Salt Lake City, Utah, and Boise, Idaho, adopted official Pride flags on Tuesday in response to state laws barring the display of any nonofficial flags at schools and government buildings.

Salt Lake City and Boise Adopt Official Pride Flags in Response to State Laws

nytimes.com

Don’t tell me you care about children’s health when you dissolve the CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING PREVENTION branch at the #CDC.

Sadly too true…

Dr. Jonathan N. Stea@jonathanstea.bsky.social · last yr.

Behind almost every leader in the anti-vaccine movement is an alternative medicine grift.

On Feb 24, I gave a lecture at UW explaining what my team's decade-plus research on online rumors during crises reveals about the right wing "bullshit machine." Fittingly, a lightning strike impacted the original audio. Here's a fixed version w/ the full transcript: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjiG...

A Spotlight on Rumors

YouTube video by UW (University of Washington)

youtube.com

The whole economic and political system from left to right is geared towards economic growth based on the total annihilation of the natural world And this is called progress And anyone who says otherwise is mocked as a freak and a clown but we all know who the real clowns are

The first measles death in the US since 2015. In a school-aged child who was not vaccinated. Senseless tragedy. Measles is no joke. And there are many outcomes from measles infection other than death that we should also care about and try to prevent. Everything about this was entirely preventable.

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · last yr.

A person hospitalized with measles in West Texas has died, the first in an outbreak that's infected more than 120 people.

Interested in why people who think that vaccines are harmful vote to support RFK jr but also vote to support the below? No vaccines, but yes to formaldehyde+other unrestricted toxins? She Lobbied for a Carcinogen. Now She’s at the E.P.A., Approving New Chemicals. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/c...

She Lobbied for Formaldehyde. Now She’s at E.P.A. Approving New Chemicals.

Lynn Dekleva, who recently took a senior role at the agency, once led an aggressive effort by industry to block regulations on formaldehyde.

nytimes.com

We should send newly confirmed expert, RFK Jr. to Wuhan so he can expose himself to this new virus and let us know if everything is ok. If he looks good after a few months they can send him back home! 😜 I’m sure he wouldn’t want to endanger anyone with vaccines! www.newsweek.com/new-coronavi...

New coronavirus discovered in Chinese bats sparks alarm

The virus binds to humans in a similar way to the virus that causes COVID-19.

newsweek.com

The breadth and scope of cowardice amongst our scientific leadership is staggering.

Usha Lee McFarling@usha.bsky.social · last yr.

SCOOP: The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, arguably the nation's most powerful scientific organization, is bending to political pressure and removing terms like "health equity" from pending reports. Members are not happy. Story by me: www.statnews.com/2025/02/20/n...

This is unbelievable—the chaos occurring in our country right now is impossible to put into words. Firing officials working on #H5N1 bird flu ‘by accident’ as it continues to spread isn’t just incompetence, it’s putting lives at stake for politics. We can’t afford this kind of recklessness.

Here’s some positive H5N1 news for a change: conditional approval for poultry vaccines made by Zoetis for chickens. Why didn’t we do this sooner? The answer is more complex than you might think. www.science.org/content/arti...

U.S. conditionally approves vaccine to protect poultry from avian flu

The decision brings U.S. poultry farmers a step closer to immunizing their flocks

science.org

Listen to legendary, brilliant political science professor Stathis Kalyvas, of Oxford University today, previously of Yale University, NYU, and OSU. He gets it. Read my previous posts to see the larger news context.

“When I hear about us leaving WHO . . . , we’re cutting out the EIS — a chill goes up my spine. Because I realize that we’re dealing with people who are in a different reality. They don’t understand public health. They don’t understand what it was like to encounter the dangers of the past.”

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@helenbranswell.bsky.social · last yr.

Doing the unthinkable: The deep cuts to the #CDC's workforce today are expected to decimate the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a program that has trained public health rapid responders for decades. Envy of the world. Poof! www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/t...

We're expediting sex designation change requests on birth certificates. People born in WA who want to change the sex designation on their birth certificate can do so by filing a request with us. . doh.wa.gov/DesignationC...

