When did we agree to be watched?



It wasn't Washington that made me think about it. It was a quiet drive through Florida.

I had spent several days helping my son unpack after his move to Fishhawk Ranch. Like every mother, I was doing what mothers do: organizing closets, opening boxes, trying to make an unfamiliar place feel like home. From there, I drove north to Brooksville to interview someone for an article.

The most dangerous surveillance system isn’t the one we reject. It's the one we eventually stop noticing.

Somewhere along that drive, I began noticing them.

Cameras.

One after another. Traffic cameras. Speed-enforcement cameras. License-plate readers mounted on poles. They weren't hidden. They weren't pretending not to be there. They stood over the road as casually as streetlights, silently recording the movements of every passing driver.

I caught myself wondering something that should concern every American: When did we decide this was normal?

Not when did governments decide. When did we?

Because I don't remember anyone asking. I don't recall a statewide debate. I don’t remember voting to create a society where our daily movements are cataloged, stored, shared, analyzed, and, in many cases, retained long after we've gone home.

Somewhere between “it's just for traffic” and “it's just for public safety,” America quietly became one of the most surveilled free societies in the world.

And hardly anyone noticed.

The Fourth Amendment wasn't written because America’s founders feared technology. They feared government.

British authorities used “general warrants” and “writs of assistance,” legal instruments that allowed officials to search broadly without individualized suspicion. Those practices became one of the sparks of the American Revolution.

The Fourth Amendment was a direct rejection of that kind of generalized intrusion. It was not merely about protecting homes. It was about preventing government from searching and tracking people without particularized cause.

Today's surveillance technology raises a modern version of the same question.

No police department could assign an officer to follow every American every day. A computer can.

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Across the country, automated license-plate reader systems capture billions of vehicle scans every year. A single observation tells almost nothing. But millions of observations stitched together over months or years can reveal where we worship, whom we visit, what doctors we see, what political meetings we attend, and what causes we support.

One camera watches traffic. A network watches lives.

That distinction matters.

The Supreme Court has already begun recognizing it.

In United States v. Jones (2012), the court ruled that attaching a GPS device to a vehicle and using it to monitor the vehicle’s movements constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment.

Then, in Carpenter v. United States (2018), the court held that police generally need a warrant to obtain historical cell-site location information because prolonged tracking can reveal what Chief Justice John Roberts called the “privacies of life.”

The principle emerging from those cases is straightforward: Technology can change the constitutional analysis. What once would have required hundreds of officers working around the clock can now be accomplished automatically, cheaply, and at enormous scale.

That is why large license plate databases deserve serious scrutiny. Civil liberties groups have challenged warrantless access to them, arguing that mass collection can enable exactly the sort of suspicionless tracking the Fourth Amendment was designed to restrain.

The ACLU has likewise warned that these systems sweep up information about millions of innocent people whose only "crime" is driving to work, church, school, or the grocery store.

Those aren’t fringe lefty concerns.

The issue isn’t the existence of cameras. It is the absence of meaningful limits.

How long is the data kept? Who can search it? Can federal agencies access local databases? Can private companies? Can information collected for one purpose quietly be used for another?

Those questions deserve public answers.

Because history teaches an uncomfortable lesson: Governments rarely surrender surveillance powers voluntarily. They expand them.

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That brings me back to Florida.

I recently read proposals to place cameras on municipal garbage trucks to identify possible zoning or code-enforcement violations while they move through neighborhoods.

Supporters see efficiency. Perhaps they are right.

But constitutional government is not built on efficiency alone. It is built on restraint.

Every surveillance tool arrives with a reasonable explanation: traffic safety, crime reduction, code enforcement, public health, national security. Individually, each sounds sensible. Collectively, they can create something the founders would instantly recognize and deeply distrust: a government capable of watching everyone.

Rather than abandon technology, the better answer is to insist that constitutional limits evolve alongside it.

If governments want to deploy large-scale surveillance systems, they should do so through open public debate and legislative approval. They should adopt strict retention limits, require warrants before searching historical movement data except in genuine emergencies, publish regular transparency reports, and impose meaningful penalties for misuse.

Citizens have tools too. Public records laws can reveal contracts with surveillance vendors, data-sharing agreements, retention policies, and audit logs. City council meetings and county commission hearings are often where these systems are approved. State legislatures can require judicial oversight, transparency, and meaningful limits on how surveillance data is collected and used.

Technology should serve a free people. Free people should never quietly become subjects of technology.

The most dangerous surveillance system isn’t the one we reject. It's the one we eventually stop noticing.

Fauci is yesterday’s fight. Medical freedom is today’s.



I’m tired of the “exposing the left” phase of conservative politics. I’m ready for the “implement what’s right” phase. Anyone want to join me?

For the past two weeks, President Trump, congressional Republicans, and conservative media have focused relentlessly on Anthony Fauci and the damage done during COVID. Fine. Fauci deserves scrutiny.

This is what medical freedom requires: informed consent, transparent data, meaningful long-term follow-up, and an absolute rejection of mandates or coercion.

But Fauci is no longer in charge. Republicans are.

