RFK Jr. Is Practically Running a Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Almost No One Is Talking About It
Release Date: 01/19/2026
US v Dunn 2 - "If You Spit, We Hit"
Opening Arguments
Hey folks, no video this week so instead I wanted to give you another episode of our new trial over on , US v. Dunn! This is episode 2 (we have released 4 on the feed, check it out!) Matt takes us through the pretrial motions. It's an interesting episode even as a standalone law breakdown, so check it out!
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Ballots Seized in Georgia? Voting Chaos in Dallas? Here’s What to Make Of It.
Opening Arguments
OA1244 - More election news updates. What the heck happened in Dallas? How is hunting for fraud in Georgia still a thing? Why is the DOJ trying to get non-public voter data from the states? There’s smoke. There’s fire. But it might not be coming from the places everyone is looking. Jenessa helps us focus our concerns in the right direction, and maybe calms our nerves just a bit. Georgia court documents Affidavit: Search warrant: Order to unseal documents: Cline, S., Swenson, A., & Riccardi, N. (Mar. 3, 2026). ABC 13. Democracy Docket (Mar. 3, 2026). Rose, S. (Feb....
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Trump’s DOJ Lets Ticketmaster off the Hook for No Reason
Opening Arguments
OA1243 - The lawsuit that was supposed to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s obvious monopoly over live music throughout the U.S. has just ended in a settlement so surprising that even DOJ’s lead counsel didn’t know it was happening. Is this deal as bad as it looks? What does it mean for the future of live entertainment, and what will happen if the dozens of states which joined the feds in this case don’t sign off on it? Also: An insurance company sues ChatGPT for telling someone to fire their lawyer, the first (known) instance of a DOJ lawyer writing a brief with AI,...
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Kristi Noem's career has been put out of its misery
Opening Arguments
VR25 - This episode is dedicated to the memory of Cricket, the 14-month-old wirehaired pointer murdered in cold blood by Kristi Noem on an unknown date in a gravel pit in South Dakota. One week after Donald Trump took now-former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s job out to the gravel pit, Thomas, Lydia, and Matt get together for a post-mortem. After a brief amuse douche from Noem’s (ahem) closest advisor, Matt plays the one excerpt from her 2024 campaign book “Not Going Back” which should have disqualified her from a Cabinet seat. (No, not that one! But we also revisit that story too and...
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The Sketchy and Incredibly Recent Origins of the Major Questions Doctrine
Opening Arguments
OA1242 - Ever heard of the “major questions doctrine”? Most lawyers sure hadn’t until a few years ago. So how did it get that important-sounding name? Where did it come from? What even is it? How can we call something a “doctrine” or a rule if we don’t have a clear rule statement to cite to? (Hint: You can’t). If you’ve been feeling like maybe this is all made up and the points don’t matter, you can get your vindication here as we trace back the history of this ever-changing heavily-politicized increasingly-disputed amorphous blob. Jenessa read way too many cases and law...
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SCOTUS Likely to Strike Down the Law Used to Convict Hunter Biden
Opening Arguments
OA1241 - This Rapid Response Friday:* everything you need to know to explain to anyone who will listen exactly why what the US is doing in Iran is illegal. We also review oral arguments in an unusual case involving the federal statute under which Hunter Biden was recently convicted which has brought weed, guns, and Amy Coney Barrett’s illegal Ambien habit (?) before the Supreme Court at the same time. Finally, in today’s footnote: A man who drinks unpasteurized milk, swims in sewage, and once left a dead bear in Central Park has some opinions about what we should be putting in our...
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Ghislaine Maxwell's brother might be the worst person in Epstein world
Opening Arguments
E24 - Today on Vapid Response Wednesday: the story of a wealthy family that lost everything and the one son who had no choice but to try to defend his sister after she was convicted of abusing and trafficking minors with (and for) Jeffrey Epstein. For this special episode we read through Ian Maxwell’s entire body of published work for The Spectator and unseriously consider some of the many questions the tabloid heir raises about the arrest and conviction of his sister Ghislaine, the evils of the First Amendment, and of course a lengthy digression about some people named Todd. ! ,...