Young scientists are worried for their future and careers. Some people are reveling on n that. They seem to be really enjoying the moment. They have “no sympathy”. Imagine saying that to many people who are rightly worried about their jobs and income. They dream of firing more people.

I’ve been seething and grieving since yesterday’s Friday Night Massacre of NIH overheads, a seeming bit of bureaucratic trivial that will in fact destroy the US university system if unchecked. But I want to get away from budgets and rate breakdowns and F&A percentages for a moment. Humor me?

This change will accomplish one thing - kill medical research in US academic institutions. That's not hyperbole and the best way I can explain this to the lay public. Slashing indirect costs to 15% is a move to destroy the academic enterprise. Pass it on. www.statnews.com/2025/02/07/n...

NIH plans to slash support for indirect research costs, sending shockwaves through science

The NIH said Friday night that it would slash support for indirect costs on all existing and future grants to 15%

statnews.com

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

From @walkerbragman.bsky.social, more on the RealClear journal of COVID contrarians. www.importantcontext.news/p/a-new-acad...

“A New Academic Publishing Model”: Right-Wing Dark Money Group Launches Fringe Medical Journal

The right-wing RealClear Foundation’s foray into public health has been called “a mockery of scientific process.”

importantcontext.news

Editorial from the @thelancet.bsky.social "The health, medical, and scientific communities have a vital role in advocating for their patients, defending programmes, and lobbying for policies and institutions that are good for health and wellbeing." #GoodTrouble

Oh, hell yeah www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The loss of research and clinical funding (USAID, PEPFAR, NIH, CDC, etc) directly impacts human beings in trials, who are being treated for HIV/TB/malaria, and who are now at greater risk of dying. The halt of funding is unethical and violates our commitments to study participants and to patients.

Ty @emilymullin.bsky.social @mattreynolds.bsky.social. The @carlbergstrom.com and @angierasmussen.bsky.social quotes sum it up. It's LARPing until they make it seem normal/mainstream.

Emily Mullin@emilymullin.bsky.social · 2y ago

Trump’s nominees to lead NIH and FDA, Jay Bhattacharya and Marty Makary, are among the editorial board members of a new journal that includes scientists who promoted herd immunity and opposed public health measures during Covid. My story with @mattreynolds.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/trump-...

Trump’s nominees to lead NIH and FDA, Jay Bhattacharya and Marty Makary, are among the editorial board members of a new journal that includes scientists who promoted herd immunity and opposed public health measures during Covid. My story with @mattreynolds.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/trump-...

Donald Trump's NIH Pick Just Launched a Controversial Scientific Journal

The journal’s editorial board includes multiple scientists, such as Trump health nominees Jay Bhattacharya and Marty Makary, who opposed Covid public health measures.

wired.com

We have given up on public health. It is difficult to imagine a more perfect situation for the looming pandemic than now. We are actively working to make our food less safe and more capable of harming us.

Teddy Wilson@reportbywilson.bsky.social · 2y ago

“As a nation, we still have not recovered from the physical, mental and social toll of COVID. What will happen if bird flu starts coursing through us?”

Moving defense of childhood #vaccines by Vanderbilt vaccine expert Kathy Edwards in JAMA. Stunning that so many people fear the tools that prevent children from dying and being maimed, rather than the pathogens that resurge when vaccine use declines. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Reflections on the Successes of Pediatric Vaccines

This Viewpoint discusses the importance of early and continued vaccine use in the US.

jamanetwork.com

White House budget proposal may slash NSF funding from 9 billion to 3 billion a year.

White House budget proposal could shatter the National Science Foundation

“This kind of cut would kill American science and boost China.”…

arstechnica.com

MMWR is back online! Let’s hope public health agency comms are fully restored 🤞 www.cdc.gov/mmwr/index.h...

You may wonder why altCDC is so political. Public health is as much about the disease as it is about the society in which that disease occurs. We are battling an admin that wants to dismantle US public health, sow misinformation, devalue science, and cripple our ability to respond to health threats.

RE LARPing fake and bad science into existence. It mimics a bigger pattern/approach.