Tom Cooney MD

Lower speeds save lives @pbotinfo.bsky.social @bikeportland.org @bikeloudpdx.bsky.social

Exclusive: Medical journal rejects Kennedy's call for retraction of vaccine study An influential U.S. medical journal is rejecting a call from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to retract a large Danish study that found that aluminum ingredients in vaccines do not increase health risks for children, the journal's editor told Reuters.

This is what scientific integrity looks like: Dr. Christine Laine, editor in chief of the @annalsofim.bsky.social and a professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, said, “I see no reason for retraction.” @acpimphysicians.bsky.social #publichealth #vaccine

www.reuters.com/business/hea...

US veterans agency lost thousands of ‘core’ medical staff under Trump, records show Departures are exacerbating existing shortages and creating ‘very unsafe’ conditions for patients, veterans and health workers say

“The Department of #Veterans Affairs has lost thousands of #healthcare professionals deemed “core” to the system’s ability to function and “without which mission-critical work cannot be completed”, agency records show.”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Opinion | The price increases that should cause Americans more alarm The price of health insurance is rising faster than the price of eggs or gasoline.

“If voters paid as much attention to the price of #health #insurance as they do to the cost of gas and eggs, maybe elected officials would respond with more action.” #healthcare

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

US health agency to wind down mRNA vaccine development The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday it would wind down mRNA vaccine development activities under its biomedical research unit.

Well done, Senator #Cassidy (@SenBillCassidy at the other place...)

www.reuters.com/business/hea...

These public radio stations have built online audiences that’ll help them survive federal cuts They may have been born on the airwaves, but these public media stations compete on the web as well. Here's our first monthly ranking of the top 25 local public media websites in the United States.

"The federal funding cut will cost @opb.org about $5 million, she said, or about 9% of its annual budget." #Oregon #PDX #radio #NPR

www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/thes...

That's our @opb.org !

#public #radio

Here's the latest on the City's attempt to remove diverters in northwest Portland This is a test of how Portland's new government makes decisions.

So far, I haven’t heard satisfactory answers to my questions and I remain very concerned not just about the impacts of removing these diverters, but about the precedent we would set by doing so.

bikeportland.org/2025/08/05/h...

Big projects, bigger problems: Oregon bridge, highway efforts face delays and steep costs As Oregon lawmakers prepare to return for a special session focused on transportation, the Rose Quarter and other high-profile projects are on the back burner.

If I claimed these projects would alleviate homelessness, people would think that's ridiculous. But they'll repeat the disproved mantra these things reduce congestion. We should expect better from journalists. www.opb.org/article/2025...

Ultraprocessed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health: a randomized, crossover trial - Nature Medicine A free-living trial in people with overweight or obesity found that minimally processed diets led to greater weight loss and cardiometabolic improvements than ultraprocessed diets following UK healthy...

Reductions in weight (−0.96 kg (s.e., 0.40); P = 0.019) and BMI (−0.34 kg m−2 (s.e., 0.14); P = 0.021) were significantly greater on the MPF versus UPF diet

#food #diet #health

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Safety of JN.1-Updated mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines This cohort study investigates the association between booster vaccinations containing the JN.1 lineage and 29 serious adverse events in Denmark.

“In this nationwide cohort study, no increased risk of 29 adverse events was observed after vaccination with the updated #COVID-19 mRNA #vaccine containing the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron JN.1 lineage in approximately 1 million adults”

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Tesla withheld data, lied, and misdirected police and plaintiffs to avoid blame in Autopilot crash Tesla was caught withholding data, lying about it, and misdirecting authorities in the wrongful death case involving Autopilot that it...

The utter mendacity of #Tesla

electrek.co/2025/08/04/t...

Opinion: ODOT’s crisis is a spending problem, not a revenue problem ODOT's problems stem not from declining gas tax revenue – which is higher than it was five years ago, but from its excessive spending and dramatic cost overruns on a handful of mega projects, writes e...

Joe Cortright’s op-ed shows ODOT’s financial crisis is not a revenue problem, but a spending problem. Ballooning costs on highway megaprojects like the Rose Quarter and Abernethy Bridge mean basic maintenance is being sacrificed. #Oregon #ODOT #transportation #pdx www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2025...

Opinion | 845,000 dead on U.S. highways. Why not address the main cause? We need to ramp up the standards for road tests and train people to be better drivers.

