James Galasyn

This Physicist Says We Don’t Take COVID Seriously Enough | The Tyee We downplay the virus at our peril, warns Yaneer Bar-Yam. And children are more at risk than we thought.

This Physicist Says We Don't Take COVID Seriously Enough via @thetyee.ca

thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

Updating my LEGO White House

Anti-science bills hit statehouses, stripping away public health protections built over a century More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections – vaccines, milk safety and fluoride – have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S. this year.

"An AP investigation found that the wave of legislation has cropped up in most states, pushed by people with close ties to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The effort would strip away protections that have been built over a century and are integral to American lives and society." #maha

The #Portland #FrogBrigade speaks! (now with subtitles!)

"We decided to come support our friend Toad.
(aka The #AntiFascistFrog)

He's a friend from another pond.

They are calling Portland an explosive fire-ridden sort of warland, which it's not, because […]

[Original post on mastodon.online]

Trump administration rehires hundreds of federal employees laid off by DOGE Hundreds of laid-off federal employees who managed government workspaces are being called back to their jobs as the Trump administration walks back plans to slash its real estate portfolio.

"'Ultimately, the outcome was the agency was left broken and understaffed,' said Chad Becker, a former GSA official. 'They didn't have the people they needed to carry out basic functions.'

"Rep. Stanton said there is no evidence that reductions at the agency 'delivered any savings.'" #musk

The upside is Lt. Col. Kilgore ends up begging for his surfboard back from the PBR crewman Lance Johnson. "Just give me back the board, Lance. It was a good board and I like it. You know how hard it is to find a board you like."

China’s Great Firewall suffers its biggest leak ever as 500GB of source code and docs spill online — censorship tool has been sold to three different countries Leaks tie China’s state-grade DPI gear to deployments in Myanmar, Pakistan, and beyond.

"Chinese censorship sprang a major leak on September 11, when researchers confirmed that more than 500GB of internal documents, source code, and internal communications from the so-called Great Firewall were dumped online." #censorship

Fake military IDs, bogus résumés: How North Korean and Chinese hackers use AI tools to infiltrate companies and other targets From bogus résumés to fake IDs, North Korean and Chinese hackers are using AI chatbots to infiltrate companies and carry out espionage.

"From bogus IDs to made-up résumés, North Korean and Chinese hackers have been using AI tools to supercharge espionage and slip into companies and other targets." #ai

"Mace wiped tears from her face and averted reporters’ eyes as she walked past them, signaling she would not be taking questions.

"'I feel the immense pain of how hard all victims are fighting for themselves because we know absolutely no one will fight for us,' she added." #ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles

Florida moves to end all school vaccine mandates, first in nation to do so Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo criticized school vaccine mandates, which every state has, and likened them to slavery.

BREAKING Florida moves to end all school vaccine mandates, first in nation to do so. @davidovalle.bsky.social

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

How Elon Musk Is Remaking Grok in His Image

"Elon #Musk has said Grok, the A.I.-powered chatbot that his company developed, should be 'politically neutral' and 'maximally truth-seeking.'

"But in practice, Mr. Musk and his artificial intelligence company, xAI, have tweaked the chatbot to make its answers more conservative on many issues."

Spot on.

Brazil is as prescient as ever 40 years later and newly restored in 4K.

"Rewatching Brazil in 2025 — nearly four decades after its release — it’s hard to understate how well this movie holds up. Wildly inventive at every turn, Gilliam’s satirical vision of a cruel and violent bureaucracy rings eerily true of this political moment." #fascism

The case against humans in space Three books push back on a rising tide of optimism about space settlements.

I've been saying this for years: space is for robots.

"'Space sucks' and a lot of people have 'underestimated the scale of suckitude,' as Kelly and Zach Weinersmith put it in their book 'A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?'" #musk

Factcheck: Trump’s climate report includes more than 100 false or misleading claims

"A 'critical assessment' report commissioned by the [Dear Leader] administration to justify a rollback of US climate regulations contains at least 100 false or misleading statements, according to a Carbon Brief factcheck involving dozens of leading climate scientists." #TrumpLies

Timeline of Jeffrey Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell Law Enforcement Failures (1996-2025) A comprehensive timeline of the failure of federal law enforcement to address Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes.

