The Sequoia Institute

Let’s talk about science, baby.
Let’s talk about empathy.
Let’s talk about all we do know.
And all we don’t know, that may be.
Let’s talk about science.

🧵 Keep reading for a health communication crash course 1/10

@kmpanthagani.bsky.social @meganranney.bsky.social @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social

Bill Gates says rising anti-vaccine sentiment in U.S. will exact heavy toll overseas Philanthropist Bill Gates expressed concern about the impact of growing U.S. vaccine skepticism overseas.

“Vaccine skepticism in the U.S. kills more children outside the U.S. — because it transfers that skepticism — than it does inside the United States” Gates said
www.statnews.com/2025/08/04/b...

It's really important to understand that if an elected official invites you to consider a country's finances as somehow analogous to household finances (a la Thatcher), they are *lying* to you and you should treat with scepticism *everything else* that ever comes out of their mouth.

Narciso Barranco's story is a story that echoes in the experience of millions of undocumented immigrants; a hard-working father who raised proud American children who love their country.

The Trump admin lied to the public and painted him as a danger. He is not. He's part of the American fabric.

Here’s the blunt reality — reasonably-sized electric vehicles need to be the future of cars, but cars can’t be the future of urban mobility.

Fewer cars.
Less driving.
More inviting mobility choices.
Better communities and cities.

These are the 4 pillars of the REAL urban transportation solution.

A “Striking” Trend: After Texas Banned Abortion, More Women Nearly Bled to Death During Miscarriage A new ProPublica data analysis adds to the mounting evidence that abortion bans have made the common experience of first-trimester miscarriage far more dangerous.

More women have nearly bled to death during miscarriage under Texas’ abortion ban.

Experts say the trend paints a troubling picture of the harms of unnecessary delays in care.

“This is striking,” one doctor said. “The trend is very clear.”

Smart cities know that, as hot as they already are, they’re just going to keep getting hotter. Greening the city not only cools it down, it cleans the air, quiets the noise, improves mental health & happiness, saves public money, & more. Strand Aldwych, London. 2021 vs. 2025. Via @modacitylife.com

Sure, I think that's always been a very clear part of his health stance. It's the cornerstone of the right-wing argument - that people can control their own health, and so poor people are generally sick by choice.

How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic The COVID pandemic likely began when the virus jumped from animals to humans, and didn’t start in a lab. But false narratives continue to circulate.

Our research has been engulfed by an endless torrent of lab leak conspiracy theories about the origin of the pandemic - even as the evidence for zoonosis has only grown stronger.

This fuels anti-science agendas and erodes public trust.

Now, we respond 👇

theconversation.com/how-conspira...

I don't think enough good things can be said about the people who worked hard to build the political pressure for his and everyone else's release, including senator van hollen. otoh there is no bottom to my contempt for the people who were urging the opposite course of action

America’s medical profession is collapsing. Canada’s just got… 22 years ago BC doctors were called out for a culture of impunity. Nothing happened. Until now.

"Free speech for citizens is not the same as free speech for medical licensees. A license is not a right. It is a privilege. If we abandon professional standards, there should be no professional licensure at all."

canadahealthwatch.ca/2025/07/28/a...

The story of how Trump sells access to the White House - to benefit himself and his family financially and to benefit his political operation - is shocking and sordid.

No President has ever monetized access like Trump has.

1/ It's a story you need to know.

this is just as bad as Trump firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for getting the math right, except that the consequences are much more connected to life and death

Picking them off one by one.
Hang together or hang separately.

soon: "the stupidest people alive became obsessed with conspiracies about pedophile rings, which eventually ends with them helping empower a very high profile pedophile to basically emperor status, which he uses to pardon the only person to actually face consequences for running a pedophile ring"

It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.

“‘History is best told as a story of organised crime,’ Kemp says. ‘It is one group creating a monopoly on resources through the use of violence over a certain territory and population.’”

Masked ICE agents hauled workers out of a pizza place in my Massachusetts town today.

Do I feel safer? No, the opposite. Do I feel wealthier? Not a bit. Do I feel that justice is being served? No, not that, either.

I’m mostly infuriated by armed, masked men roaming around and grabbing people.

Taking bad news out on the person reporting it is literally one of the most cliche tropes you can use to show a ruler is corrupt, incompetent, and evil.

"Nonspecific symptoms like lightheadedness, dizziness,palpitations, numbness and tingling,fear, anxiety, abnormal taste, etc, are not indicative of opioid toxicity."

Senate Confirms Conspiracy Theorist To Lead National Counterterrorism Center

Hey no big deal and all but... Senate Republicans just confirmed Joe Kent, a conspiracy theorist with alarming ties to white nationalists and far-right groups, to lead the National Counterterrorism Center. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Here's How They Ban Birth Control 7.31.25

A Washington State church just got the green light to continue challenging a state law requiring employers to cover contraception open.substack.com/pub/jessica/...

NEW: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funds.

Then the harassment began.

Pizzas sent to his home in the name of Judge Esther Salas’s murdered son, Daniel.

Six credible threats to his life.

More than 400 “vile” calls to his chambers—including this voicemail:

Band of Bros: Podcasts helped give rise to the MAHA movement Podcasters have been essential to the rise and entrenchment of the Make America Healthy Again movement.

This piece seriously underestimates the impact of decades of anti-vaccine movement building, but it does illuminate some of the anti-vaxx/MAGA fusion that became MAHA.

Band of Bros: Podcasts helped give rise to the MAHA movement www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healt...

Records show the Tesla chief executive was the single largest donor to committees supporting Republicans in congressional races. https://on.ft.com/4lZhNoW

Shane Devon Tamura purchased an M4-style rifle in Nevada and transported it across state lines to New York, where he opened fire and murdered five New Yorkers in cold blood.

Why must NYC be forced to live the deadly consequences of another state’s dangerously lax gun laws?

The Safety Net Is There for a Reason It is hardly uncommon in certain political circles to hear that people ought to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and learn to thrive through their very own Horatio Alger story. But what's too often left out is that the American safety net - namely, Medicaid, CHIP, SSI, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- are the boots. And in this fallout from historic funding cuts, millions of Americans will now find themselves in even more precarious positions with respect to both their health and economic security.

Medicaid is under attack, despite its importance in helping many of the most vulnerable Americans in some of their hardest times trying to make their lives better

by @mirandayaver.bsky.social @medpagetoday.com

www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

The Obvious Reason the U.S. Should Not Vaccinate Like Denmark It isn’t Denmark.

America’s new health officials want to copy the vaccine policy of European countries such as Denmark. But there’s a problem with that plan, Katherine J. Wu reports:

End religious exemptions for vaccines.

It’s really that simple.

Vinay Prasad Out At FDA Amid Right-Wing Push The departure of the contrarian public health official showcases contradictions in the MAHA movement.

In so many ways, Vinay Prasad dug his own grave by trying to appeal to the right.

- He presented himself as a progressive to evangelize their lax pandemic agenda to a wider audience.

- He attacked Elevidys to defend RFK/Makary ousting Peter Marks.

And the leopards ate his face anyway.🤷‍♂️