Tara C. Smith

Texas AG Paxton Declares Therapists Affirming Trans Youth To Be Illegal And Child Abuse The declaration echoes his 2022 efforts to target parents of trans youth with child abuse, and may force conversion therapy on trans youth in the state.

1. This morning, Texas AG Ken Paxton just released a chilling new declaration:

Mental health therapists, counselors, and psychologists must cease affirming trans youth - using their name and pronouns - or potentially face child abuse charges and loss of licensure.

Its a horrifying escalation.

Ah, remember the good old days when Mike Pence caused a seismic spike in Indiana’s HIV infection rate because of his version of Christianity? Well, this reason is even dumber and more pointlessly cruel.

I read Carrion Comfort & Summer of Night in high school and always felt I should read the Hyperion stuff but never got around to it. Didn't realize the rest of his shit was so bad. (& maybe those were too! But i was less attuned to that at like 16).

Ugh. As if this year wasn’t off to an awful enough start already. 😭

Clarity in communications

Awww no :(

🔔Seminar Opportunity🔔

We're looking for (self)recommendations for a Postdoc who is working in the area of AMR (any area, any discipline) to give an online seminar in May.

Reply, DM or email me, there will more opportunities in the future as well so will be good to have a list.

#MicroSky #AMR

I think it is absolutely scandalous that in just one year of an HHS under the leadership RFK.Jr the US has lost its Measles elimination status and is now on track to do same for perinatally acquired Hepatitis B. These are huge public health wins that took years to accomplish.

The National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) Advisory Council guides research & care on Alzheimer’s. It didn't meet for a full year under Trump. Before it finally met in Feb 2026, its membership was gutted & replaced, just like ACIP & other councils.
www.27unihted.org/napa

A titan of vaccine development sees his field’s achievements slip away Stanley Plotkin, the 93-year-old "godfather of vaccines," is watching his field’s achievements slip away.

Stanley Plotkin had a major hand in the development of a number of vaccines in use today; he designed the rubella vaccine. He remembers the world before widespread use of vaccines & knows what's coming as vaccine policy is rewritten & vaccine confidence is eroded. www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

Jfc

JID: Multiple Measles Transmission Events Associated with a Single Traveler Arriving in the United States, May 2025

15 secondary cases

Jennifer J Fowler et al

Director Jay Bhattacharya: make this CDC paper open access, please

bit.ly/4b3BPub

I can't access but sounds like same outbreak from the MMWR?
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...

"Health freedom" ain't cheap.

RFK Jr’s cousin called him a “predator” & said he’d put live mice & chicks into a blender

“It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence," said Carolyn Kennedy

He now "preys on the desperation of parents of sick children," she said

www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

This is a very important point. The vaccines do reduce transmission.

That bears out in the data.

And it’s important to say it bc right-wing operatives like NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya use the lie that they don’t reduce transmission to support their pro-infection/herd immunity advocacy.

Cervical cancer rates higher in states with low HPV vaccination rates

RFK Jr *lies* when he says cervical cancer risk is increased in women who get the HPV vaccine.

New study: "States with high vaccination rates have seen the biggest drop in cervical cancer, while states with low vaccination rates have had little to no progress"

www.cidrap.umn.edu/human-papill...

Measles outbreaks are costing the U.S. millions of dollars. The true losses can't be counted. As vaccination rates decline, the economic consequences will increase, research suggests.

If measles vaccination rates continue to drop just 1% annually for the next five years, the cost to the U.S. could reach $1.5 billion a year, according to a new report from the Yale School of Public Health.

RFK Jr's ACIP Committee Has Scheduled a Meeting Next Month The upcoming ACIP meeting, led by RFK Jr., will focus on discussions surrounding COVID-19 vaccine injuries and Long-COVID, diverting attention from measles resurgence and vaccine hesitancy. Critics ar...

RFK Jr's ACIP Committee has scheduled a meeting next month, but instead of surging measles cases, they will discuss long COVID and use VAERS reports to frame it as a vaccine injury! bit.ly/3MOBbIX #StopAntiVaxPropaganda

at least we’ve transitioned from horrible shit happening in february to horrible shit happening in march

That's right. Worse than Pointless
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/o...

Social media created this nonsense idea that not exposing yourself to hatred is isolationist. Choosing to not spend your free time with bigots isn’t living in a bubble. I don’t need to know what’s going on at X. I won’t be smarter or more knowledgeable or empathic by being there. Neither will you.

dang that must suck that someone else used what they created without them allowing it

Hepatitis B vaccine trial is suspended, not canceled The Bandim Health Project says it’s working on changing its protocol to address concerns while doubling down on its claim that the study design is ethical.

Apparently, it is not yet dead.
"Hepatitis B vaccine trial is suspended, not canceled, per Africa CDC"

www.bioxconomy.com/modalities/h...

Screen shot from american board of pediatrics showing Sean Downing as not certified.

Screen shot from american board of pediatrics showing angelina Farella as not certified.

RFK Jr. Just added two pediatricians to the ACIP. Neither one is board certified.

(it is not hard to maintain Pediatrics board certification. One just has to answer about 75 multiple choice questions and pay a nominal fee).

www.hhs.gov/press-room/s...

South Carolina Hospitals Aren’t Required to Disclose Measles-Related Admissions. That Leaves Doctors in the Dark. Physicians across South Carolina, home to the largest measles outbreak in decades, are advising patients without the benefit of real-time data on hospitalizations due to measles-related pneumonia, bra...

South Carolina doesn’t require hospitals to report measles-related admissions, making it difficult to ascertain how sick people are getting.

“The public might get the false impression that measles is milder than it really is,” one expert said.

WHO updates all 3 viral strains to be included in fall flu shots

The recommendation for vaccines for the next flu season includes a new influenza variant—subclade K—that started to increase last fall.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/i...

When The NE Ohio Regional Sewer District hires a liberal arts kid to run social:

this is what they said it would be like under socialism

A screenshot of Rachel Dratch from SNL. She's a white woman with short dark hair and blue eyes, and she's making an awkward expression that implies, "Sorry I have to tell you this and ruin your good time. But also I'm kind of not sorry about it." I've added a subtitle that reads, "That's AI."

an updated debbie downer sketch but it's friends showing her funny videos and she has to respond like this to every single one like this: