Heather Lynn Weaver

Thank you!

Luckily, I think it’s at limited to the back bottom part of my scalp and can be covered with other hair for now.

Welp! My autoimmune disorder, alopecia areata, has struck again. A big chunk of hair fell out. My last incident was in February 2017, five weeks after the first Trump administration began. Yes, my incidents are always stress-induced. (First one happened in law school.)

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.

A large-scale, government-funded study tracking 1.2M children over two decades found something Kennedy doesn't like, so he wants it retracted.

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

Someone forgot to take down this webpage:

www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/v...

A deadly shooting at the CDC shook its scientists. Now they want answers from RFK Jr. CDC Director Susan Monarez convened an online all-hands meeting of the agency division that focuses on vaccines, and employees called out Kennedy’s rhetoric specifically.

Exclusive: CDC Director Susan Monarez met with its vaccine-focused center to talk about yesterday’s shooting. I listened to a recording. Scientists and officials are shaken & pointing fingers at RFK Jr. Many said his vilification and misinfo turned them into targets. www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...

Ugh

The irony of all this is that he is going to use government resources to create what, at best, will be an ineffective “vaccine,” and at worst, something truly harmful, thereby turning all of us pro-vax folks into anti-vaxxers.

I’m sure I’ve already offended by Sicilian ancestors from my grandfather’s side by going gluten-free.

My great grandfather and my grandmother, who were Pennsylvania Dutch, are probably rolling over in their graves right now, but I said what I said.

I don't think people can really fathom what it's going to mean for all of us when nursing homes and supported living centers across the country are forced to close due to not having enough staff, and the ranks of in-home health aides are gone.

My controversial pierogi-related take is that boxed frozen pierogis that have been deep fried are better than homemade ones.

The Venn diagram of people upset about the refusal to sell pierogis to A.D. and the people who say LGBTQ folks should just go somewhere else if a business discriminates against them is a perfect circle.

There's a certain post that everyone things is adorable that would be my personal nightmare. And that's all I say about it, considering that when I posted about a similar topic on the bad site many years ago, people freaked out.

Wanna read a headline that will underline how American you are?

The spouse and I each got Wordle in 2 today, which is how you know you truly are soulmates!

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

this work saved millions of lives in 2021, won the Nobel Prize in 2023, and is cancelled in 2025

Ugh. I already detest when they expand my very specific Boolean searches with purportedly relevant cases (they almost never are) that do not fall within the search terms.

Me: posts big legal victory

Random people, 2 seconds later: it will get overturned.

I’m at the point where I don’t want to post these things anymore as people can’t just let you have even an hour (heck, even 5 minutes) to celebrate.

@aclu.org and @heatherweaverdc.bsky.social are doing incredible work on these cases. As a Texan and someone who believes that public schools should not be endorsing any religious viewpoints, I am very grateful for them.

Leave religious teaching to churches, not public schools.

In June, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a similar Louisiana law was unconstitutional.

BREAKING LEGAL NEWS: A federal district court has ruled that an Arkansas law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public-school classroom and library is "plainly unconstitutional."

I’m so sorry. 😢

NSF plans abrupt end to lone U.S. Antarctic research icebreaker Imminent termination of the RV Nathaniel B. Palmer shocks polar scientists

The National Science Foundation plans to abruptly end operation of the RV Nathaniel B. Palmer, the sole U.S. research ship capable of braving the farthest reaches of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. scim.ag/4mB8LOX

I really did not think we needed yet another Superman movie, but it was really good. Maybe my favorite of them all!

Every time I open LinkedIn, someone from a science agency shares an unplanned (forced) early retirement or RIF. Lately it’s NASA & EPA. In spring, NOAA. I think people have no idea how deep this loss really is. I don’t know what rebuilding federal science looks like, but it won’t be simple or quick.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I don't believe we should be using ChatGPT for any substantive legal work, even as a starting point.

Baby Dolphin Break

It was a long day!