Andrea

photo of paulina borsook

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).

But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

‘Sick to My Stomach’: Trump Distorts Facts on Autism, Tylenol, and Vaccines, Scientists Say - KFF Health News The White House’s autism announcement exaggerates links to Tylenol, misleads on vaccines, and sets back the field by ignoring decades of research, scientists say.

If you read one story about the autism announcement, make it @amymaxmen.bsky.social's.

One detail that others miss: "Fevers can harm the mother and the developing fetus, she said, adding that fevers are more strongly associated with autism than Tylenol." kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Donald Trump is way less popular than he wants you to believe.

And you are significantly more powerful than he wants you to think.

Twenty Lessons, read by John Lithgow Key selections from On Tyranny, for viewing and sharing

Here is my best guidance, rendered beautifully by the great John Lithgow. I first published these lessons nearly nine years ago, in late 2016. They open the twenty chapters of "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century."
snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-les...

Some hopeful reading for my climate class at Harvard. (from "Not Too Late" by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social)

Damn the old country’s beautiful #StandWithUkraine

PUBLIC HEALTH ORDER NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SECRETARY GINA DEBLASSIE AUGUST 29, 2025 Ensuring Availability of COVID-19 Vaccine for the 2025-2026 Season

THIS ORDER supersedes any previous order, proclamation, or directives to the extent they are in conflict. This Public Order shall take effect immediately and remain in effect until such time as it automatically expires one year from the date of issuance, or until such time as the New Mexico Department of Health Cabinet Secretary rescinds it.

New Mexico has issued a public health order that removes federal restrictions to COVID-19 vaccine access so that pharmacies in New Mexico can vaccinate people of all ages and risk profiles. Every state need to do this!

With O'Neill (apparently) taking over CDC (if they ever get around to firing Monarez), I think it's worth looking back to Project 2025 and asking what they actually intend to *do* to CDC. So, I went to remind myself today. Here's what's in store:

Thankfully transmission of T cruzi to humans is rare in the US because the species of kissing bugs we have don’t feed on people very often, and when they do, usually don’t defecate while feeding (needed to get the Protozoa into the bite wound). But cases do happen and are probably under-diagnosed.

Low risk for locally acquired Chagas disease in California: A review of human cases and triatomine submissions, 2013–2023 The risk of Chagas disease has historically been limited to continental Latin America, though the presence of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi in triatomine vectors across the southern United States has...

You can read more about T. cruzi and Chagas disease in California here: journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...

There are several triatomine species in the US, all with different host preferences and tendencies to colonize human homes. Triatomines in California prefer to feed on wood rats, though they may find their way into people's homes. But thankfully they're polite and don't tend to poop on their hosts.

The burden of Chagas disease in the United States is likely underappreciated, but the risk of local transmission is low. In California, we have been paying closer attention to this recently and are finding mostly chronic infections in people who lived in Latin America at some point in their lives.

I was also surprised when I learned that T. cruzi infection was common in wildlife (primarily wood rats) in California, but this is not a new phenomenon. T. cruzi transmission in wildlife has been documented for decades.

As a longtime public health reporter covering the rise of anti-vaccine groups, I have seen them use personal stories to raise doubts about vaccines.
Today I saw immunization advocates push back by highlighting the stories of the toll of vaccine-preventable illness. A thread:

Talked to so many people who were at the first protests of their lives today. Ex-Republicans, introverts, 90-year-olds and 3-year-olds. This was at an intersection in a 60,000 person town. Haven’t felt hope like this in my life.

Fill this out and contribute information! It’s especially important for the smaller protests happening outside big metros.

These stunning photos show how nature came back after the world’s largest dam removal project Four dams and three large reservoirs were removed from the Klamath River in a project that finished last year. Acres of native wildflowers are now in bloom along the river’s edge.

“The hand-seeding exceeded my wildest expectations." - Yurok Fisheries Department Senior Riparian Ecologist Joshua Chenoweth @fastcompany.com
www.fastcompany.com/91333804/the...

The Episcopal Church is ending its nearly 40-year partnership with the federal government for refugee resettlement. This decision stems from moral opposition to the Trump administration's classification of South African Afrikaners as refugees, despite them not meeting the official definition.

These Senate Democrats need to hear from their constituents right now: Ruben Gallego (AZ) Adam Schiff (CA) John Hickenlooper (CO) Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE) Raphael Warnock (GA) Catherine Cortez Masto (NV) Andy Kim (NJ) Ben Ray Luján (NM) Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) Mark Warner (VA) Tell your senators to vote NO on the GENIUS Act, the crypto-friendly bill that would enable Trump's corruption.

🚨 We’re hearing the crypto-friendly bill that would enable Trump’s corruption could get another Senate vote on Thursday. Democrats can block this bill, but that’s not going to happen unless they hear from a lot of us. Let’s get to work: indivisible.org/resource/cal...

The dude with the red lightsaber is trying to tell us he's not a Sith. Sith, please.

We are looking for a great colleague @mcgill.ca

Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Department of Global and Public Health

mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/McGill...

Harvard rejected policy changes demanded by Trump — becoming the first university to directly refuse to comply with the regime’s demands.

Other universities should take note.

Every institution, group, firm, or individual that surrenders to Trump’s tyranny invites more of it.

Kennedy Attends Funeral of Texas Girl Who Died of Measles The health secretary has faced harsh criticism for his handling of the outbreak, embrace of alternative treatments and tepid endorsement of vaccination.

These measles deaths are not medical errors. This sits squarely on the back of antivaccine voices that have continued to spread disinformation.

An atrocious gutting of our collective public health present and future. For detail on #NIH grants cancelled, see our AirTable.

airtable.com/appjhyo9NTvJ...

Numbers different than HHS because of how we handle supplements/subprojects. Unlike DOGE mf'rs, we care about details. Details mean lives.

And if you can’t get anyone on the phone, send an email to your senators. 👇

I rarely say this, but if your Senate Democrat isn't doing what Chris Coons is doing, you should be calling them and asking why the hell not. It's not enough to EVENTUALLY oppose this bill - we need Senate Dems out there publicly rallying the troops RIGHT NOW.

"Developing a device that could treat severe bleeding. It seems to have caught the committee’s attention for using the words “victims” — as in gunshot victims — and “trauma.” Creating biosensors to detect infectious diseases. The grant appears to have been tagged for the repeated use of “POC,” an acronym often used for “people of color” but in this context meaning “point of care” — that is, the place where people receive medical treatment — and “barrier,” referring to a part of the biosensor itself. Designing eye-tracking technology for diagnosing and treating concussions. It appears to have gotten flagged for referencing “traumatic” brain injuries and the “status,” meaning the condition, of patients."

ProPublica looked into science grants that Ted Cruz's team flagged as "radical" and "neo-Marxist" and, uh.

This would be good comedy if it didn't matter so much www.propublica.org/article/ted-...

And most of all, if you know someone being attacked, targeted because because of who they are, or told they don't belong, STOP. Tell them they belong here. Tell them they are loved.

If you are lost or confused or overwhelmed, REST. Then get up and get back at it. Even if you can only say, "This is wrong. I don't support this." Say it quietly to people. Start conversations.

If you are not in a position to fight back, contact 3 people you see fighting & say, I see you. Thank you. Keep going.

If you are in a position to fight back, fight back.

Pass it on.

The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?

Good morning friends. This morning is tough. So many missing faces. If going to work feels like a hard act of resistance it’s because it is. Working is resisting. Keep showing up!

#resist