Gardener, poody/doge lover, former HIV research lab supervisor, canner of world-famous habanero pepper jelly. Profile pic: A sesame Shiba keeping an eye on you because you're suspicious
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The mayor of Baltimore drastically slashed crime despite close proximity to Virginia with its lax gun laws and it was a blip in the news cycle and then a return to the only way to stop crime is law and order. We are a cruel, punitive country with a national press that loves facism.
Matching the Forbes 400 to tax data finds that they pay a total tax rate of 24 percent of economic income, lower than the 30 percent tax rate paid on average in the US, from Akcan S. Balkir, Emmanuel Saez, Danny Yagan, and Gabriel Zucman https://www.nber.org/papers/w34170
Reparations for documented systemic racism are considered such a ridiculous proposition that people assumed asking Bernie Sanders to consider it was some nefarious disqualifying stunt. Meanwhile, rioters who were looking to lynch lawmakers are getting after that paper.
I know it’s all bad faith bs BUT I keep thinking about how the whole “reason” we apparently can’t pass any effective gun control legislation to prevent mass shootings is the idea that we need an armed populace in case the federal government decides to invade our cities and towns. Like??????????
Please understand these are Oregon Trail conditions these people are imposing on us?
“The ongoing investigation indicates that measles is spreading locally.” www.cidrap.umn.edu/measles/wisc...
Maine now allows anyone over 65 or with a disability to make a one-time request to receive a mail ballot, without needing to ask again, for future elections. An upcoming ballot measure would repeal this.
Lethal force against a civilian vessel in international waters is a war crime if not in self-defense. If not in self-defense, only non-lethal actions, such as warning shots or disabling fire, are allowed. "Not yielding to pursuers" or "suspected of carrying drugs" doesn't carry a death sentence.
Not going to stop thinking about the comment that Trump is sending Confederate armies to occupy Northern cities. How much more is there to say? That’s not a “distraction.” It’s what the white supremacists who tried to secede have wanted for over a century. It’s not a distraction to them at all.
We've always had homegrown factions. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_Na...
@gazehound.bsky.social @nlanc.bsky.social fyi:
Here's the video Trump just posted to Truth Social, with the claim that 11 people aboard the boat were killed. There is zero evidence of self-defense here. Looks like a massacre of civilians at sea. Even if they had drugs aboard, that's not a capital offense.
That's because they don't want you to know the US was complicit in many of those escapes. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operati...
The thing ya gotta understand is that the right to own a personal arsenal of weapons of war comes from God and can not be abridged, but the right to free speech and assembly only belongs to people who agree with the “Silent Majority.”
The indictment was handed down 2 days after career prosecutor Richard Barker, the acting US atty for eastern Washington state, resigned. In a social post, Barker wrote “I am grateful that I never had to sign an indictment or file a brief that I didn’t believe in.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
11. These three factors: lack of triggering the human disgust mechanism, inability to be generalised, and lack of widespread understanding of sequelae of infection all contribute to the societal denial of the dangers of Covid-19. /end
9. Third, in my own experience, people do not understand Long Covid. They have a fixed view of it that can be summed up as 'severe symptoms that do not resolve'. It is also seen as rare, which is why I know people with Long Covid who don't know they have Long Covid.
8. This sets the scene for the disconnect we see across society today; because we are so used to being able to predict another's experience of a disease on the basis of our own experience of it, there is a constant, flawed, and ever-present societal assumption that Covid is mild.
7. This inability to generalise the experience of Covid-19 sets it apart from other common diseases, and also, more profoundly, from our shared sociological understanding of how diseases operate in society. Fundamentally, one person's experience of the disease is not predictive.
4. Second, unlike other common diseases, Covid-19 is not generalisable. That is to say, unlike the common cold, influenza, or norovirus, one person's experience of the disease cannot be relied upon to accurately predict another's.
2. First, none of its symptoms trigger the human disgust mechanism. Adrian gives a great example of this. The two key symptoms that distinguish Covid-19 from other common diseases are cognitive dysfunction and anosmia, both of which are *invisible* to other people.
1. I've said exactly this for quite some time. Expanding on Adrian's @sillyputty78.bsky.social point on X / Twitter here, Covid-19 has three distinct characteristics as a disease that enables it to be denied at a societal level.
economics not beating the “astrology for men” allegations with quotes like this
NEW: Man who wants Nobel Peace Prize creates Department of War.
I love finding random items like this. I found a pair of action figures at an empty campsite over the weekend. They were good ones too! Metal bodies with very nice paint jobs. Spidey and Nemesis (don't know character's real name) are now our new camping mascots. 😂
Heads up for emerging antibiotic-resistant whooping cough: www.cidrap.umn.edu/pertussis/pa...
