Amanda Fanniff, PhD

Facts to Inform the Debate about the U.S. Government’s Anti-Drug Offensive in the Americas - WOLA Fact sheet: U.S. military anti-drug strikes have killed at least 43 civilians in the Caribbean. Examines the operations' legal basis, justifications, and effectiveness.

- What is the current "boat strike" death toll? (43)
- How much of cocaine supplies (est) actually transit Venezuela? (10-13%)
- How much US-bound fentanyl comes from South America? (none)

We all need credibly sourced information right now. And here is a new @wola-org.bsky.social fact sheet:

Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory An intensive international study was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC

Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory. www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

"...global vaccine efforts have saved >150 million lives since 1974, cavities have declined dramatically since community water fluoridation began in 1945, and milk pasteurization has saved millions from foodborne illness"
We need #evidencebased policies, not conspiracies & junk science
#publichealth

Federal employees in mental health and disease control were among targets in weekend firings Federal employees working on mental health services, disease outbreaks and disaster preparedness were among those hit by the Trump administration’s mass firings over the weekend.

1/ The chaos at our nation’s public health agencies continues. Last Friday, amidst an ongoing government shutdown, roughly 1,300 CDC employees were fired with no warning.

One of APA's summaries of the need for these bans: www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq...

If conversion therapy bans are ruled illegal, so much harm will be done
Contrast: 9th circuit said "States do not lose the power to regulate the safety of medical txs performed under the authority of a state license merely because those txs are implemented through speech rather than through scalpel"

COVID vaccines may have averted thousands of hospital stays in infants, pregnant women over 18 months

Study in JAMA Pediatrics estimates that vaccinating pregnant women against COVID-19 prevented 7,000 hospitalizations in infants and 3,000 in pregnant women from January 2024 to May 2025. 
#Medsky
www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/cov...

Let's be clear: no one should be taking medical advice from the man who told Americans to inject bleach.

To moms worried about the Tylenol they took while pregnant: you deserve better than being RFK Jr's scapegoat.

And to the autism community: you are loved exactly as you are.

@nationalacademies.org has issued a report that examines the sources, spread, & consequences of science #misinformation & presents evidence-based strategies to help mitigate its harms.

Right now, this seems more important than ever.

Register for free for in-person or virtual symposium attendance:

In December 2023, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked SCOTUS to grant cert before judgement to hear Trump’s immunity appeal.

The court rejected that request and didn’t issue its immunity decision until July 2024.

Trump’s federal cases never made it to trial before the November 2024 election.

We must continue to follow the science, despite the administration sharing misinformation. Acetaminophen is safe during pregnancy.
#defendscience
#StandUpForScience
#ScienceNotSilence
#EvidenceBasedPractice

Kagan: "Our emergency docket should never be used, as it has been this year, to permit what our own precedent bars. Still more, it should not be used, as it has been, to transfer government authority from Congress to the President, and thus to reshape the Nation's separation of powers."

#BREAKING: Over dissents from Justices Sotomayor, Kagan & Jackson, #SCOTUS grants a stay in the Slaughter case (allowing President Trump to remove the last Dem member of the FTC), *and* grants certiorari "before judgment" to decide whether to formally overrule its 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor.

The president's recommendations could put children in harm's way.

Even if clinical guidance does not change, pregnant people risk hurting themselves and their children when they run fevers and do not treat them.

This is a completely avoidable & self-inflicted public health crisis in the making.

These findings in the new Washington Post poll jump off the page: Trump is underwater by 19 points on his handling of the economy (40/59) and underwater by 30 points on his handling of tariffs.

By contrast, the same poll found him at +14 net approval on the economy in Oct. 2020.

Border Czar Tom Homan was caught by the FBI accepting bribes - on camera - to deliver government contracts in exchange for $50,000 in cash.

Pam Bondi knew.

Kash Patel knew.

Emil Bove knew.

And they made the investigation go away.

A corrupt attempt to conceal brazen graft.

FBI to Categorize Trans People As "Nihilistic Violent Extremist" Threat Group, Report Says The choice is being championed by the Heritage Foundation, which is behind Project 2025.

Ok my cis friends, we are going to need a lot of you to step the fuck up and fight hard for us

www.them.us/story/trump-...

ABC10 station struck by gunfire Friday afternoon Shots were fired from outside the building into the lobby. Nobody was hurt.

The ABC10 news station in Sacramento was shot at today, with at least three rounds making it through the front window and into the lobby. No one injured, no clear motive; still, chilling:

Comedians are far quieter today than I would have hoped.

Sources: ICE detainee dies at Nassau County jail; investigation underway The man was being held under a partnership between Nassau County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under which the county provides 50 jail cells for immigration detainees and receive...

A man caged by ICE was found dead in his cell inside a Long Island jail 18 hours after arriving there.

162,000 doctors strong: The American College of Physicians demands RFK Jr. be removed as HHS Secretary, warning he is undermining vaccines, science, and public health.

www.acponline.org/acp-newsroom...
#BlueSky #MedSky #NewsSky #NurseSky #SciSky

Advocates push lawmakers on Capitol Hill to protect higher education The American Federation of Teachers and American Association of University Professors launched a campaign and lobbied on Capitol Hill Thursday.

Colleges and universities save lives, build futures, and power our economy. Our campaign with @AAUP.org is to strengthen higher education for everyone, regardless of ideology, because #HigherEdBenefitsEveryone. spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee...

I don’t understand why this is not getting more attention. The Trump administration is killing people with no legal basis.

Breaking: A CDC advisory panel filled with RFK Jr.'s handpicked vaccine skeptics just unanimously recommended limiting the COVID shot to people 65 and older or those with underlying health conditions, based on a decision individually or with their doctor.

From the letter's demands:
1-Defend healthcare, science, safety, & public health
2-Stop the lawless impoundment of congressionally appropriated funds
3-Protect the federal workforce needed to carry out our agency missions from unlawful purges, retaliation, & reorganizations
4-Protect civil liberties

Luckily, Sinclair has a helpful database of all their stations, so you can see if they're operating in your area and respond accordingly.

sbgi.net/tv-stations/

Trump’s allies now control X, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, & TikTok.

They own Fox News, CBS, WaPo, WSJ & NY Post.

They own Sinclair Broadcasting which has 200 tv stations and local news in 100 markets.

“Freedom of speech” is now what Trump and his billionaire pals say it is.

@wkamaubell.bsky.social warns that folks who fall between celebrities being targeted & immigrants being illegally detained are encouraged to tell ourselves "it will be fine"

When anyone is silenced, we can all be silenced
When anyone doesn't get due process, we can all be detained w/o due process

As Dr. Monarez made clear from her testimony, these votes were essentially pre-determined by RFK Jr and his careful selection of like-minded supporters to staff ACIP. He asked her to guarantee in advance she would approve the votes, no matter the science.

@timmiller.bsky.social: “This is the federal government pressuring media companies to silence critics of the president. I mean, this is a straight out of the authoritarian playbook. It is an attempt to silence speech directly from the government.”