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At This Point, Traffic Court Would Be An Upgrade
Opening Arguments
OA1240 - Shaina Aber, Executive Director with Acacia Center for Justice, joins today to discuss immigration nonprofit work during Trump 2.0. Find all of the tools and programs we talked about at their website, .
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Ground Control to Major Questions Doctrine
Opening Arguments
OA1239 - Did the Supreme Court just hand Donald Trump the biggest L in US presidential history? We go beyond the headlines to break down the first decision on the merits of any of the second Trump term’s policies. What is the deal with the “major questions doctrine” and why can’t the conservative justices agree about what it is and how to use it? Why did Neil Gorsuch choose this case to drop a lengthy diss track with bars about every one of his colleagues? And is there anything Clarence Thomas wouldn’t let a Republican president do? We then review a lesser-noticed SCOTUS decision...
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The Case That Ended Forced Institutionalization (Mostly)
Opening Arguments
OA1238 - Dive in to an “old” case from the 90’s that secured a critical right for people with disabilities: The right to be free from unnecessary institutionalization. Learn about some of the more obscure portions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the different ways we can define discrimination, and what happens when a majority of judges just cannot agree to sign on to an entire opinion. 527 U.S. 581 (1999) ; 42 U.S.C. § 12101(a)(2, 3, & 5) ; 42 U.S.C. § 12132 Jesse Jackson (July 18, 1989). (regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act). Check out the OA...
info_outlineOA1227 - Come play the worst ever round of the Connections game and figure out what on earth Tuskegee Alabama, the CDC, Southern Denmark University, and the West African country of Guinea-Bissau all have in common, as RFK Jr. continues his campaign of “just asking questions” that we already have the answer to.
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Black men untreated in Tuskegee syphilis study. Heller, J. (July 25, 1972; republished May 10, 2017). Associated Press.
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The untreated syphilis study at Tuskegee timeline. Centers for Disease Control. (September 4, 2024).
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45 CFR 46 Protection of Human Subjects. (Department of Health and Human Services regulations to implement the National Research Act and create Institutional Review Board policies).
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Hepatitis B. World Health Organization (July 23, 2025).
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Should the U.S. model its vaccine policy on Denmark’s? Experts say we’re nothing alike. Godoy, M. (December 26, 2025). NPR.
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RFK Jr. overhauls childhood vaccine schedule to resemble Denmark’s in unprecedented move. Lovelace Jr., B., Edwards, E., Fattah, M., & Bendix, A. (January 5, 2026). NBC News.
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What is actually the emerging evidence about non-specific vaccine effects in randomized trials from the Bandim Health Project? Støvring, H., Ekstrøm, C.T., Schneider, J.W., & Strøm, C. (2025). Vaccine, 68, 1-4.
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Notice of award of a single source unsolicited grant to fund University of Southern Denmark (SDU). Department of Health and Human Services. (December 15, 2025).
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U.S. plan for $1.6m hepatitis B vaccine study in Africa called ‘highly unethical’. Schreiber, M. & Lay, K. (December 19, 2025). The Guardian.
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CDC awards $1.6 million for hepatitis B vaccine study by controversial Danish researchers. Szabo, L. (December 18, 2025). Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
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CDC funds controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial in African newborns. Offord, C. (December 18, 2025). Science Insider.
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Research ethics and compliance support. Southern Denmark University.
Further reading:
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Qiao, H. (2018). A brief introduction to institutional review boards in the United States. Pediatric Investigation, 2, 46-51.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. International compilation of human research standards. https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/international/compilation-human-research-standards/index.html
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University of North Carolina. Nuremberg Code. https://research.unc.edu/human-research-ethics/resources/ccm3_019064/
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Torrance, R.J., Mormina, M., Sayeed, S., Kessel, A., Yoon, C.H., & Cislaghi, B. (2024). Is the U.N. receiving ethical approval for its research with human participants? Journal of Medical Ethics, 51, 1-4.
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Barchi, F. & Little, M.T. (2016). National ethics guidance in Sub-Saharan Africa on the collection and use of human biological specimens: A systematic review. BMC Medical Ethics, 17, 1-25.
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Salhia, B. & Olaiya, V. (2020). Historical perspectives on ethical and regulatory aspects of human participants research: Implications for oncology clinical trials in Africa. JCO Global Oncology, 6, 959-965.
Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!