Turns out it takes about 3 years and a change in administration to one that is overtly honest in its wishes to make covid disappear and not shy about doing so. But there should be no doubt that this has been a bipartisan effort. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Back in '22 when Biden's CDC changed the colors on the CDC transmission map to Necco Wafer colors to reduce public alarm about the spread of covid I asked how long it would take for wastewater to be disappeared in a similar manner. I was severely chastised by one of the major minimizers at the time.
That sounds good. Kinda medium heat iirc?
It’s always something. 🤷🏼♀️😂
Oh, yeah. I’m familiar. That works.
All I recall is the color. 🥴
Ok. Husband just got back from a mountain bike run, took off his helmet and looked at me with a stick poking out of his forehead! 😳 He’s fine, small cut + hard head. Still too close to eyes.
Ah! I grew those one year too. Not sure why I didn’t again.
🎼
Pumpkin spice wut?
ALT: a hammock hangs between two trees at the edge of a forest. The sun is shining in a dappled pattern lighting up the leaves.
dems getting horned up for newsom:
It’s a wonderful thing. 🤤 I’m overdue to make a batch myself.
View from my table. Also next stop after dinner.
Camping entertainment.
Where’s Shiba?
"She did not die defending the Constitution. She died trying to overturn it. She was not protecting lives at a gate in Iraq; she was forcing her way through windows in the Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power." New from @markhertling.bsky.social:
Cancel culture is bad. Mass purges are good.
Had to draw them for my camping diary. You just never know who you’ll run across while spending time in the woods.
Things we find on camping trips.
Omg. 😂
Same. Have a lovely evening and weekend.
Woopsie! You beat me to it. 😆
This will only happen if God strikes him with a lightning bolt. What's the term for the way the Wicked Witch of the West melted? Spontaneous Jabba the Hutting. Or something.
Isadora Duncan wannabe.
Really not great that this ketamine addled piece of shit is using an entire social media network he bought to spread blatant lies and go after trans people because he couldn't accept his own trans daughter.
If you are angry, as you should be, that restricting access to the vaccine will make covid worse and more dangerous, please start wearing a mask, which actually does a significantly better job of preventing transmission in the first place.
Dear people who are saying that the CDC directors who quit yesterday should have “stayed and fought”, With all due respect, you do not grasp the magnitude of the problem of RFK Jr. He is asking them to do unethical and immoral things that will actively harm the people of the United States. 1/3
That sounds about right given the subject matter. 😂
He even got vaccinated ... and told folks ... but not loudly and not until the door was about to hit his ass on his way out.
These are actually quite good considering how difficult it is to get these little buzzers to hold still long enough to even get a single shot!
Yes, but it's more fun in DC where the ratio of liberal/leftists is higher, so he has more of the faces he wants very badly to rub in his authoritah.
ICE agents in DC today appear to be focusing on the North Capitol Street corridor. One is wearing a Texas-themed hat and a “thin blue line” patch that says SEND ME. Again: Keep an eye out for an unmarked black Ford truck with the Texas plate NTV9211.
🚨ICE agents are racially profiling and arresting Hispanic drivers in the DC area today, targeting work vehicles like trucks and vans. A friend who was targeted sent me video today. Here’s a picture that shows one of two agents before he pulled on his mask. Unmarked black Ford truck, plate: NTV9211.
Remember when the right was saying that "outside agitators" were coming into peoples' towns to protest and be violent? Yeah, this fucker's license plate is from Texas. And he's in DC. I'd bet good $ most of these people aren't official ... anything. Just white guys who want to whoop some cuffed ass.
![Responding to Kennedy’s claims, Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith (D) wrote via social media, “I dare you to go to Annunciation School [the site of the recent shooting] and tell our grieving community, in effect, guns don’t kill kids, antidepressants do. Just shut up. Stop peddling bulls**t. You should be fired.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ms3dkv7odxdob7a2sez77pov/bafkreibtl4xwuqoidwlwg5pepubqd2ag2bbk5aku7ofkqvg5tgyh7wxdrm@jpeg "Click to view full size")
Also can't wait til they start raiding health/fitness clubs to mass incarcerate the swole steroid abusers. Wait, what? I am being informed that this would include a good portion of police, ICE, CBP and other LE. 🤷♀️
Given that the overwhelming majority of school shooters are white males, he should probably be in favor of anything that blocks testosterone, but his brain worm won't let him think that deeply.
