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This week, President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his secretary of health and human services, suggested a link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism. The claim, which has been widely debunked by experts and is not backed by medical science, became instant social media fodder. Trump and Kennedys announcement included a graphic featuring the words Autism Announcement, splashed across a blue background. It quickly became repurposed as a meme by many in the Autism community. How it feels telling the group chat I dont want to eat at the restaurant they planned because I dont like the texture of the food they serve, one X user posted. When Im on a date and they ask me about my hobbies, another wrote. Summing up the weeks online discourse, one put: “The Tylenol memes have been incredible. What a gift Trump gave us.” In his address, Trump suggested that pregnant people in America should instead tough it out rather than resort to taking the common pain reliever. Unsurprisingly, many pregnant people did not welcome his unsolicited advice and instead responded to his comments by filming themselves popping pills in defiance. I have a list of things I would be worried about if I were pregnant now in the US but taking Tylenol for my fever wouldnt be one of them, reads the caption to one video. Dear RFK. kindly go away. Sincerely, a 36-week pregnant person with terrible hip pain, reads another. To avoid stoking the moral panic thats since circulated online, its worth mentioning many of the videos dont even show pregnant women taking the drug; if they do, they are taking the recommended dosage. Most have since been taken down, likely due to backlash. Many conservatives failed to see the funny side. Democrats are now chugging bottles of Tylenol on TikTok, Calley Means, Kennedys health adviser and a key figure in the MAHA movement, claimed in an X post viewed over five million times. If Trump said that oxygen was good, I am convinced there are people out there who would suffocate themselves, Riley Gaines, the conservative activist known for campaigning against trans women in college sports, said in a video. While the reactions and memes are fun, the problem of health misinformation being peddled across social media is a growing problem. As Forbes reported this week, citing data from the platform analytics company Zelf, TikTok videos about acetaminophen, vaccines, and autism received more than 100 million views in the 48 hours following Trumps announcement. The four most popular of those videos picked up more than 33 million cumulative views. None of the videos included the crucial context that medical science does not support Trumps allegations. As one X user joked, “I’d like to congratulate Tylenol on their upcoming multimillion-dollar lawsuit settlement.”
Category:
E-Commerce
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is rejecting Democratic demands on health care as unserious but says a government shutdown is still “avoidable” despite sharp divisions ahead of Wednesday’s funding deadline.“I’m a big believer that there’s always a way out,” the South Dakota Republican said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. “And I think there are off-ramps here, but I don’t think that the negotiating position, at least at the moment, that the Democrats are trying to exert here is going to get you there.”Thune said Democrats are going to have to “dial back” their demands, which include immediately extending health insurance subsidies and reversing the health care policies in the massive tax bill that Republicans passed over the summer. Absent that, Thune said, “we’re probably plunging forward toward the shutdown.”It’s just the latest standoff in Washington over government funding, stretching back through several administrations. President Donald Trump was the driving force behind the longest shutdown ever during his first term, as he sought money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. This time it is Democrats who are making demands as they face intense pressure from their core supporters to stand up to the Republican president and his policies.Democrats have shown little signs of relenting, just before spending runs out Wednesday. Their position remained the same even after the White House Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday released a memo that said agencies should consider a “reduction in force” for many federal programs if the government closes meaning thousands of federal workers could be permanently laid off.Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the OMB memo was simply an “attempt at intimidation” and predicted the “unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back.”Thune stopped short of criticizing the White House threat of mass layoffs, saying the situation remains “a hypothetical.” Still, he said no one should be surprised by the memo as “everyone knows Russ Vought,” the head of the Office of Management and Budget, and his longtime advocacy for slashing government.“But it’s all avoidable,” Thune said. “And so if they don’t want to go down that path, there’s a way to avoid going down that path.”One way to avoid a shutdown, Thune said, would be for enough Democrats to vote with Republicans for a stripped-down “clean” bill to keep the government open for the next seven weeks while negotiations on spending continue. That’s how Republicans avoided a shutdown in March, when Schumer and several other Democrats decided at the last minute to vote with Republicans to great political cost when Schumer’s party then revolted.A seven-week funding bill has already passed the House.“What would eight Democrats be willing to support?” Thune asked. “In terms of a path forward, or at least understanding what that path forward looks like.”Republicans in the 100-member Senate need at least seven Democrats to vote with them to get the 60 votes necessary for a short-term funding package, and they may lose up to two of their own Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky both opposed it in preliminary votes last week. A competing bill from Democrats also fell well short of 60 votes.Thune suggested some individual bipartisan bills to fund parts of the government for the next year could be part of a compromise, “but that requires cooperation from both sides,” he said.Democrats say they are frustrated that Thune hasn’t approached them to negotiate and that Trump abruptly canceled a meeting with Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York that had been scheduled for this week. Trump wrote on social media, “I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive.”Thune said he “did have a conversation with the president” and offered his opinion on the meeting, which he declined to disclose. “But I think the president speaks for himself, and I think he came to the conclusion that that meeting would not be productive,” Thune said.Still, he says he thinks Trump could be open to a negotiation on the expanded health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year if Democrats weren’t threatening a shutdown. Many people who receive the subsidies through the marketplaces set up by the Affordable Care Act are expected to see a sharp rise in premiums if Congress doesn’t extend them.Some Republicans have agreed with Democrats that keeping the subsidies is necessary, but Thune says “reform is going to have to be a big part of it.” Democrats are likely to oppose such changes.By Monday, when the Senate returns to session, lawmakers will have just over 24 hours to avoid federal closures.Thune said he intends to bring up the bills that were rejected last week. “They’ll get multiple chances to vote,” he said, before a government shutdown begins at midnight Wednesday.He said he hopes “cooler heads will prevail.”“I don’t think shutdowns benefit anybody, least of all the American people,” Thune said. Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
The last thing you want when dealing with a hot oven is any added burn risk. But some owners of Osters countertop ovens have experienced just that. Osters parent company, Sunbeam Products, is recalling over a million units of Oster French Door Countertop Ovens due to its doors unexpectedly closing. The company has received 95 reports of this occurring, leading to burn injuries, two of which were second-degree burns. Where and when was the product sold? According to a notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the recall includes about 1,290,000 units in the United States and another approximately 104,195 units in Canada. In the U.S., the ovens were sold nationwide in stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Costco, and Walmart. The products were sold from August 2015 to July 2025 for $140 to $250. They were also available online through Amazon.com and Overstock.com during this time. Four model numbers are included in the recall: TSSTTVFDXL TSSTTVFDDG TSSTTVFDMAF TSSTTVFDDAF The model number is available on the original packaging or on the back of the oven. How dangerous is this product? According to a separate recall notice posted to the Oster website, 95 injuries have been reported. Of those, 93 were minor burns that required no medical treatment and were “consistent with first-degree burns, such as sunburn or friction-related irritation.” The remaining two were second-degree burns that resulted in the victims seeking treatment. Oster says it has received no reports of hospitalizations as a result of using the ovens. What should I do if I have this product? First, stop using it. If your Oster French Door Countertop Oven is part of the recall, then you can contact Sunbeam Products to receive a free repair kit. You can reach the company through one of three options: A toll free call to 800-334-0759 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. On Osters recall page. On Osters website by clicking the recall banner at the top of the homepage. It will bring you to the recall page. The repair kit is made up of a clip-on device that provides additional holding force to help keep the doors in the open position when reaching in the oven. It also has repair instructions and QR code that leads to an installation video. No tools should be necessary to attach the clip-on device.
Category:
E-Commerce
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