FWIW, I actually have the IceBlock app on my iPhone.
Physicist Californian Climate activist Wine maker Human Born at 318 ppmCO2 he/him/any
737 followers 787 following 901 posts
view profile on Bluesky
FWIW, I actually have the IceBlock app on my iPhone.
Food for thought. micahflee.com/unfortunatel...
Very helpful. I wonder if you are aware of others who may be developing a resource that actually is secure and open source, and what the timeline is for that?
Raises questions about Biden’s age and fitness for the job.
People literally bled & died fighting against corporate interests, robber barons, corrupt local & state politicians, cops & hired killers, & the federal government & US military for better working conditions for the rest of us so reflect on that today for just a bit while you're doing whatever else.
What is your understanding of the meaning of the oath they swear to?
I’m not saying someone shouldn’t be trying to talk fascists out of fascism. But this kind of data makes it clear that most of our efforts should be to get non-fascists awake and moving.
I understand your point, but it’s a little sophistic. I mean, what’s the point of swearing an oath that you as an individual choose to uphold throughout your service (which is the main ritual of joining the services) if you have no free will?
The kind of thing that validates the view that trying to talk Republicans out of fascism should be way less of a priority than trying to get non-fascists mobilized.
My profile picture is one of me literally being arrested for my principles.
Also, I’m less berating them for past choices than exhorting them to live up to those choices.
This is a very good point! However, this is not the work I’m cut out for. I mean, I do t even think we should have a military. But I do encourage others to do that work.
And yet these people did make that promise. They did take that oath. Should they (& you) cast it aside when inconvenient? Is joining the military just another job (even as they are granted the power of life & death over others) Can they just accept the job & take the oath without really meaning it?
Or maybe they didn’t really mean it when they specifically swore to uphold very particular principles on the day they joined the service. If so, they get a big “whatever” from me if they won’t uphold them now.
Everyone can afford principles. But not everyone is willing to decide to live up to them. I mean, these are soldiers. They promised to give their lives in service of the US, democracy and the Constitution. From the day they signed up they agreed that they can “afford” to die to uphold their duty.
I think rather than deal in fantasies or reality, I’m just going to deal in blocking.
My actual profile picture is a photograph of me being arrested to stop crimes against humanity. So, I don’t think you’re noticing much. But I do notice that you’re (for some reason) throwing up reasons why soldiers should do nothing. Why?
Maybe ask Mandela or MLK, Jr. about those kinds of choices?
Alex Karp should be hounded everywhere he goes for the rest of his life. He should never be able to appear in public again with unceasing and loud heckling and birddogging.
Well, they could exercise their consciences and their free will and refuse to comply or serve. Yes, there will be consequences. But that is what it means to take an oath and what it means to have principles.
I am absolutely a broken record but: Trumpers are well on their way of convincing a majority of the public that everything is normal and fine. And that is because @schumer.senate.gov and @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social are not out in public shouting about the occupations of DC and LA.
Yes, just compare how Pritzker has dealt with Nat’l Guard potentially coming to occupy Chicago vs. how Newsom dealt with it in LA.
If you say 'heteronormative' or 'unhoused person' or 'food insecurity' you're basically talking gibberish and nobody can understand you but if you say you can see inflammation in children at the airport and that vaccines lower IQ or that germs are a myth you get to fire all the scientists.
-Near an airport with Avelo flights? Plan/join/support an airport protest. Pressure airport boards to refuse to work with deportation contractors. -Live in: Salem, OR Volusia County, FL Lakeland, FL Salt Lake City or Delaware ? Call on city councils or state lawmakers to end those subsidies. 3/
Whatever the accuracy and value of “Democracy Indices”, this is truly remarkable and again shows the striking disconnect between the U.S. legacy media and U.S. political reality.
I understand it. They want to kill or enslave us all in pursuit of some childish dream of infinite wealth immortality, the latter of which is a selfish and stupid pursuit of which they have spent a lot of time and money convincing themselves is the most ethical act they could possibly engage in.
A public health catastrophe. Not “immanent,” not “potential.” This is the catastrophe.
tl;dr: They're going to get rid of the CDC as you know it. They're going to build something new and ghastly that they call the CDC, using its legal powers and data systems, and they are going to use it to hunt down every abortion in America. We are still in the window of time when we can stop that.
there is no question in my mind that rfk jr is the most dangerous person in this administration and that his eugenicist ideology threatens the lives of millions of people www.advocate.com/politics/dem...
Those CEOs should take those risks. Compliance and cowering will not save them or us.
Me too. And the day before.
We built a calculator that doesn't work, but don't worry, it's also a plagiarism machine that will tell you to kill yourself. It runs on the world's oceans and costs 10 trillion dollars.
