Doug McVay
@dougmcvay.bsky.social
He/him. Public policy researcher/analyst, journalist. Editor, DrugPolicyFacts.org and HealthSystemsFacts.org. Producer/Host, Free Culture Radio https://kboo.fm/program/free-culture-radio and Century of Lies https://drugtruth.net/century-of-lies
A Johns Hopkins University researcher was detained at an airport by immigration officials and later released. Cases like hers make travel fraught for foreign scholars.
Detentions of International Scholars at Airports Raise Alarm
A Johns Hopkins University researcher was detained at an airport by immigration officials and later released. Cases like hers make travel fraught for foreign scholars.
insidehighered.com
NEW: Over the last few months, Meta has run dozens of paid ads that included AI-generated CSAM. The ads, some of which were linking out to “nudify” apps, targeted men in the US, UK, and a dozen European countries. Some were running in the last few days
Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery
More than 50 offending image and video ads were published across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Threads, according to Meta’s ad library data. Some ran as recently as this week.
wired.com
Gift link. U.S. Cuts Ties With Organ Donor Group After Reports of Abuses The federal government is ending its contract with a Kentucky nonprofit that it says pressured medical workers to remove organs from patients who were getting better. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/u...
U.S. Cuts Ties With Organ Donor Group After Reports of Abuses (Gift Article)
The federal government is ending its contract with a Kentucky nonprofit that it says pressured medical workers to remove organs from patients who were getting better.
nytimes.com
Closure of the Strait of Hormuz may trigger a bioinvasion super-spreader event link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Closure of the Strait of Hormuz may trigger a bioinvasion super-spreader event - Biological Invasions
The ongoing conflicts in the Middle East are causing substantial humanitarian, economic, and geopolitical impacts and disrupting global trade. While the human and economic effects remain the focus of ...
link.springer.com
Hijacking The Chronic Disease Epidemic www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...
Hijacking The Chronic Disease Epidemic | Health Affairs Forefront
As HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has selectively cherry-picked many of his long-standing interests and their purported causes (often contrary to scientific evidence) and framed his narrative un...
healthaffairs.org
Anthropic AI created fake profiles and impersonated people in attempted hack www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Anthropic AI created fake profiles to deceive people in attempted hack
The UK's AI Safety Institute said recent behaviour from Anthropic and OpenAI models was malicious and unprecedented.
bbc.co.uk
A 🧵 Nepo baby David Ellison’s recent OpEd deflected attention from the reality that the Paramount attempted takeover of WarnerBros is corrupt to the core, a debt-time bomb, a natl security issue, would decrease diversity of voices in film/media/ journalism +a press freedom issue. #BlockTheMerger 1/n
"This time the annual-ish behavioral health survey is framed as a five-year trend report covering 2021 to 2025, which somewhat compounds the preexisting barriers to gleaning anything useful from it."
SAMHSA Reframes National Drug Use Survey, Leaves Fentanyl Problem Intact
The survey covers mental illness, substance use, treatment and recovery for respondents ages 12 and up.
filtermag.org
"Would MOTAA 2.0 unlock access for everyone who needs it?" asks @helenredmond.bsky.social. "The answer is no. Nothing in the updated bill addresses the fundamental problems in the 2023 version."
MOTAA 2.0 Is Not Real Methadone Reform
Despite vague language about more non-clinic prescribers, the updated bill does not address fundamental problems in the original version.
filtermag.org
Taking my time to really listen and learn from the very valid concerns of the MAHA movement:
Memento (artemis) Morty 🌙@mementomorty.bsky.social · 6h agowe should hear MAHA out about this they might be onto something
The U.S. is undergoing one of the biggest changes to its social safety net in recent history, with huge numbers of people getting dropped from the government’s food assistance program. Nowhere has this been more dramatic than in Arizona. Listen as we explain why and its implications on "The Daily."
Arizona’s Food Stamp Crisis Is Coming for the Rest of the U.S.
The number of people who receive nutrition assistance in Arizona has dropped significantly in a matter of months.
nyti.ms
Gift link. Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Follow Years of Warnings and Neglect Federal and state officials are racing to address an assault on the nation’s water supply that they believe is the work of Iranian hackers. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/u...
Suspected Iran Cyberattacks on U.S. Water Supply Follow Years of Warnings and Neglect (Gift Article)
Federal and state officials are racing to address an assault on the nation’s water supply that they believe is the work of Iranian hackers.
nytimes.com
A New AI Partnership Has Local Women’s Sports Fans Fuming Portland Fire and Thorns owners are trying to convince fans that partnering with Treasure AI reflects the city’s values. www.portlandmercury.com/sports/a-new...
A New AI Partnership Has Local Women’s Sports Fans Fuming - Portland Mercury
Portlanders love their pro women’s sports teams. The Thorns have enjoyed tremendous support since they began playing in 2013, and the Fire has hosted multiple sold-out games at the Moda Center this ye...
portlandmercury.com
Moda Center Public Meeting thread here! Gonna try to keep up as best I can with this today. Feel free to add any comments on any posts to add extra details.
Gift link. The U.S. Relies on Family Caregivers. Millions of Them Are Kids. The modern health care system requires the work of caregiving to fall to whoever else lives in a household — even if they’re kids. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/m...
The U.S. Relies on Family Caregivers. Millions of Them Are Kids. (Gift Article)
The modern health care system requires the work of caregiving to fall to whoever else lives in a household — even if they’re kids.
nytimes.com
Romance scams reached record-high losses in 2025, with Federal Trade Commission data showing over 70,000 reports and a staggering $1.47B lost in the U.S. — generating more losses than any other type of scam. Read ICIJ's recent reporting on romance scams:
Inside the Matrix: How models, influencers and engagement quotas power the Social Discovery Group’s dating machine and global profits - ICIJ
Women on four continents told ICIJ that global pay-per-action dating sites owned by a Russian businessman and self-styled philosopher left them financially broke and heartbroken.
buff.ly
Italian prosecutors found drug trafficker Giacomo Tamburello earned millions primarily through the illicit trade of Moroccan hashish. He shared 10% of the revenues with Matteo Messina Denaro, a mafia boss until his capture and death in 2023, prosecutors say.
