Mia Birdsong
@miabirdsong.bsky.social
ED and Founder of NextRiver.org Author of HOW WE SHOW UP Researching and writing about interconnected freedom. Apocolypse-ready, focused on the long-arc, devoted to collective liberation.
“Americans have often moved between states for opportunities. Now they’re being forced to uproot themselves to escape hostile forces under Trump.”
Meet the new American refugees fleeing across state lines for safety
Americans have often moved between states for opportunities. Now they’re being forced to uproot themselves to escape hostile forces under Trump
theguardian.com
“Disaster survivors in Arkansas left homeless by recent tornadoes have been blocked from receiving federal recovery aid after President Donald Trump rejected the state’s request to declare a major disaster in March.”
Tornado victims blocked from federal recovery aid after Trump denied request | CNN
Trump’s disaster denial follows his executive order seeking to shift the burden of response and recovery from the federal government onto states.
cnn.com
NEW: Biggest Federal Employee Unions Says Shutdown is Preferable to Elon/Trump CR talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/bigge...
Biggest Federal Employee Unions Says Shutdown is Preferable to Elon/Trump CR
Federal workers obviously don’t like government shutdowns. Most of them are furloughed....
talkingpointsmemo.com
Musk affiliates are pushing agencies to use Starlink, with the FAA leasing kits. Critics fear these moves signal a shift in the telecom industry that could result in the world’s richest man deciding how the nation’s communications network works. voxdotcom.visitlink.me/I1wv9m
The Elon Musk company you should be worried about right now
The Trump administration appears to be giving Starlink, a division of SpaceX, preferential treatment.
voxdotcom.visitlink.me
Wait, what the fuck? These orgs applied for and received grants from the government, and now, because this administration chooses to pretend climate change doesn’t exist, they’re going to be accused of FRAUD? For work already done and paid for as the government directed?
Trump’s FBI Moves to Criminally Charge Major Climate Groups
The Trump administration is targeting climate organizations that received a Biden-era grant.
newrepublic.com
Measles If you were born between 1957-1968, your MMR vax was less effective than what came later & you may need boosting. If you were born before ~1984, there's a small chance it may no longer be protecting you & you may need boosting. I just messaged my doc to ask re: a "titer test" to find out.
Do you need a measles booster shot? What to know as a U.S. outbreak spreads
A measles outbreak in the U.S. has grown to over 120 cases. Here's what to know about measles vaccines and those who may need a booster.
cbsnews.com
NEWS: The FDA abruptly canceled its upcoming advisory committee meeting to select the strains for next year's flu shot. by @berkeleyjr.bsky.social
FDA cancels meeting to select flu strains for next season's shots
The canceled meeting comes just days after a CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting was abruptly postponed.
nbcnews.com
This is extremely, extremely bad. Our legal system cannot function if the govt retaliates — and if courts allow it to retaliate — against lawyers who take matters the govt disfavors.
Kyle Cheney@kyledcheney.bsky.social · 2y agoNEW: President Trump moved Tuesday to punish a law firm for providing pro bono legal services to Jack Smith as he prepared to face a potential investigation from the Trump administration. He is stripping security clearnces and govt funding from the firm. www.politico.com/news/2025/02...
The White House asserted today that it would control who gets to cover the president in the White House and via the White House pool for the first time in our history - providing an authoritarian-style mechanism to shape coverage and retaliate against disfavored outlets. Right out of the textbooks.
Just as an FYI, hospitals NEED Medicare and Medicaid dollars to function. Smaller/ rural/ critical access hospitals will not survive without them. So even if you don't rely on Medicare, you still might lose your local hospital or find yourself stranded without care while traveling.
Emily Hahn, MD@ehahnmd.bsky.social · 2y agoYa know who uses Medicaid? CHILDREN. 40 million kids are enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. That’s half of the kids in this country. Children don’t contribute to the workforce or buy goods or vote… so no one cares.
Ya know who uses Medicaid? CHILDREN. 40 million kids are enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. That’s half of the kids in this country. Children don’t contribute to the workforce or buy goods or vote… so no one cares.
Miranda Yaver@mirandayaver.bsky.social · 2y agoHouse Republicans just voted to gut Medicaid, which covers 1 in 5 Americans overall, including 41% of births and 63% of nursing home care. They also just voted to gut SNAP, on which 41 million food insecure Americans rely. This won’t just harm people. This will kill people. They own this.
House Republicans just voted to gut Medicaid, which covers 1 in 5 Americans overall, including 41% of births and 63% of nursing home care. They also just voted to gut SNAP, on which 41 million food insecure Americans rely. This won’t just harm people. This will kill people. They own this.