I am very sorry this is happening to you and all your colleagues. As an NIH researcher in the field of HIV for half my career, I can imagine the heartbreak. I appreciate your courage and willingness to lead from the front and from principles and morals as well. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Enough is enough. The health of the country is in danger. Read our resignation letters: insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
They don’t want to quote this part of the “I Have a Dream” speech today.
unless your advice can help me grow glutes so large they block out the sun, I'm good bro
I can't tell if this is a step up from the guy who did this to me in order to sell me Amway products. Ofc, that was a long time ago, on another planet ... 😂
lol. I'm thinking of my husband who always has advice to offer for whatever random thing I am doing around the house but who disappears with his guitar and the doge the minute I ask if his hands are in equal partnership with his mouth. 😆
Herein lies the rub: “By inappropriately applying shared decision-making principles to a scenario where robust evidence strongly supports vaccination, the CDC abandons the clinician’s professional responsibility to offer clear, directive guidance when warranted.”
For those justifiably concerned/angry about this, there's a way to make your voices heard. Public notice and comment on this proposed rule goes through Sep 27 Go to this link and click "Submit a public comment" at the top: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
I know there's a lot happening today, but this is sneaking in under the radar. This proposed new rule would absolutely crush foreign PhD students, potentially making it impossible for them to enroll with any certainty of their ability to finish www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
Noting here: the windows in Dr. Daskalakis' office were pierced by bullets in the shooting earlier this month.
@drdemetre.bsky.social has resigned as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. His letter is a must-read.
🫂🫂🫂
i mean are trump supporters really watching this shit and nodding their heads approvingly "now that's how you spread a good mulch, sir" i mean what the fuck man
Resignations of CDC staff directly related to misinformation, weaponizing of public health, which is coming from RFK Jr. Untenable situation for them to serve under these conditions. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
![In his resignation letter, Daskalakis wrote, “I am not able to serve in this role any longer because of the ongoing weaponizing of public health.” Houry’s resignation letter spoke about the continued spread of misinformation around vaccines. “Recently, the overstating of risks [of vaccines] and the rise of misinformation have cost lives, as demonstrated by the highest number of US measles cases in 30 years and the violent attack on our agency,” Houry wrote.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2rrp7amblhg3xoly5n5huiqv/bafkreiboml2a3p7qlqb4qmlbhb76rzanvnpkvlpw34wggsq6wsv27wvy5m@jpeg "Click to view full size")
In a functional government, this would be a five alarm fire where Congress calls in Kennedy and asks him what the fuck is going on
Four more top #CDC officials have submitted their resignation in the past few hours - Debra Houry (chief medical officer), Demere Daskalakis (director of NCIRD), Daniel Jernigan (director of NCEZID) + Jen Layden (director of OPHDST) www.nbcnews.com/health/healt... It is horrifying
Full resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back. "The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."
It won’t fit in screen shots but linking here the full letter of resignation posted by one of the departing CDC officials, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who ran the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and led efforts to fight COVID, monkeypox, and bird flu x.com/dr_demetre/s...
Full resignation letter bsky.app/profile/donm...
it's easier to buy a gun in the united states than high-rise trousers
$245 million for a facility that is now going to close and has only been open for just under two months. Where's DOGE and it's savings routine when you need them? And can someone ask DeSantis how much of that money ended up in his pockets? His friends?? www.news18.com/agency-feeds...
It's also pupating day for this Black Swallowtail caterpillar. He has assumed the J position and sometime today he will shed his skin and the chrysalis will emerge.
It's salsa canning day, y'all. 🤤
I'm telling ya, if we all showed up to protest with wieners they'd be defeated in less than 15 minutes. But only bring the cocktail-sized wienies because there's no sense in giving them any more respect than they deserve.
Weapon Of The People! 😂
Holy shit. Stuff of nightmares, I would imagine.
“Try that in a small town!” 90% of Dateline episodes: “In a small North Texas town….”
turns out my key takeaway from traveling alone a lot around the world has been “people globally are generally pretty OK and don’t want to hurt you,” funny how that works
Someone else is gonna have to find a way to compassionately connect with Steve the Construction Contractor who would shit himself and die if he did things I did as a tiny blonde 19 year old, because I can’t find that in my heart
idk, I’ve traveled alone around the world including in “scary” places since I was a kid, and I really can find nothing but raw, cruel contempt in my heart for little baby 6’2 white man MAGAs who piddle like cockapoos at the mere idea of using public transportation
Any bets on whether they let this go, or is this guy going to become their next Streisand moment?
This has me laughing, but now I worry for this guy because if there's one thing this admin cannot stand is anyone succeeding against them. The humiliation is supposed to - like shit - only run downhill.
Also, NYT needs to hire me to write headlines and ledes because their AI - or the robotic sycophant doing it instead - is terribly lacking in imagination.
Apparently there ARE occasions when a grand jury will NOT indict ... a ham sandwich. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
Lol. Good.
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Paula Xinis holds a virtual scheduling conference in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's habeas case challenging the Trump admin's efforts to remove him to Uganda. 🧵