That’s why it is maddening to watch the same party denounce Fauci while refusing to confront the policies and products that defined his era. Trump continues to praise the COVID shots. Republican senators confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz, who disciplined soldiers in the military for not getting the COVID shots. And the Trump FDA is moving forward with Moderna’s dangerous mRNA influenza vaccine for adults 50 and older.

If the lesson of COVID is merely that Fauci was bad, then we learned almost nothing.

The real question is whether government will once again approve and promote a novel platform without demanding the kind of evidence skeptics were told not to ask for last time.

Respiratory viruses present a difficult vaccine target because they mutate rapidly and immunity can wane. Critics of the COVID vaccination campaign have argued for years that these characteristics can produce disappointing or even counterproductive results under some conditions — concerns I have written about again and again.

Even Fauci acknowledged part of the underlying problem. In a 2023 paper, he wrote that current vaccines against respiratory viruses often produce “incomplete and short-lived protection” and that genuinely better vaccines would require “outside the box” thinking.

That should have prompted humility. Instead, the federal government is now considering another mRNA respiratory vaccine, this time for influenza.

The problem is not that every vaccine is bad. The problem is that after COVID, regulators should be demanding unusually strong evidence before expanding the platform into another mass-market respiratory product.

The evidence deserves scrutiny.

A 2025 Cleveland Clinic preprint, which I highlighted, reported that employees who received that season’s influenza vaccine experienced a higher cumulative incidence of laboratory-confirmed influenza during the study period. The preprint was observational, not a randomized trial, and it should not be treated as the final word. But its findings are exactly the kind that should trigger more investigation, not less.

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A Canadian study of the 2018-2019 flu season likewise found negative vaccine effectiveness in certain age groups and discussed the possibility that vaccine mismatch interacted with pre-existing immune imprinting.

And a 2005 JAMA Internal Medicine analysis questioned whether rising influenza vaccination coverage among the elderly could explain the decline in influenza-related mortality over previous decades.

None of those papers, standing alone, proves that influenza vaccination is harmful. Together, they underscore a simpler point: The science of respiratory virus vaccination is complicated, and regulators should stop pretending otherwise.

That is especially true for mRNA.

Newly released material from Fauci’s files shows that Nobel laureate Drew Weissman warned Fauci in February 2021 about mouse data showing lipid nanoparticles reaching the placenta and fetus after administration during pregnancy.

Animal data does not automatically predict human harm. But it does raise obvious questions about biodistribution — questions that should have been answered aggressively before officials demanded public confidence in the platform.

Now the FDA’s briefing document for Moderna’s mRNA influenza vaccine shows another reason for scrutiny. In the agency’s review, grade 3 systemic reactions were substantially more common among mRNA vaccine recipients than among recipients of a conventional influenza vaccine.

That does not establish that the product is broadly unsafe. It does establish that the newer platform is more reactogenic in the trial population, and it makes the quality and duration of the safety database more important, not less.

The FDA document also acknowledges that the available safety database is too small to detect rare adverse events such as myocarditis, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and other neurological events.

That is not an accusation. It is the limitation of the evidence the FDA itself describes.

And this is where the political hypocrisy becomes impossible to ignore.

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Republicans cannot spend one week demanding accountability for Fauci and the next tell Americans to trust the same institutional habits that made the COVID era so destructive: compressed debate, zero transparency, contempt for dissent, and an assumption that uncertainty should be managed through public relations campaigns rather than openly discussed.

Myocarditis after mRNA COVID vaccination is a recognized adverse event, although public health agencies continue to describe it as “rare” and concentrated most heavily among adolescent and young adult males. Whatever one believes about the overall risk-benefit calculation, that experience alone should have permanently raised the evidentiary bar for another mRNA product intended for broad use.

This is what medical freedom requires: informed consent, transparent data, meaningful long-term follow-up, and an absolute rejection of mandates or coercion.

It also requires conservatives to stop treating Fauci as a substitute for governing.

Fauci is yesterday’s issue. Trump and congressional Republicans have the controls now. If they believe the COVID era was a catastrophe, then prove it by changing the rules that made it possible. Demand stronger safety evidence. Protect informed consent. End coercive vaccination policy. Force regulators to disclose uncertainty rather than bury it. Otherwise, all the hearings, subpoenas, and Fauci outrage amount to nothing more than political theater.

The point of exposing past mistakes is to stop repeating them.

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Bill Gates 'voluntarily' explains his Epstein ties to Congress



Bill Gates knew Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted sex offender. He met with him anyway — for years. On Wednesday, he had to explain that to Congress.

The 70-year-old Microsoft co-founder appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for a closed-door, transcribed interview. The session lasted nearly six hours.

'I guess if you're a big deal, you can do more than the rest of us.'

On his way in, Gates told reporters he was "glad to be here voluntarily." He retained Jake Greenberg, who until December was the Oversight Committee's chief investigations counsel. Mid-session, Greenberg reportedly said Gates would not answer questions about his affairs unless directly tied to Epstein.

The paper trail complicates the "voluntary" part.

In February, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) formally asked Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to subpoena Gates and compel him to testify under oath.

