 Capitol riots as an example of possible “deep state” activity.
Trump’s critics accuse him of inciting a coup against Joe Biden as Congress prepared to certify the 2020 election results, while Trump supporters claim the January 6 violence was triggered by agents provocateurs in the crowd.
Impeach RFK Jr.? Critics Pan Congresswoman’s Plan to Launch Impeachment Bid
By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | September 25, 2025
Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens today said she will introduce articles of impeachment against U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claiming his leadership of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has resulted in “health care chaos” and “reckless cuts.”
Stevens, a Democrat, first announced her intent in a post earlier today on X. She followed up with a statement citing four reasons why she seeks to impeach Kennedy.
Stevens alleged that Kennedy is “severely restricting access to vaccines and spreading absurd conspiracies,” including withdrawing “federal recommendations for COVID shots for pregnant women and healthy children” and promoting “wild and unfounded claims” about the risks of acetaminophen.
She also claimed that Kennedy has abdicated his duty as HHS secretary by “cutting funding for lifesaving research,” including cancer research and studies on sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
According to Stevens, Kennedy has failed to “carry out statutory duties of HHS” in administering the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and lied during his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate earlier this year.
Stevens also claimed Kennedy’s policies are “making our country less safe and making healthcare less affordable and accessible” and are reflective of his “contempt for science” and “the constant spreading of conspiracy theories.”
“Enough is enough — we need leaders who put science over chaos, facts over lies, and people over politics, which is why I am announcing today that I have begun drafting articles of impeachment against Secretary Kennedy,” Stevens stated.
A spokesperson for Stevens’ office told The Defender the articles of impeachment are being drafted and “will be introduced soon.”
Stevens has repeatedly advocated for Kennedy’s removal, including a call for Kennedy’s resignation earlier this month.
In a statement provided to The Defender, Andrew Nixon, communications director for the HHS said, “Secretary Kennedy remains focused on the work of improving Americans’ health and lowering costs, not on partisan political stunts.”
‘Founders did not want people removed from office over policy disagreements’
According to The Detroit News, it is “unlikely that Stevens’ call for impeachment will be successful, given Republican majorities in Congress.”
A simple majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and a two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate after a trial are required for an impeachment effort to succeed. Republicans hold majorities in both chambers.
Sayer Ji, chairman of the Global Wellness Forum and founder of GreenMedInfo, said that, “with a Republican-controlled House, impeachment is a political non-starter,” but that the goal is “to generate headlines, stigmatize dissent, and chill debate — reputational warfare disguised as constitutional accountability.”
Attorney Rick Jaffe suggested Stevens’ effort may be an inappropriate use of the impeachment process and may set a “dangerous” precedent. He said:
“Those are the kinds of disputes the political process is supposed to resolve. If Congress thinks HHS policy is wrong, it holds hearings, passes oversight statutes or uses the purse. ‘Impeachment as policy veto’ is dangerous.
“Normalizing impeachment for contested scientific positions would chill executive-branch debate and weaponize impeachment as a routine tool. The Constitution reserves impeachment for treason, bribery or comparable abuses. If this standard becomes ‘I disagree with your science,’ every Secretary of HHS under either party will face perpetual impeachment threats. That destabilizes public health governance.”
The Detroit Free Press also called into question the legality of Stevens’ impeachment attempt, writing:
“Given that the Constitution limits impeachment to charges of ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,’ with the presumption being the founders did not want people removed from office over policy disagreements, there almost certainly would be question as to the legality of an impeachment drive.”
Jaffe said that the impeachment push is unlikely to succeed but may further fuel the political divide in the U.S. He said:
“This, in all likelihood, will not remove Kennedy, since the votes aren’t there in the House, and there does not appear to be a path to two-thirds in the Senate. But it will harden lanes. Expect more hearings, subpoenas and media escalation aimed at discrediting HHS leadership.
“If Congress wants to change policy, it should legislate. If it wants accountability, it should investigate. Impeachment is a constitutional last resort, not a press release.”