BREAKING: Social Security Administration chief data officer and whistle-blower Charles Borges has resigned after bombshell report that SSA put highly-sensitive data at risk. He sent out an email to colleagues moments ago. Here is the text of his email shared with me:
GIZMODO: “Jim O’Neill, Kennedy’s deputy secretary, has been selected to take over the CDC… the sure-fire tell that this man waves a freak flag is his deep connections to PayPal co-founder and all-around weirdo Peter Thiel.” gizmodo.com/the-cdcs-nig...
They consider enabling stochastic terror through gun violence to BE part of their job. They’re not negligent. Our current government is trying to terrorize and kill us.
People in my orbit (mostly white, mostly well-off, mostly educated professionals) don’t seem exhausted to me. They seem to believe that their privilege will protect them & that someone else will do this work for them (they believe the work has to be done, they just don’t think they’ll have to do it)
It’s important that everyone act as if the federal government is occupied by a group of Nazi sympathizing, neo-Confederate insurrectionists who are opposed to multiracial democracy and at war with the constitution—because that’s exactly what’s happening.
Hopefully all those who have been saying the military would somehow stand up and save us are now fully awake.
In 1933 the Nazi Party looted and destroyed the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sex Research) in Berlin, the first clinic for modern gender-affirmation surgeries in the world. The Institute's library and archives were publicly burned.
Will everyone who has been saying that the military would somehow save us now face the fact that the military loves fascism and will crush us if given a chance to?
“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time rather than his current ability to kill by the thousands. Why is it that killing a single person is seen as murder but killing masses is excused if you are a politician?” Dr Bill Foege
The hyper normalization of open fascism continues apace in the nations capital.
Let this action finally make clear to all the folks who have been saying that the military will somehow intervene or save us: They will not. The military is happy to uphold fascism.
It’s crazy that America just like. Destroyed science. Just looked at its golden goose and went “wow should we kill this? And not for the gold, but just because we fucking hate this thing” And if you tell random people about it they go “no, that doesn’t seem true” and just refuse to believe you
I called my rep (Doris Matsui) last night.
AND NOW THE SENIOR CDC LEADERS HAVE JOINED THE WALK OUT! www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ7Q...
Bad enough in its own right, but.... "the true figures could be even worse, because the models did not include the torrent of meltwater from the Greenland ice cap that is also freshening the ocean waters" www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Also: Leaving actually helps create the new networking channels. One cannot wait for others to fulfill one’s responsibilities.
IDSA says narrowed guidance risks lives The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) said today that the FDA's narrowed labeling indications ignore science and put millions of American lives at risk. www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/fda...
Was just arguing w/ someone about this in the context of scientists scrubbing their grant apps & papers of language to keep their positions & funding. My position is: Fight now. Make em fire you. Make them defund you. It won’t get easier if scientists duck now so they can (allegedly) fight later.
Before you know it, there will be black market COVID shots. And polio. MMR. Flu. Back alleys with kids lined up, sleeves rolled up, real quiet like. Parents hoping the masked sky wizard homeopathy police don’t come by & take them to Alligator Alcatraz for breaking the “only ivermectin for all” law
REMINDER: in this moment, the thing you want your Congressperson to do is (1) demand resignations and (2) threaten endless hearings. Impeachment isn't going to work. Read the article if you don't want to take my word for it - Larry is the most respected health law expert in America.
the move here is very simple: House - House, not Senate, so it's sustainable - Democrats threaten to hold endless hearing after hearing about this. make it an unending waste of time and brainspace for appointees. make it more effort for the White House to keep RFK on than just let it happen
The ousting of Dr. Susan Monarez as CDC Director, followed within hours by the resignations of Dr. Deb Houry, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, and Dr. Daniel Jernigan, mark a collapse of public health leadership with consequences that reach every American household.
As our recent report Decades of Deceit illustrates, fossil fuel companies cannot be trusted to do the right thing. "Just as the US needs laws to protect public health, it needs to be able to enforce laws when corporations knowingly cause harm," writes UCS's Kathy Mulvey.
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...
"3 CDC leaders resigned: Dr Debra Houry, the chief medical officer; Dr Daniel Jernigan, the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Dz; and Dr Demetre Daskalakis, MD, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Dz" www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...
I am so distraught, depressed and angry at this moment. Of all the shit they have done this is one of the worst days I can remember.
www.stopbillionaires.org @srti.bsky.social
www.commondreams.org/opinion/big-...
Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!
There can’t be any gun restrictions because we have to protect against federal government tyranny, and if kids get shot we just have to live with it. Also the President can send troops to cities because the federal government can do whatever it wants. These two ideas are consistent and reasonable.
