Emily

I have feelings about today's NYT #Connections

And effective government is necessary to get the science to the people! See also: - Plague (public health measures & sanitation) - Childhood dental decay (fluoridated water) - Cholera (water treatment) - Better urban mental health (Olmstead, Lincoln, & Village of Euclid v Ambler Realty [1926])

I don't agree with every word of this article. But I agree with most of them & I do think it is vital for every person in this country to read.

A message from #AltGov:

The Coordinating Committee of Defend Public Health has released the following statement about the confirmation of RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary.

🧵"So this is how liberty dies..." Trump’s first 3 weeks have been a relentless flood of actions. It's incredibly hard to keep up. I’ve gone through 69 actions & mapped out the pattern - showing how they fall within 5 broad domains consistent with authoritarian states 1/9

In case this won't be reported, Senate Dems are holding the floor for 30 hours to try to stall the RFK Vote! Here's the press release from Wyden's office.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.

The Trump administration has placed two top security chiefs at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after they resisted turning over classified material in restricted areas to Elon Musk’s staffers. America, please stand with us—we are fighting to defend this country!

Two

I didn't plan on a post from WHO making me emotional tonight, but I also didn't think CDC would shutter the MMWR, so the last 24 hours have been a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

Hard to believe how easy it is for malign actors to seize control of so much normal, seemingly imperviously entrenched, but crucial infrastructure of good governance. MMWR went dark today, after 60+ years of uninterrupted publication. Like the first report on what would become HIV/AIDS pandemic.

If she can do it, we can all do it.

This is a fascinating article (the link below is a gift article, no paywall) about research into chimpanzee communication (& possibly #language!), specifically Beryl (mom) & Lindsay (daughter) in Uganda. #linguistics

In 1860, conservatives blamed wildfires in Texas on abolitionists and “Lincolnites.” Many were executed merely on suspicion of being vaguely against slavery that year. Pretty easy to see the parallels to claims that “wokeness” and “DEI” are behind California fires today.

Ten years ago Charlie Hebdo

“This is a stupid conversation and I’m not going to continue it.”

It has started a movement. Cartoonists are paying homage to Ann Telnaes. Here are two of them. Ann’s is the final. Steve Brodner, @danboriscreates.bsky.social @anntelnaes.bsky.social

This New Year’s Eve, it’s completely okay if all you did was survive this year. Times are getting harder and harder and honestly, it’s a miracle some of us made it this far. You don’t need to finish the year strong. Finish rested. We all need to be gentler on ourselves and each other.

Phase Transition xkcd.com/3025

No women will lead a House committee for the first time in two decades after House Republicans revealed their list of committee leaders for the 119th Congress. No people of color were selected, either.

🧵The man featured in Clarissa Ward's @cnnipr.bsky.social segment has been identified by Verify Syria as a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence. He is believed to have killed civilians, detained and tortured young men in Homs, and now seems to be trying to rehabilitate his image. (1)

Adding this to my list of priority things to do when I'm in NY in Feb.

Good morning, sir. #squirrel #nature

imagine a country so furious about drag performers that it voted for polio

End pregnancy criminalization! Hospitals reported women for positive drug tests after giving them drugs for childbirth: medications used routinely for pain or in epidurals, to reduce anxiety or to manage blood pressure during cesarean sections. #lawsky www.themarshallproject.org/2024/12/11/p...

This is heartbreaking. I first started reading Nikki Giovanni in my 20s, she spoke to me on so many levels and her writing is just beautiful. I'm going to grab my copy of Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea and spend some time reminiscing. Thank you for everything, Nikki.

Hm that’s one way to put it NPR

This is truly the best legal advice we can give.

Really important study showing the life-saving impact of ERPO laws (also called Red Flag laws)! These were recently hailed as common-sensical, bipartisan proposals that balanced gun rights & public safety, but they’ve grown more divisive. Hopefully strong research like this can reverse that trend.

This is a great (horrible) history on segregation in public restrooms in the US, by race & gender. Once again, it all comes down to marking out those who are different from the people in power (cis white men).

Word of the Day, should you need it, is ‘latibulate’, a 17th-century verb meaning to find a corner somewhere and hide in it.

As a politically-active teen, I it never would have ever occurred to me that I could write an op-ed for a major magazine, that my voice mattered that much. I wrote a couple letters to the WaPo (never get printed) & was pretty proud of that. This is awesome.

A family member received this @votefwd.bsky.social letter and passed it on. Because it is one heck of a letter. The writer must be in their 90s. And yes, that family member is voting. (reposted for appropriate anonymity, apparently the edit tool was too see-thru the first time).