1/ We put enormous effort into this:

Comprehensive Timeline of Jeffrey Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell Law Enforcement Failures (1996-2025)

Important findings. Some will be new to many, including close observers

All levels of government. 3 decades.

#GhislaineMaxwell #EpsteinFiles #Corruption
🧵

Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees.

I've often said that as the catastrophic effects of abrupt climate change become obvious to everyone, humanity will blind itself to the grim reality, then blame scientists for failing to warn us.

Bizarre ancient creatures unearthed in the Grand Canyon A groundbreaking fossil discovery in the Grand Canyon has unveiled exquisitely preserved soft-bodied animals from the Cambrian period, offering an unprecedented glimpse into early life more than 500 m...

"Due to the size of the fossil and its exotic rows of teeth, the researchers named this new animal Kraytdraco spectatus, after the krayt dragon, a fictional creature from the Star Wars universe." #science

Violent Crime in D.C. Hits 30 Year Low Total violent crime for 2024 in the District of Columbia is down 35% from 2023 and is the lowest it has been in over 30 years, according to data collected by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) a...

For reference: "Total violent crime for 2024 in D.C. is down 35% from 2023 and is the lowest it has been in over 30 years, according to data collected by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves. A breakdown of the data is available here." #fascism

China Shows Off Armed Attack Robots The Chinese state broadcasting group recently released footage of its newly developed "robot wolves" in simulated combat drills.

"The Chinese state broadcaster CCTV recently released a brief video series showing off its newly developed 'robot wolves,' equipped with combat rifles, in simulated combat drills." #ai

Climate Scientists Look to Fight Back Against DOE’s ‘Antiscientific,’ ‘Deceptive’ Climate Report - Inside Climate News Climate scientist Michael Mann called the report “a deeply misleading antiscientific narrative, built on deceptive arguments, misrepresented datasets, and distortion of actual scientific understanding...

"With this decision, climate change denial is now the official policy of the U.S. government." — science historian Naomi Oreskes

"Not since Stalin and Soviet Lysenkoism have we seen such a brazen effort to misrepresent science in service of an ideological agenda." — Climate scientist Michael Mann

As always with MAGA, the cruelty is the point.

NYPD Officer From Bangladesh Killed in Midtown Manhattan Shooting The slain officer was named Didarul Islam. His wife is eight months pregnant with their third child.

NYPD Officer From Bangladesh Killed in Midtown Manhattan Shooting

The slain officer was named Didarul Islam. His wife is eight months pregnant with their third child.

migrantinsider.com/p/nypd-offic...

There's a Major Publishing Slowdown at CDC's Flagship Journal Each MMWR article now requires clearance by the HHS secretary, sources said

"The so-called voice of the CDC has been much quieter lately, a MedPage Today analysis found. ... 'It makes us less safe because our hospitals and healthcare facilities are going to be less informed.'" #trump

Hackers leak 13,000 user photos and IDs from the Tea app, designed as a women's safe space The viral app requires new users to take selfies, which it says it deletes after review.

"Hackers have breached the Tea app, which recently went viral as a place for women to safely talk about men, and tens of thousands of women's selfies and photo IDs have now seemingly been leaked online." #womensrights

Berke Breathed's Bloom County, 18 July 2025. #epstein www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1...

Hundreds of NASA Employees, Past and Present, Sign Letter of Formal Dissent

“We’re scared of retaliation. We huddle in the bathroom and look under the stalls to make sure that no one else is there before we talk.

I’m already at risk of losing my job, and I’d rather speak out and try to save something at NASA, rather than just hide under my desk until I get laid off.”

‘All US forces must now assume their networks are compromised’ after Salt Typhoon breach The announcement marks the second major Salt Typhoon incident in the space of two years

"As part of the breach, [China's] Salt Typhoon is believed to have collected and exfiltrated sensitive data, including configuration files for critical national infrastructure (CNI) organizations and state government agencies." #hack

Dr. Seuss, 1941. Citation: library.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dsw.... #ice