Comer sent Gates a formal written request in March stating the committee believed he had "information that will assist in its investigation." Before the session on Wednesday, Comer told reporters, "No one's accusing Bill Gates of any wrongdoing."

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In his prepared opening statement, Gates expressed regret but denied having extensive knowledge about Epstein's criminal behavior.

"I recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues, but I did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed,” he admitted. “I accepted the introduction without applying the scrutiny I should have."

He also denied ever visiting Epstein's island, ranch, or Florida home.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor and served jail time as a registered sex offender. Gates claimed he began meeting with Epstein in 2011 over a pitch to unlock billions in global health donations.

By December 2014, Gates said he had cut off contact, concluding Epstein "would never deliver on his promises."

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) said she directly asked Gates why he continued to associate with a registered sex offender. Gates told her that "getting billions of dollars for global health was worth it,” she said.

After Gates allegedly cut ties in 2014, a departing employee engaged Epstein to negotiate the "separation" — Epstein, Gates claimed, used that channel to learn of his infidelities and pressure him to re-engage.

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Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called the questioning "intense" but said Gates was "well coached" and that he didn't expect much new information to surface.

Burchett also broke with GOP leadership over the closed-door format: "I'm big about transparency. ... Let it be wide open." He added, "I guess if you're a big deal, you can do more than the rest of us."

Gates closed his opening statement to Congress with a conditional apology: "If the time I spent with Epstein lent him any credibility, I am deeply sorry."

He left without answering a single question from reporters.

Democrats have repeatedly called for Trump to testify — a push Republicans have so far blocked. But the White House may not be able to stay out of it much longer.

Per Stansbury, Republicans have agreed to call acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — Trump's former lawyer — to testify about White House Epstein strategy sessions.

Comer also announced plans for a transcribed interview with Alan Dershowitz, who negotiated Epstein's 2008 plea deal.

A full transcript is expected in the coming days.

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Marty Makary left behind an FDA families learned not to trust



With so much bad news in the world, it is worth pausing for one encouraging development: Marty Makary finally resigned as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration last week.

Makary’s tenure at the FDA was marred by internal scandals, forced resignations, dreadful morale, and record staff turnover. More important, he actively sandbagged President Trump’s push to expand clinical trials for rare diseases through the aptly named “right-to-try” framework.

Trump’s next appointee should restore the spirit of right to try and make safe, effective treatments available to children as quickly as possible.

The idea behind right to try is straightforward. Patients with rare conditions, especially those for whom conventional medicine has failed, should have the freedom to pursue experimental treatments that have not yet received full FDA approval. Families fighting the clock have little left to lose. Government should not stand between them and a potentially lifesaving breakthrough.

Makary did.

Members of the MPS community sent more than 10 letters asking Makary for a meeting. They got a form letter in return. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) later announced an investigation into the FDA’s denials. Makary’s agency responded by claiming approvals were already “at their peak.” The Wall Street Journal took notice of the FDA’s foot-dragging last year, yet the agency kept rejecting relevant rare-disease treatments in early 2026, including RGX-121 and drugs from Biohaven and Saol Therapeutics.

That stonewalling forced families to escalate.

In March, more than 100 mothers and other advocates staged a mock funeral outside FDA offices. Dressed in black and carrying a real coffin, they sought to draw attention to a group of rare metabolic disorders known as mucopolysaccharidoses. These disorders can show up as mild symptoms such as depression or hyperactivity, or as devastating conditions such as heart disease and skeletal abnormalities.

Many MPS disorders still have no approved treatments, even though they can severely diminish children’s quality of life or kill them outright. The FDA’s regulatory process serves a legitimate purpose. But when a bureaucracy grows so rigid, self-protective, and arrogant that it blocks desperately ill children from access to promising therapies, it stops functioning as a safeguard and starts functioning as a death sentence.

Mark Dant of the Ryan Foundation told Newsweek that some of these drugs were denied because of the FDA’s institutional “dislike” of the accelerated-approval pathway. “For decades we waited for science to find our tomorrows,” he said. “Now it has, and bureaucrats within the agency we pay for are keeping those treatments from our children. We know they are there. … We just cannot reach them.”

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Makary’s resignation will not undo the damage. But it does create an opening. We may not yet know what the FDA’s next leadership will look like, but Trump’s appointee should restore the spirit of right to try and make safe, effective treatments available to children as quickly as possible.

Across the world, in the nation of Georgia, parents have staged a protest lasting more than 500 consecutive days, maintaining a round-the-clock presence outside the main government building in Tbilisi. They are willing to risk everything to give their children the best chance at life. Americans should not have to camp outside federal offices for 500 days to get their government to listen.

The new FDA leadership must explain denials of right-to-try clinical trials with enough specificity that sponsors and families understand what evidence could change the decision. Patient and caregiver testimony should shape decisions early, not get folded in at the end as a token gesture. And Congress must demand transparency without turning each drug review into a partisan circus.

Children’s lives are not bargaining chips. The FDA exists to serve the public, not to protect its own bureaucracy from embarrassment. If Makary’s departure opens the door to that truth, families battling ultra-rare diseases may finally have reason to hope.