Remarkably naive commentary that ignores contributions of vehicle size (in 2022 the average #car sold in America weighed 1,857kg, almost 20% more than the average in Europe), road design, lack of enforcement....

His solution? better driver training

#transportation #auto #safety
wapo.st/4m8mL2D

Trump fires labor statistics chief after large revision to jobs report Trump orders firing of Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after release of large revisions to employment data

Solution to economic downturn? Fire the messenger! #MAGA #Trump

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Exodus at VA: 10,000 Employees Are Resigning in September. Here’s the List Over 10,000 employees will leave the VA in September after taking a deferred resignation. Nurse and doctors quit too. See the full list of positions.

"Since the end of last September, #VA has 2,000 fewer registered #nurses and 750 fewer #doctors, according to the latest VA workforce dashboard. By comparison, during the same period the previous year, VA had added a net total of 3,000 RNs and 200 doctors." #veterans

thewarhorse.org/list-va-posi...

Trump drove firing of FDA official The president overruled his HHS secretary and FDA chief, four people with knowledge of the decision tell POLITICO.

Speaking of swimming with sharks...

#MAGA #Trump #MAHA #JFKjr
www.politico.com/healthcare-n...

The federal government is paying more than 154,000 people not to work Early resignation offers and other programs have reduced the workforce, but critics say the moves are also wasting money.

Speaking of #government #waste...

wapo.st/3IRXIlK

Top F.D.A. Official Resigns Under Pressure

Karma can be such a bitch
#FDA #vaccine

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/h...

Aluminum-Adsorbed Vaccines and Chronic Diseases in Childhood: A Nationwide Cohort Study: Annals of Internal Medicine: Vol 0, No 0 Background: Aluminum is used as an adjuvant in nonlive vaccines administered in early childhood. Concerns persist about potential associations between vaccination with aluminum-adsorbed vaccines and i...

"This nationwide cohort study did not find evidence supporting an increased risk for autoimmune, atopic or allergic, or neurodevelopmental disorders associated with early #childhood exposure to aluminum-adsorbed #vaccines"

More data on #child #vaccine safety

www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...

Rose Quarter freeway project construction to begin in August despite $1.5B funding gap

TriMet will reduce service, make layoffs to close $300 million budget gap

These two headlines provide a nice little snapshot on how politicians are handling transportation governance is in progressive, blue state Oregon. #orleg #orpol

Letting People Move - Climate and Community Institute Transportation policy represents a key tool to address both the cost of living and climate crises. In the United States, the shortcomings of today’s transportation system …

Letting People Move climateandcommunity.org/research/let...

@oregondot.bsky.social @pbotinfo.bsky.social @bikeportland.org @bikeloudpdx.bsky.social

Opinion | Doctors Have Lost Their Mount Olympus of Medicine

Doctors Have Lost Their Mount Olympus of Medicine www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/o...

“So many of our resources are now gone, and those that remain no longer feel trustworthy. Americans’ #health will decline at the hands of our federal government. And there’s no vaccine for that.”

#healthcare

#Portland Opera performing Carmen in Peninsula Park on a beautiful #PNW evening.

Trustworthy journalism #Trump

#Veterans Affairs facing staffing shortages in critical patient care positions.

#healthcare #VA

Individual market insurers requesting largest premium increases in more than 5 years - Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker Early indications are that individual market insurers will be increasing premiums in 2026 by more than they have since 2018, the last time policy uncertainty contributed to sharp premium increases. Ac...

The #Trump #MAGA #GOP #OBB cuts to ACA premium tax credits will markedly reduce affordability and even #healthcare coverage

www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/indivi...

Killing satire CBS cancels The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, claiming it was "purely a financial decision"

#MAGA Autocrats and their media capitulators like Shari #Redstone #Paramount 👉 Killing satire

open.substack.com/pub/anntelna...

Is Colbert’s Ouster Really Just a ‘Financial Decision’? CBS no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Perhaps a good time to reduce spending on your TV streaming. #Paramount+

"Colbert, however, has consistently led competitors in his timeslot"

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

"Between 2013 and 2023, the age-adjusted rate of #pedestrian and #cyclist injury death in the United States rose from 2.1 deaths per 100,000 standard population to 2.9" #cycling #safety #transportation @bikeportland.org @bikeloudpdx.bsky.social @pbotinfo.bsky.social

www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/he...