Stevens eyeing Michigan’s open Senate seat next year
Ji and Jaffe noted that Stevens may also have a political motive in attempting to impeach Kennedy, as she will run for Michigan’s open Senate seat next year.
“Stevens herself is not acting in a vacuum,” Ji said. “This gambit delivers national visibility as a ‘defender of science.’ But her language mirrors pharma-aligned talking points so closely it reads like a continuation of the script.”
According to Jaffe, “Filing impeachment in a GOP-run House is a branding exercise. She gets the headline, tests a message with the primary electorate and positions herself as a ‘defender of science.’ Smart politics from the Democrats’ point of view. They want to keep that Senate seat.”
The Detroit Free Press reported that Stevens faces a Democratic primary along with two other major candidates for the open Senate seat. Her impeachment push “makes clear that Democrats intend to use disapproval of Kennedy with the voters against Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.”
According to The Daily Beast, recent moves by Kennedy and other public health officials have “raised concerns, including among some Republican lawmakers.” The Hill reported today that unnamed Republican senators “are growing increasingly uncomfortable with health actions being taken by the Trump administration.”
Stevens’ donors include Pfizer, medical organizations, health insurers
Data from Open Secrets shows that Stevens received $98,739 in donations from “health professionals” during the 2023-2024 donation cycle, making this one of the top five industries that donated to her.
She also received $17,756 from pharmaceutical and health products companies during the same period.
Open Secrets data also show that Stevens received a $1,500 donation from Pfizer last year — and donations from medical and health organizations including the American Medical Association and the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Stevens has also received donations from pharmacy chains including CVS Health and Target, major insurers including Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan and UnitedHealth, and from BlackRock, Google, Mastercard, McDonald’s and Microsoft.
Are calls for impeachment part of ‘hybrid warfare’ aiming to oust RFK Jr.?
According to Ji, the effort to impeach Kennedy is part of a broader, coordinated attempt by multiple actors, including political figures, pharmaceutical companies and their lobbyists, and some legacy media outlets, to oppose Kennedy.
“Stevens’ announcement is not genuine ‘oversight’ — it is the next front in a coordinated influence operation,” which includes the recent Senate hearing in which Susan Monarez, Ph.D., operated and a series of op-eds published in prominent outlets, Ji said.
These efforts mirror proposals contained within a leaked document — purportedly the minutes of an April meeting of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), a major pharmaceutical lobbying organization. BIO has denied the authenticity of the document.
In June, research scientist and author James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D., first went public with the alleged minutes of an April meeting of BIO’s Vaccine Policy Steering Committee. He said the document was sent “anonymously by whistleblowers.”
According to the BIO document, John F. Crowley, president and CEO of BIO, allegedly participated in the meeting and proposed a “creative communication campaign” targeting legislators and influencers while isolating Kennedy.
Crowley also allegedly suggested that BIO spend $2 million on such lobbying efforts.
Participants in the BIO meeting, including current employees and board members of vaccine manufacturers, also allegedly said, “It is time to go to The Hill and lobby that it is time for RFK Jr to go … communicate what’s going on in business.”
‘Looks like a part of the coordinated action’ against Kennedy
Ji connected efforts targeting Kennedy to the U.K.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nongovernmental organization that, in 2021, included Kennedy on its “Disinformation Dozen” list of the 12 “leading online anti-vaxxers.”
According to documents leaked by a whistleblower last year, CCDH planned “black ops” against Kennedy. “Black ops” are defined as a “secret mission or campaign carried out by a military, governmental or other organization, typically one in which the organization conceals or denies its involvement.”
The leaked documents, containing minutes from internal CCDH staff meetings held between January and October 2024, revealed that CCDH planned these “black ops” in response to “Nervousness about the impact of him on the election.”
CCDH, currently under investigation by Congress, and its founder and CEO Imran Ahmed, maintain ties to members of the Democratic Party.
Ji said core components of this coordinated campaign include “congressional convergence” and the dissemination of a narrative opposing Kennedy in the media.
Last month, MedPageToday reported that doctors and “public health advocates” were calling for Kennedy’s impeachment. Later in August, USA Today published an op-ed titled, “RFK Jr. is an anti-vaccine kook destroying the CDC. Impeach him.”
