Never forget that Mike Pence argued that smoking doesn't kill people

Mike Pence said smoking "doesn't kill" and faced criticism for his response to HIV. Now he's leading the coronavirus response

Pence has espoused false beliefs that are disproven with data easily found on U.S. government webpages.

cbsnews.com

Michael Hobbes@michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 2h ago

I'm calling it: "Start smoking" is going to be mainstream MAHA / Republican health advice by 2028. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Sometimes my dear friend Kathleen just drops bombs on me. The other day, she was all, "Yeah, I know Abdul."

Kathleen Bachynski@bachynski.bsky.social · last mo.

I don’t exactly have the power of an AOC endorsement, but I’ve known Abdul for quite some time and I would be thrilled to see him represent public health in the Senate. He was our class speaker when I graduated from undergrad (Go Blue!) and then I got to know him better when were both at Columbia.

The best critique.

Deidre Lynch@drbibliomane.bsky.social · 20h ago

You can/should read Emily Wilson's latest take on the Odyssey, but I'm logging on to convey my hairdresser's reaction. She was AGHAST that Nolan, with his million $ budget, gave Matt Damon ONLY 6 hair extensions. As a result, his hair did not blow around properly, & that ruined the film for her.

⚠️ Democrats in array: Schumer, Gillibrand, and Whitmer coalesce behind El-Sayed

Also, Big Yech is a winner typo.

Andrew J Douglas@ajdouglas.bsky.social · 4h ago

There’s no way to spin this. “Big yech”—actually a nice typo (slip?) in the article—was able to buy off the leadership of the nation’s second largest teacher’s union for a paltry $12.5 million.

Teaching doctors about smoking is a moral imperative. And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking the tobacco industry's money or doing nothing!

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4h ago

“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”

Teaching "about" is not the same as teaching "how to" - adults absolutely get the difference when it comes to sex ed but so many conflate the two approaches when it come to AI.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4h ago

“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”

You will be surprised to learn that I do not believe there is a “moral imperative“ to teach educators about AI.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 4h ago

“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”

SSHM has been asked to share a call for submissions for a special issue for Black Histories: Dialogues journal Editors Simon Buck and Ogundiran Soumonni Abstracts by 1 September with manuscripts due by 31 January 2027 All details 👇 #histmed #histSTM @eahmh.bsky.social

"We live in an era of historical inequality." This is such a clear descriptive statement of our current reality.

Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 11h ago

El-Sayed: We live in an era where we continue to see a few very small people try to define America as being as small as they are. We can't control the past 250 years. What we can do is build the next 250

El-Sayed: We live in an era where we continue to see a few very small people try to define America as being as small as they are. We can't control the past 250 years. What we can do is build the next 250

“The organizer, William Lawrence, 35, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led environmental group, defeated two more moderate candidates to advance to the general election against Representative Tom Barrett, a first-term Republican who is one of the more vulnerable Republican incumbents.”

William Lawrence Wins Primary in Battleground Michigan House District

William Lawrence defeated two moderate candidates to challenge a vulnerable Republican incumbent, but some worry his views could hurt his chances in November.

nytimes.com

I’m telling you this as a political scientist. The person who is electable is the one who is elected. This can and does change over time. Any and all speculation about “electability” is either puffery or anxiety and is often both.

Julia Azari@juliaazari.bsky.social · 13h ago

One way to be safe is to never write an electability take

This is right.

ACLU@aclu.org · yesterday

BREAKING: We’re suing Texas A&M University’s Board of Regents to challenge their censorship policy that restricts instruction on race, sexual orientation, and gender. Public universities can't ban ideas they don't like.

Do not, under any circumstances, check to see what this is about.

jen ramos-eisen@jenramose.online · 19h ago

I'd like to go back to the time before I read this

This is your annual reminder that if you inadvertently write on a whiteboard with a Sharpie, you can trace over that with a whiteboard pen and then the whole thing will come off.

Any NARA or NARA-adjacent folks have insight here?

Jacqueline Antonovich@jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 21h ago

I may be late to this discourse, but do any historians know why this National Archives magazine piece from 2011 has a different title now? Same piece, different title. I thought maybe a Trump thing, but the Wayback Machine shows a change in late 2021? Original on left, Revised on right.

I may be late to this discourse, but do any historians know why this National Archives magazine piece from 2011 has a different title now? Same piece, different title. I thought maybe a Trump thing, but the Wayback Machine shows a change in late 2021? Original on left, Revised on right.

"wedge issues"

Larry Glickman@larryglickman.bsky.social · yesterday

From Tom Edsall’s column. I wish he had specified what he means by “wedge-issue attacks.” I’m also not sure what it means to say that Dems have been “vulnerable” to these things for 60 years. Presumably, he is suggesting that backlash politics has, on balance, harmed the Democrats.

"The new tool makes it easier for parents & community members to view annual vaccination rates at individual schools — not just at the state or county-level like before — boosting transparency & giving families a clearer picture of how well protected their children’s classrooms are"

New online tool lets parents see vaccination rates at individual schools

The goal is to boost transparency and give families a clearer picture of how well protected their children’s classrooms are.

wfmz.com

What I love about Bluesky is what I loved about old Twitter: if I want to find out about something (however recondite) there will be someone here (often with a PhD in it) and the time and patience to share their knowledge. /1

"St. Luke’s University Hospital said late Monday that it’s treating its first cases of the measles 'in recent memory.' According to a health network spokesperson, the hospital was treating two children from the Lehigh County. The two are siblings, and both were unvaccinated, the spokesperson said."

The Trump admin’s public heath policies are an underlying condition. I’ve been calling this illness as policy.

Just your regular reminder that: 1) Almost everyone has an underlying health issue if you look hard enough 2) People with underlying health issues don't deserve to die for eating lettuce 3) We should be strengthening, not weakening our regulatory processes. And properly funding them.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2d ago

Breaking News: Two deaths in Michigan have been linked to cyclospora. Both people who had the parasite also had underlying health issues.

Michigan reports two deaths in ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak reut.rs/4w4bd4E

Michigan reports two deaths in ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak

Two deaths have been identified ​as part of a cyclosporiasis outbreak affecting Michigan, ‌the state's health department said on Monday.

reut.rs

I need you to describe your cat’s picture please. That way I can repost for blind friends. We should all get to know about your cat’s cuteness, how fluffy, and any special markings. What trouble is the cat into? Alt text it!

Jacqueline Antonovich@jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 2d ago

Some of my favorite people post some really cool stuff on here, but I don’t repost because there is no alt text. I really want to share your stuff, but inclusive means inclusive.

Some of my favorite people post some really cool stuff on here, but I don’t repost because there is no alt text. I really want to share your stuff, but inclusive means inclusive.

I’ve been writing a counter narrative of shutdowns that has me revisiting media from that time. And let me tell you, the only other option was everybody die. So yeah.

Peter@notalawyer.bsky.social · 3d ago

it’s pretty obvious that a lot of people remember that COVID lockdowns were unpleasant and from there just extrapolate that they were therefore bad policy

“When Harmony Simon, a postal worker in Aix-les-Bains… rang the bell of a retiree’s apartment on a scorching recent morning, she wasn’t there to deliver the mail. She was there to check that the retired woman, Martine Combe, 68, who suffers from diabetes and asthma, hadn’t succumbed to heat stroke”

As France’s Elders Swelter in the Heat, Postal Workers Come to the Rescue

To help prevent heat-related deaths, the French government has asked postal workers to check in on older people.

nytimes.com