Must read from @vermontgmg.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Breaking: After months of uncertainty, most of the staff of EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights were subject to a Reduction in Force on Monday, leaving the office effectively gone. Trump has made clear the disdain he holds for both environmental justice and civil rights.
I would personally be interested in organizing around mutual aid groups to support strikers operating against a military dictatorship occupation of the cities I live and work in.
Thank you!!
Scientists are not powerless. But in my several years of trying to organize scientists into activism, I find that most of them are unable to bring themselves to try and use their powers and/or are unwilling to take any risks to attempt doing so.
If I can do it, my friends and family and peers can too. I have approximately the same reasons that they have to not engage but I’m doing it anyway.
It’s also the case that while a lot of Americans are protesting, taking actions, confronting fascism, etc., most are still not. I’ve been an activist engaged in direct action in a serious way for a decade now. & almost everyone from my life (friends, colleagues, family) are still not taking action.
Well, not hundreds. Probably around 2-3 times a month for ten years. So, 100-200 times.
I’ve been in the streets or taking non-violent direct actions hundreds of times over the last decade. Never had a Congressional rep locking down with me, getting arrested with me, or trying to deescalate a MAGA heckler with me.
My heart breaks into 10,000 pieces once again.
I saw it coming and pushed my provider to get me a booster of the currently available vaccine months ahead of my own vax schedule. Not the same as an updated vax, but better than nothing. We should be shutting down the federal government over this.
(((Also, I am a physicist, though no longer an academic)))
((Also, I will humbly admit that I have been trying very hard for years to get academics and scientists mobilized around climate and more recently against fascism, with little success, so while I have strong opinions and some research lit to back up my positions, I haven’t had a lot of success!))
(Especially the tenured faculty - they have more economic security and protections that junior academics and they should use that now, not wait on it.)
I think the answer gave in the most recent reply is what I would argue for. In the spirit of comity, what actions do you think academics and scientists should be undertaking right now? (by the way, I do respect all the scrambling that has been going on to preserve data sets, archives, etc!)
No, that professor should be in the streets. Should be organizing strikes, halting the entire enterprise, turning classrooms into teach-ins, setting up mutual aid groups for those who can’t weather the economic hardships, etc.
Agree that it would be! But to win we have to mobilize vast segments of society to not comply, jamming up everything as much as we can. Create a crisis so big that others much choose sides, must take action. That’s the history of successful (non-violent) resistance to authoritarianism.
There’s no saving any of that if we don’t win. There is just destruction of it all. And the sooner other scientists jump into the fight, the more likely it is that we will win.
Well. I’m a scientist who fights authoritarianism and has accepted sacrifices for it.
(Also, I have personally been arrested multiple times, jailed and have lost paid work because of my fights for justice and against repression. And I am still very much in the fight.)
And I think the long history of labor organizing shows that sustained, direct confrontation and directly jamming up the works is usually required to overturn authoritarian power. There is a role for sabotage and softer forms of resistance but stopping workplaces is how workers secured rights.
Are those scientists who are scrubbing their grants and research saying they will go on to follow the sabotage field manual and similar? If they are, it’s a choice I can respect. But I’m not seeing that. I’m seeing compliance and hope for biz as usual.
Wrote a eulogy for the yellow letters in my office window. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
I can confirm because it’s near me, they have a checkpoint with flashing lights about a block up from Channing on N Cap, people were out warning ICE is ahead with signs & traffic’s bottlenecked, neighbors are all watching.
Sure. But you also definitely can’t train the next generation of scientists if our society descends into a repressive police state filled with mass concentration camps, death squads and foreign gulags for dissenters. Which is where are headed with high velocity.
Denver protested outside of Palantir's headquarters in the Tabor Center on Friday. The "March Against Machines" protestors called out "bug-eyed salamander" Peter-Thiel and the encroachment of Palantir into our private lives.
Yes, those are the consequences we accept to defeat fascism. Large #s of us must defy fascism by being fired, having our careers ended, being jailed, etc. Biz as usual = agreeing to live in a fascist state. Those are the choices. We can’t end this thru compliance. We must grind society to a halt.
abolish/prosecute🧊
Burning Man is an environmental blight and should be abandoned.
Spotted yesterday near the Civic Center in San Francisco 👀👀👀👀 “Palantir data-driven genocide for ambitious dictators” Love to see it.
Bret Stephens was the final straw for me in 2017. The day he joined NYT is the day I called NYT and canceled my sub.
Oops. We tragically kept accidentally genociding them.
The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...
When we talk about the immensely uneven power of the criminal legal system to destroy individuals, this is what we mean. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
‘I would not feel safe’: Americans on the sorrow – and relief – of leaving Trump’s US for Europe