There are no words for how evil this is

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

I’m planning to fly for Thanksgiving for the first time since 1989. So of course they are canceling flights.

“Young homebuyers have been priced out of the market even more than previously, according to a report… The share of first-time homebuyers dropped to a new low of 21% of all buyers, and the median age of those first-time buyers increased to 40, up from as low as the late 20s in the 1980s.”

How lovely! “Eventually, the group grew to over 350 people. Older students chatted with friends, while younger ones focused on pedaling… For the past three years, what began as a handful of parents hoping to encourage their kids to bike to school has grown into a weekly ritual”

“The lowest price, of $150 a month, will be available only for the lowest doses of the pill form of the drugs. When those drugs reach the market, Medicare and Medicaid will pay that price, as will Americans using their own money to buy the pills directly from manufacturers.”

since Helen Andrews is in the news again, how about everybody enjoy the best TV cspan ever did, where she gets relentlessly demolished as a truly awful person by her *libertarian* ex-boyfriend www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAIT...

The case just didn’t cut the mustard.

A not guilty verdict, accompanied by many sandwich jokes. “Jurors showed no appetite for the Justice Department's case against "sandwich guy," the D.C. resident who chucked a Subway sandwich at the chest of a federal officer, finding him not guilty on Thursday after several hours of deliberations.”

Watching RFK jr run away from someone collapsing feels like a harbinger of things to come

Cool. What would you call the other wing then? www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/u...

“The network of veterinary labs that's responsible for testing ceased its regular meetings because of the shutdown, Poulsen says. "The shutdown just kind of pours gas on a smoldering fire and makes us vulnerable," he says. "It's a national security issue."

Classic Ross Douthat: “So those are two fairly distinct critiques of feminism as it exists right now. But before we dig into those arguments, I want to start by asking a really simple, basic and easy question. I’ll start with you, Helen: What is the difference between men and women?”

Encouraging phase 1 trial of a vaccine for Lassa fever: “the rVSVΔG-LASV-GPC vaccine against Lassa fever had favorable safety and immunogenicity profiles, with a single dose inducing robust cellular and broad long-lasting antibody responses to major LASV lineages.” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

Unbelievable.

Just got an email from the pharmaceutical company that produces a drug I have to take every month to let me know that my new cost is increasing 1000%. (This is with insurance and with the company's co-pay card)

First time this happened to me, I was 13 and at school here in the United States, lest ye think this is solely a Mexican problem.

Having spent some time in Liberia’s “Lassa Fever” belt during the Ebola outbreak response in 2014, this was actually the disease I thought I was more likely to acquire 🤔. So glad to see this work advancing!

They think they are entitled to any woman's body. Even a president. Pure trash.

Reminded of Gisèle Pelicot in France asserting "shame must change sides."

Every single woman you know has had this happen to her. Even the goddamn president of Mexico.

Brava: “If I don’t file a complaint, then what message does that send to all Mexican women?” Ms. Sheinbaum said at her daily news conference, noting sexual harassment was a crime… “If this can happen to the president, what’s going to happen to all the young women & women across our country?”

“With a need for affordable housing in the Lehigh Valley, Wednesday’s groundbreaking for the Walnut Square Apartments in downtown Allentown was a welcome event… Cortex Residential plans to build a three-story, 44,010-square-foot building with 38 units at Eighth and Walnut streets”

Trump “tore down the East Wing for a new ballroom, lavishly remodeled the Lincoln bathroom, paved over the Rose Garden for a patio…&threw a “Great Gatsby”-esque Halloween party with the theme “a little party never killed nobody” during a government shutdown and on the eve of cuts to food assistance”

This was an important exchange. Justice Kagan asks: "Why would the President use lawful tariff authority with limits if he could make up emergencies and then use made-up authority with no limits. Sauer really has no answer, so he claims we're facing an "existential" crisis. (we aren't). /11

[P] Found a higher-quality photo; IT *IS* TAPED UP SHEETS OF PAPER!

