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hshoch

@hshoch.bsky.social

@hshoch@mastodon.world Biomedical Informatician @DBMI_PITT. MIT/U. Md. Computer Scientist, Biomedical Informatics, Concerned citizen. He/Him usual disclaimer - opinions are my own. not those of employer. Reposts != endorsement.

1,466 Followers  |  3,504 Following  |  165 Posts  |  Joined: 14.08.2023
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Posts by hshoch (@hshoch.bsky.social)

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Page 15 of the GOP’s Save America Act wld force all 50 states to submit their voter rolls to the DHS’s centralized voter purge program (called “SAVE”), which they know has had error rates as high as 14% & links to an SSA database that they know was compromised by DOGE. #NoOnSave 1/

16.02.2026 19:18 — 👍 1149    🔁 819    💬 41    📌 83
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“ICE is an affront to Torah.”

Hundreds of rabbis, cantors, and Jewish leaders turned out to a massive protest outside ICE headquarters in Washington DC.

Organized by @truahrabbis.bsky.social and Bend the Arc, it was the largest-ever Jewish faith protest against ICE.

Watch highlights below:

13.02.2026 18:25 — 👍 29    🔁 13    💬 4    📌 2
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Grateful for the Pittsburgh folks in the aptly-named Friendship neighborhood who had this uplifting message waiting for me as I walked into work this morning.

06.02.2026 17:20 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Woody Guthrie would be proud. Where's the anti-ICE play
list? Someone must have put one (or many) together

28.01.2026 18:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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At the White House, there is infighting behind closed doors, ego clashes, backstabbing, and carefully orchestrated leaks. But the fact is that Stephen Miller is spreading false information about Alex Pretti, turning the regime into a political clown show.

#ProudBlue #DV1

28.01.2026 13:36 — 👍 216    🔁 141    💬 15    📌 10
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Administration Social Media Posts Echo White Supremacist Messaging

If it walks like a Nazi/White supremacist, if it talks like a Nazi/White supremacist… 🎁

#DemVoice1 #ProudBlue #Pinks #TrumpIsACriminal

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/u...

28.01.2026 12:55 — 👍 128    🔁 81    💬 10    📌 1
Paul D. Thacker
@thackerpd
8h
Two Bluesky scientists gave this nutty interview to podcaster, @mattsheffield.
HHS put NIH official Jenna Norton on leave, and NIH researchers Mark Histed is one of the many Bluesky activists.
Here's Jenna Norton calling Trump voters, including her own mother, a "cult"
NORTON: So I wanted like, I was glad you kind of drew a parallel there between science and democracy, and I wanted to draw this connection because we sort of started the conversation about science being siloed and not being effective communicators with the public and thus sort of like disconnecting ourselves with the public.
And then that being this sort of weakness that I think the disinformation machine saw and used to their advantage. And I think a similar thing happened with democracy as well, where there have been groups of people who have been [00:42:00] excluded from the democratic process to a large extent as well. And so there, there neither, science wasn't perfect and democracy hasn't been perfect.
It's been better, I think, than the authoritarian alternative that's being offered to us at the moment. But there is a real weakness there that I think we do need to grapple with and acknowledge and overcome and address as we move forward. And on the side of democracy, I think where that weakness was is that, certain groups have been cut out of the voting process.
Open versus closed epistemologies
NORTON: Some of that has been very much intentional, right? With like fewer polling sites and, with the allowance of money to sway politics and override, I think public sentiment. And so a lot of people feel very, I see this in my family, they feel very hopeless. And I actually had a conversation with my mother who's a Trump supporter, and I've been actually talking to her almost daily trying to pull her out of what I now see as sort of a cult in