Earlier this month, a Mother Jones op-ed stated, “Impeach RFK Jr.,” characterizing him as one of several “unqualified extremists” in Trump’s cabinet. On Sept. 15, Free Speech for People cited unnamed “constitutional law experts” in calling for Kennedy’s impeachment, accusing him of “abuses of power.”
“Far from independent analysis, this is narrative warfare — reputational framing masquerading as journalism, designed to normalize impeachment talk before it even reached Congress,” Ji said, calling this an example of “hybrid warfare — reputational, legislative and media-based.”
Jaffe called the string of op-eds calling for Kennedy’s impeachment “an unmistakable pile-on” that “looks like a part of the coordinated action” against Kennedy.
Stevens has a controversial congressional past. In March 2020, House leadership ruled Stevens was “out of order” following a speech that ran over time on a proposed COVID-19 relief package. The Detroit News described the speech, during which Stevens wore pink latex gloves, as a “yelling spree.”
This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.
Pfizer lawsuit in US links contraceptive injection to brain tumours
Al Mayadeen | September 28, 2025
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is facing a growing lawsuit in the United States over claims that its contraceptive injection, Depo-Provera, caused brain tumours in women who used it long-term.
The class action, brought by law firm Levin Papantonio, alleges that Pfizer failed to warn women and doctors about the increased risk of intracranial meningioma if Depo-Provera is used for more than a year.
A court hearing is scheduled in Pensacola, Florida, on Monday.
Since May, the number of plaintiffs has tripled to more than 1,300 cases, consolidated into multi-district litigation. Lawyers expect the total to rise to between 5,000 and 10,000 claims, with potential damages reaching billions of dollars.
Scientific studies have raised concerns about the safety of Depo-Provera. Research published in the British Medical Journal in March 2024 found that prolonged use of certain progestogen medications was linked to a higher risk of intracranial meningioma, a type of benign brain tumour. Depo-Provera was specifically linked to a 5.6-fold higher risk.
While meningiomas are not usually cancerous, they can cause seizures, headaches, and loss of vision or hearing. Surgical removal is often necessary but carries risks of damaging surrounding brain structures.
FDA and the debate over drug label warnings
At the center of the Pfizer lawsuit is the question of whether the company acted responsibly in warning patients. Pfizer argues that it sought to add a tumour warning to Depo-Provera’s label, but the FDA rejected the request.
“This is a clear pre-emption case because FDA expressly barred Pfizer from adding a warning about meningioma risk, which plaintiffs say state law required,” the company said in court filings.
Plaintiffs counter that Pfizer’s request was too broad, grouping Depo-Provera with other lower-dose contraceptives, which led to the FDA’s decision. They argue the company failed to provide adequate data that might have justified a targeted warning.
Depo-Provera, marketed since the 1980s, is used by millions of women worldwide, both for contraception and to treat conditions such as endometriosis. Around 247 million women globally use hormonal contraceptives, and nearly a quarter of sexually active women in the United States have used Depo-Provera.
Warning labels were updated in the UK in 2024, and similar updates have been made in Canada and Europe. Pfizer has said it is “aware of this potential risk associated with long-term use of progestogens.”
What the lawsuit could mean for Pfizer
Virginia Buchanan, co-chair of the plaintiffs’ executive committee, accused Pfizer of avoiding accountability: “Pfizer is attempting to avoid accountability by invoking a pre-emption defense, yet there are serious questions about whether it ever provided the FDA with the full picture.”
Buchanan added, “Pre-emption was never meant to serve as a shield for drug companies that fail to warn patients adequately. Pfizer has consistently failed to take reasonable steps to alert patients and their physicians to this very real danger.”
In addition to the class action, law firm Berger Montague is investigating whether Pfizer’s board breached its fiduciary duties in the marketing and sale of Depo-Provera, which could lead to shareholder lawsuits.
With thousands of potential plaintiffs and billions of dollars at stake, the Pfizer lawsuit could become one of the most consequential pharmaceutical cases in recent years.