Somehow, this isn’t The Onion: “The prosecutor said that Dunn tossed the footlong like a "baseball pitch, even if it’s a sandwich," & that they had proven that Dunn was guilty. "We’re not just talking about a sandwich," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. DiLorenzo said. "This isn’t about a sandwich”

If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit

“When it comes to listeria outbreaks, this one’s fairly significant and large,” said Benjamin Chapman, a food safety specialist who is the head of the agricultural and human sciences department at North Carolina State University. The number of deaths linked to the outbreak is “tragic,” he added.”

“There is a constant effort to try and draw a small barrier around who can be American,” said Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat and former public health director running for Senate in Michigan. “That is what makes this moment so special.”

Excellent local news! “Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk declared victory over City Council member Ed Zucal Tuesday evening, securing a second term at the helm of Pennsylvania’s third largest city.
With all city-wide precincts reporting at least partial results, Tuerk had captured 72% of the vote”

Some very good news for public health and safety. “Voters in Maine narrowly approved a “red flag” law on Tuesday, according to preliminary results from The Associated Press, giving families the option to petition a judge to order weapons removed temporarily from a troubled relative.”

These big wins will embolden Dems to take on Trump's lawbreaking and show there's a price for GOP enabling of him. Folks hate to hear this, but normal patterns are asserting themselves: Liberalism isn't dead, Rs are likely to lose in 2026, and Trump is really unpopular, not a magical exception.

So many important elections today, but this is the big news from where I sit: “Pennsylvania voters approved the retention of three state Supreme Court justices, NBC News projects, preserving Democrats’ 5-2 majority on the battleground state’s high court.”

I truly believe that we cannot dig ourselves out of this anti-vax hole without getting to the root of how and why it started, how and why it spreads, and how and why it's so tempting to believe.

This interview is amazing. The 91 year old voter concludes the interview by telling the reporter that her mother was a Rockette and that she’s going to go put her teeth in now.

I’m trying to complete by far the hardest assignment @jackiantonovich.bsky.social has given for our vaccines class: watching the complete 1982 Vaccine Roulette documentary that falsely blamed various health problems on the pertussis vaccine. It’s historically important and so, so hard to watch.

Border Patrol agent Lairmore testifies that he was not injured by the sandwich, but he felt the impact through his ballistic vest. The sandwich came apart and "kind of exploded" on his chest upon impact, he says. "I could smell the onions and mustard."

“The data showed that some large-caliber civilian rifles delivered a blast wave that exceeds what the military says is safe for the brain, and firing smaller-caliber guns repeatedly could quickly add up… indoor shooting ranges designed to make shooting safe inadvertently make blast exposure worse”

““I think I have been consistently critical of parts of the FDA regardless of administration, but what’s emerged over the past few months is just reflective of complete and total disarray and a complete lack of functional leadership,” said Brian Skorney, an analyst at the investment bank Baird.”

“The courtroom doesn’t look much different now than it did then. And on Nov. 8, it will welcome Douglass again, as portrayed by scholar and historical reenactor Darius Wallace.
The free program is sponsored by the Lehigh County Historical Society” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

Really worth reading the entire 60 minutes interview transcript but admit this part got me laughing out loud.

Exclusive: Hundreds of travel businesses, including casinos, hotels and convention bureaus, are asking Congress to end the shutdown, citing worries about the holiday travel season.

“The event, called Nekro Comic Con, was intended to be a two-day Halloween party... The authorities canceled the festival not long after it had begun, branded it “Satanist” and arrested an organizer, whom they moved to deport, as part of a larger crackdown on Halloween and related events.”

That time I designed an entire feature around a new course I really wanted to write about! Thanks to @jackiantonovich.bsky.social @bachynski.bsky.social and the other faculty who took the time to speak with me (whose interesting courses I had to learn about from the provost instead of Bluesky)

Two of the media organizations that have really "met the moment" in national coverage are Teen Vogue and WIRED. Along with student-run college newspapers in general. And scores of local start-ups. The main hope for journalism (in its dark times) is the next wave of journalists.

“The Americas — North, Central, & South — is the only region of the world that has ever managed to stop endemic transmission of measles. But that hard-won victory against the highly contagious virus is on the verge of being rolled back… “I think it’s a big wake-up call.” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social