Paul D. Thacker @thackerpd 8h Two Bluesky scientists gave this nutty interview to podcaster, @mattsheffield. HHS put NIH official Jenna Norton on leave, and NIH researchers Mark Histed is one of the many Bluesky activists. Here's Jenna Norton calling Trump voters, including her own mother, a "cult" NORTON: So I wanted like, I was glad you kind of drew a parallel there between science and democracy, and I wanted to draw this connection because we sort of started the conversation about science being siloed and not being effective communicators with the public and thus sort of like disconnecting ourselves with the public. And then that being this sort of weakness that I think the disinformation machine saw and used to their advantage. And I think a similar thing happened with democracy as well, where there have been groups of people who have been [00:42:00] excluded from the democratic process to a large extent as well. And so there, there neither, science wasn't perfect and democracy hasn't been perfect. It's been better, I think, than the authoritarian alternative that's being offered to us at the moment. But there is a real weakness there that I think we do need to grapple with and acknowledge and overcome and address as we move forward. And on the side of democracy, I think where that weakness was is that, certain groups have been cut out of the voting process. Open versus closed epistemologies NORTON: Some of that has been very much intentional, right? With like fewer polling sites and, with the allowance of money to sway politics and override, I think public sentiment. And so a lot of people feel very, I see this in my family, they feel very hopeless. And I actually had a conversation with my mother who's a Trump supporter, and I've been actually talking to her almost daily trying to pull her out of what I now see as sort of a cult in

A few months ago @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social and I talked to @mattsheffield.bsky.social about how science and democracy are linked.

That caught the attention of the anti-science crew.
“Crank”* Paul Thacker objected, see below.

But I stand by it. Science and free speech are under attack. 1/

21.01.2026 04:02 — 👍 42    🔁 13    💬 5    📌 2
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Trump’s Threat to Invoke the Insurrection Act, Explained | ACLU President Donald Trump is threatening to invoke the act, which is a rarely used power that Congress intended only for extreme emergencies. We break down what this means for our civil liberties.

If the president invokes the Insurrection Act, even more harm would descend on our communities.

Congress must rein in the Trump administration's already dangerous abuses in Minnesota.

20.01.2026 00:29 — 👍 390    🔁 101    💬 10    📌 2
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Letter from Minnesota Jewish Clergy Regarding ICE Presence - TC Jewfolk .וַאֲהַבְתֶּם אֶת־הַגֵּר כִּי־גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:19) As rabbis and cantors across Minnesota, we write out...

Jewish clergy in Minneapolis have joined together in a powerful letter in support of their community.
tcjewfolk.com/2026/01/16/l...

19.01.2026 23:17 — 👍 0    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Senate Democrats absolutely have to shut the govt down to stop this ICE insanity in the Twin Cities. This is not sustainable & cannot be normalized. Any Democratic vote to provide money to the thugs who are brutalizing this community is a grave betrayal to the people here. Accountability can't wait.

15.01.2026 03:37 — 👍 23310    🔁 7005    💬 565    📌 427
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Maybe "neo-Nazi" isn't hyperbole: Trump admin has asked UPenn for "lists of Jews." To this point, I’ve resisted the urge to label Trump, his administration, or his supporters as neo-Nazis or neo-Fascists. However, it’s getting harder and harder to resist the urge and maintain my san...

Please, please, please, put a stop to this!
There is no need for extensive lists of "Jews", and the Jewish organizations they belong to. trump and his maga acolytes will let this info fall into the wrong hands, as if theirs aren't!
This will be used to hurt them.

www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...

15.01.2026 04:02 — 👍 2    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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Forget the Cynics. Here’s Why You Should Get Your Dog a Stroller.

The NY Times is really hard at it with incisive "speaking-truth-to-power" journalism...

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/m...

14.01.2026 19:23 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Any Democratic votes to fund DHS later this month as Minneapolis is being terrorized by DHS is going to be a major slap in the face to Americans living here. Demand major reforms or shut the government down.

13.01.2026 00:51 — 👍 23299    🔁 6782    💬 595    📌 404

I agree with Secretary Noem that this was an act of domestic terrorism.

However, I disagree about who the terrorist is.