How offshore firms helped a mafia-linked Italian druglord hide a $230m fortune - ICIJ
Leaked Pandora Papers records reveal that Giacomo Tamburello and his family, now facing prosecution, accumulated gold bars, luxury real estate and a $89 million stake in a bank with the help of…
buff.ly
A memo from top financial Canadian intelligence officials echos a concern some crypto experts have voiced with urgency: An industry of services converting crypto into large sums of cash has opened a gaping hole in the global bulwark against dirty money.
Canadian intelligence flags crypto-to-cash services as ‘knowingly facilitating money laundering,’ document shows - ICIJ
An internal report obtained says that crypto brokers are moving millions while dodging rules to guard against dirty money.
buff.ly
The role of ChatGPT in the accused FSU shooter’s case goes beyond providing tips, our investigation reveals. In the 12 months before his attack, he messaged with ChatGPT more than 6,600 times—including conversations revealing he was aggrieved, focused on extremist violence, and suicidal.
Inside a mass shooter’s harrowing history with ChatGPT
A year of chats reveals glaring red flags—and disturbing ChatGPT replies—from long before a rampage at Florida State University.
motherjones.com
C.D.C. Expands Cyclospora Outbreak to Six More States Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire and North Carolina are now among the states linked to the outbreak associated with iceberg lettuce. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/w...
C.D.C. Expands Cyclospora Outbreak to More States (Gift Article)
Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire and North Carolina are now among the states linked to the outbreak associated with iceberg lettuce.
nytimes.com
"A ballot initiative that sought to direct 25 percent of Portland’s Clean Energy Fund toward hiring additional police officers failed to gather enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot." www.portlandmercury.com/news/enhance...
Effort to Send Climate Dollars to Cops Won’t Qualify For November Ballot - Portland Mercury
A ballot initiative that sought to direct 25 percent of Portland’s Clean Energy Fund toward hiring additional police officers failed to gather enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballo...
portlandmercury.com
On this edition of Century: Getting Back To My Roots - part one of my conversation with NORML's Morgan Fox @morganfoxcle2dc.bsky.social plus we get an update on Dana Beal, the legendary Yippie currently in an Idaho jail for a marijuana offense. kboo.fm/media/134829... #SupportKBOO #DrugPolicy
Going Back To My Roots
On this edition of Century: Getting Back To My Roots. This week it’s part one of a conversation with Morgan Fox, Political Director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Plus,...
kboo.fm
On top of failing to give states any more time to reduce errors, this means the 1st year of the cost shift will still be based on error rates that reflect: - Unprecedented disruption to SNAP from the government shutdown - USDA's rushed & chaotic implementation of other SNAP cuts
Katie Bergh@katiebergh.bsky.social · 4d agoThis is key: Chair Boozman says this gives "additional time to strengthen administration of SNAP benefits and reduce payment error rates." It does not. The cost shift would still be based on error rates for this fiscal year — so the window to make progress has largely closed.
Gift link. How predatory trade schools drained $300 million from the GI Bill and cheated veterans www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
How predatory trade schools drained $300 million from the GI Bill and cheated veterans
Trade schools fleeced VA — and taxpayers — of more than $300 million, often by teaching short and easy courses, a Post investigation finds.
washingtonpost.com
Gift link. "If the items are not replaced by November, the country may see at least 16,000 new cases of H.I.V. in 2027, double the typical number, according to an estimate by the Alliance for Public Health, a Ukrainian nonprofit that manages the supplies." www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/h...
Russian Strike Destroyed Millions of H.I.V. Prevention Supplies in Ukraine (Gift Article)
No medications were affected, but if new prevention items are not procured, aid groups fear a surge in new infections next year.
nytimes.com
Earlier tonight, @michellegoldberg.bsky.social read *another* quote from this weirdo that reflected the same general sentiment. www.sacurrent.com/news/san-ant...
San Antonio-area congressional candidate calls children 'cum trophies' in latest controversy
Brandon Herrera (left) and former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz clasp hands at a San Antonio rally during Herrera's first failed House run. Brandon
sacurrent.com
Gift link. "Mr. Rivera said that not only had Mr. Martin seen the chapter, but that the chairman had marked the binder with annotations and Post-it notes — and returned it to him via overnight mail from a California trip." www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...
Author of Democrats’ 2024 Autopsy Says Party Left Out Key Chapter (Gift Article)
A dispute over the chapter between the author and the Democratic National Committee has added to the party’s turmoil as it tries to look forward, not backward.
nytimes.com
Oregon OK's takeover of Santiam Hospital by Salem Health www.thelundreport.org/content/oreg...
Oregon OK's takeover of Santiam Hospital by Salem Health
Salem Health has promised to invest millions into Santiam and expand maternity services, among other things. Santiam had enjoyed very healthy profits until recently as one of the few remaining Oregon ...
thelundreport.org
"On average, individuals buying their own health insurance will pay 16% more in 2027 while small business plans will increase an average of 15.5%, according to recommended rates released Thursday by the state Department of Consumer and Business Services." www.thelundreport.org/content/doub...
Double-digit increases for health coverage near approval
The state is close to finalizing 2027 rates for individuals and small businesses that buy their own insurance. Despite small trims by regulators, premium hikes of 16% on average could be approved in S...
thelundreport.org