Cutting #Medicaid is devastating. If it wasn’t for Medicaid, I never would’ve had the necessary #surgeries, #therapies, & care access as a #disabled child + teen. Medicaid is a literal lifeline worth saving, not stripping down to its bones. Terrifying reality we live in.
This is going to be so good! Come through if you're in the Bay, join online if you're not.
Dean Spade@deanspade.bsky.social · 2y agoJoin me and the incredible @miabirdsong.bsky.social at the Berkeley Public Library in the Central Library Community Meeting Room, Mar 3 at 5pm! Thanks to the sponsors at UC Berkeley for organizing this! 💙💛💙💛💙 Join virtually: bit.ly/inToughTimes
This is a beautiful conversation with @edyong209.bsky.social. Listening to a kind & thoughtful soul talk about science (& moral injury, birding, & being in the world) is soothing & motivating at the same time. I recommend the audio version; it has content edited out of the written version.
‘The Interview’: Ed Yong Wants to Show You the Hidden Reality of the World (Gift Article)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer talks about burnout from covering the pandemic and how bird-watching gave him a new sense of hope.
nytimes.com
There are many veterans with disabilities. They are included in DEI. Americans with disabilities warn protections are vanishing in Trump's DEI rollback www.axios.com/2025/02/23/t...
Americans with disabilities warn protections are vanishing in Trump's DEI rollback
"Disability is a natural part of the human experience," said Katy Neas, chief executive officer of The Arc.
axios.com
they are mostly targeting black employees so this is quite literally just a repeat of woodrow wilson’s segregationist purge of the federal government
NBC News@nbcnews.com · 2y agoFederal health workers are expressing fear and alarm after a website called “DEI Watch List” published the photos, names and public information of a number of workers across health agencies, describing them as “targets.”
It's not a demolition site it's a mass grave. It's not a demolition site it's a crime scene. It's not a demolition site its a homeland. It's not a demolition site it's Palestine. It's not a demolition site it's a genocide.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2y agoTrump, with Netanyahu sitting next to him, says "Gaza maybe is a demolition site right now ... you can't live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location."
NEW: USAID source says staff are scrambling to save archived copies of US regulations before they're gone & are being actively locked out of systems, including a publicly available database of USAID documents. WIRED has built software to systematically check the status of 1,374 government domains.
US Government Websites Are Disappearing in Real Time
A growing number of US government websites have gone offline as of Saturday, including several related to USAID and others focused on youth programs, Africa, and more.
wired.com
this is theft on an unimaginable scale
Josh Marshall@joshtpm.bsky.social · 2y ago3/ different pieces fit together. There also seems to be a significant amount of downloading government data onto private servers, etc, totally outside any cybersecurity regime. Additionally it’s unclear to the people inside whether the people doing these things actually work for the US govt…
On Friday evening, President Trump reinstated a broad version of an anti-abortion policy known as the global gag rule, which bans foreign NGOs receiving U.S. aid funds from engaging in abortion advocacy, counseling, or referrals. @garnethenderson.com reports: rewirenewsgroup.com/2025/01/24/t...
Trump Reinstated the Global Gag Rule. Here’s What’s at Stake.
In his first term, Trump oversaw an unprecedented expansion of the gag rule. Its reinstatement could decimate global reproductive and sexual health.
rewirenewsgroup.com
Re-posting this. One of the best teaching tools I've come across that demonstrates the risks of getting long covid and the importance of masking. You can play this game in 5 mins w your students, conference/training attendees, organization, extended family gathering or any other large group.
Mia Mingus@miamingus.bsky.social · 2y agoThe Long Covid Game -- Love this. For folks engaging with large groups who want to teach about the importance of masking and the risk of getting LongCovid, this is an excellent game you can play and use as a teaching tool. www.helloworlds.ca/the-long-cov... (Creator continues to update)
The Air Force is stripping Tuskegee Airmen lessons from basic training curriculum because of our White supremacist government. Put that in a headline. www.expressnews.com/news/article...
president of California Citrus Mutual: “We’re in the middle of our citrus harvesting ... Yesterday about 25% of the workforce, today 75% didn’t show up.” calmatters.org/economy/2025...
'People aren't going to work': A surprising immigration raid set off fears in California farm country
‘If this is the new normal, this is absolute economic devastation,’ says local economist.
calmatters.org
An ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas has become the largest in recorded history in the United States.
Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is now America's largest in recorded history
Kansas public health officials say the state's ongoing tuberculosis outbreak is the largest since the CDC started reporting TB cases in the 1950s.
cjonline.com
SHARE WIDELY. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights. You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one. (1/3)