08.01.2026 10:20 — 👍 186    🔁 22    💬 4    📌 1

thanks for your efforts. your strike was an inspiration. This is an unfortunate outcome.

07.01.2026 20:06 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Jacob Frey: "To ICE -- get the fuck out of Minneapolis"

07.01.2026 18:40 — 👍 38610    🔁 11575    💬 1250    📌 1138

I explained the dangers of the recent politicization of grant reviews at NIH for The Hill, and also that while diversity otherwise remains a bad word, geographic diversity is somehow laudable.
thehill.com/opinion/tech...

07.01.2026 15:12 — 👍 11    🔁 14    💬 0    📌 3

with all due respect to @abepalmer.bsky.social , it's actually much worse than he says.

07.01.2026 16:33 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

at least you got that far. I assume I'm not the only one having trouble getting the system to work?

06.01.2026 21:03 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The regime is actively working to make living by a deadline harder. Taxes, elections, healthcare, bills. All affected by this ridiculous policy. See next post for more information.

FDT

29.12.2025 21:49 — 👍 683    🔁 466    💬 37    📌 39
Jay Bhattacharya & Matt Memoli Join the Pete & Bobby Fitness Challenge! 💪🔥#MAHA
YouTube video by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Jay Bhattacharya & Matt Memoli Join the Pete & Bobby Fitness Challenge! 💪🔥#MAHA

If you are wondering what the NIH "leadership" is doing instead of learning about NIH programs and tending to important matters...here you go...

Performative Fitness!

www.youtube.com/shorts/E84dg...

19.12.2025 17:24 — 👍 26    🔁 1    💬 2    📌 3

Simply outrageous!

17.12.2025 19:00 — 👍 40    🔁 13    💬 0    📌 0
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American Academy of Pediatrics loses government funding after criticizing RFK Jr Cuts, which affect projects focused on issues including early identification of autism, made without prior notice to AAP

RFK Jr. has cancelled grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics because “they no longer align with departmental priorities”.

The grants were on such topics as “reducing sudden infant death, rural access to health care, and mental health…”

The AAP has criticized RFK Jr. That’s the real reason.

17.12.2025 23:36 — 👍 1058    🔁 494    💬 67    📌 63
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Ending a $5 million research study when it is 70% complete does not save $1 million, it wastes $4 million.

When a project loses federal funding before completion, finding alternative resources is challenging. Most philanthropies do not have comparable resources.

🧪 www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...

17.12.2025 16:44 — 👍 1146    🔁 412    💬 19    📌 4
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How the NIH became the backbone of American medical research and a major driver of innovation and economic growth The agency’s budget has grown steadily since the 1960s, fueling an industry that creates lifesaving medicines and attracts billions of dollars in investment.

The NIH has funded research underlying about 99% of newly approved medicines while saving the pharmaceutical industry nearly $3 billion per drug in development costs. A proposed 40% budget cut threatens this engine of American innovation and economic growth. buff.ly/jWhsPXt

16.12.2025 12:48 — 👍 22    🔁 9    💬 1    📌 1
The Mother of All Demos, presented by Douglas Engelbart (1968)
YouTube video by Marcel The Mother of All Demos, presented by Douglas Engelbart (1968)

thanks for @laurenweinstein.org for pointing out - the 57th anniversary of Douglas Englebart's "mother of all demos", introducing the mouse and word processor, all running on 1960s computers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJDv...

09.12.2025 17:35 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

"About 25% of children who develop chronic hepatitis B will die of their infection."
--Dr. Andrew Pavia, pediatric infectious disease specialist, professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Utah, and spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America

05.12.2025 16:34 — 👍 982    🔁 474    💬 40    📌 20

Extortion worked. Northwestern had not been able to draw down money on grants since April. Hemorrhaging money.

But the likely long-term consequences for NU and other schools is clear.

New mascot to replace the Wildcat: A tame cat with two broken kneecaps.

Mew…

29.11.2025 02:11 — 👍 100    🔁 31    💬 6    📌 2