To blunt Trump administration efforts to freeze or cut funding for government research, scientists must become better communicators and storytellers. My essay in O'Dwyer's public relations news: www.odwyerpr.com/story/public....

Caroline Kennedy wrote a scathing letter to senators, calling her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a “predator” addicted to attention from airing dangerous views on vaccinations and someone who is unfit to be the U.S. health secretary. nyti.ms/40Oyb3o

Michael Tisserand @tisserand.bsky.social 's wonderful 75 minute interview with the just passed JULES FEIFFER from 2020, followed by a panel discussion with @lizadonnelly.bsky.social @keithknight.bsky.social and Matt Wuerker. mushroom-krill-fj8m.squarespace.com

💥BREAKING: An "overwhelming margin" of 98% of shares voted against the anti- #DEI measure in the preliminary results, Costco said. www.businessinsider.com/costco-share...

Hoo boy, the irony is so damned thick... www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/o...

Looking for leaders!

The Laken Riley Act allows MAGA to indefinitely detain people in federal prisons w/o trials. Our leaders must block this blatant attempt to advance the MAGA agenda of peddling fear, sowing hatred, and grabbing power. Call your reps (script below) and demand they vote no. Vote will be on Tuesday.

He wants so desperately to be profound, but instead this stuff comes across as super weird and uncomfortable.

"Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, likened having Mr. Kennedy lead the federal health agencies to “putting a flat earther in charge of NASA.” www.nytimes.com/2025/01/17/h...

Joining @stuartpstevens.bsky.social at 7pm ET live to talk about Trump's very bumpy start, Hegseth and the other ridiculous nominees and turning our pro-democracy coalition into an effective opposition. Join us - will be a good one! bsky.app/profile/reso...

Breaking News: U.S. securities regulators sued Elon Musk in an enforcement action arising from his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, now called X.

We are a new national coalition of more than 1500 public health professionals, has led an effort to send >3500 letters to U.S. Senators to oppose RFK Jr.’s nomination to HHS Secretary. Concerns include his unfounded beliefs about vaccines, raw milk, and HIV. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/u...

I worked for RFK, jr. and there is something wrong with him. I urge you to call your senators to reject his nomination.

Safety reminder: Don’t livestream and drive fast on an icy road like these J6 “Freedom Corner” Trumpers did today. Don’t worry; they all said they were ok. Their Hyundai, on the other hand, that’s a different story. Video: @anarchyprincess.bsky.social

x X has ~18m daily USA users. @bsky.app, ~1.5m. Is it worth 20 MINS a day to proactively recruit and bring your friends, neighbors,relatives, businesses, anyone who is or could be a user, to @bsky.app? If Bluesky ends up with more users than the others, you destabilize musk, zuck, trump.

Look what you people made me do! You made me write out PREDICTIONS! … these include my thoughts on the Trump-Musk bromance, the Russian economy, and more. nataliaantonova.substack.com/p/the-shape-...

😡

Of course, @annesosin.bsky.social was here before I was and really gets it right: Rachael Bedard is allying herself with grifters not communities--it's particularly noxious as Bedard wraps herself in the mantle of health and human rights. Such garbage from @theatlantic.com.

😂😂😂

From Hopium: - The threat of Trumpism to our country, our economy and the West came into much clearer focus this week - After Trump’s extraordinary missteps, we should be more optimistic that we can limit the chaos and danger of his Presidency More 👇 www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/trumps-ver...

“The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress” cc: Donald Trump

After reading Charles Blow’s column this week, I wrote about his call to rest and reenergize and about how I hope to focus for the fight to come—despite the zone being flooded with shit.

New Orleans steps up. We need to support them.

SIMPLY HAVING A

I just finished the New York Road Runners (NYRR) Frosty 5K, my first real race since August and only my second 5K. No decent photos because it was 22F, and once that phone was tucked into my pocket and the gloves went on, it wasn't coming out again!

I spoke with John Stoehr at @editorialboard.bsky.social (go subscribe) about Democrats’ tepid response so far to Donald Trump’s upcoming reign of terror. We discuss what’s happening — or more aptly what’s not happening — and what are some potential alternatives. open.substack.com/pub/ser1897/...

Once immensely popular, the march is practically a dead musical form. Its decline reveals something about America’s changing relationship with the arts, magnanimity, and optimism. Read more via my Substack, Unsaved Changes: open.substack.com/pub/jbianchi...

HITTING THE DOCKET: Judge McAfee in Fulton County DENIES Kenneth Chesebro’s motion to set aside his guilty plea.

RFKJr is a monster read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/o...

NEW: After reviewing leaked documents, we have found UnitedHealth is strategically limiting access to a treatment for thousands of children with autism across the country in order to cut costs. Advocates say the company’s strategy may be illegal. www.propublica.org/article/unit... 👇

i am convinced that these people are death worshippers who want to spread as much disease and sickness as possible (i also think this is all tied up in eugenic beliefs about the “survival of the fittest” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/h...

Normally, presidents don’t summarily terminate FBI directors so they can replace them with partisan cronies who are slavishly loyal to them. As Chief Wiggum said, “You can even wear blue jeans to a Broadway show! Everything’s different now.” www.playtyperguy.com/p/maga-child...

It's fair to worry about a both/and here despite the contradictions. And it all falls most heavily on the most vulnerable. Spending cuts & voucher expansions harm lower income, urban, rural & disabled kids most. Culture wars harm kids of color, girls, & LGBTQ+ kids most. Both threaten democracy.

New in PN: RFK Jr. is a massive public health threat "Kennedy has articulated a vision that will, if enacted, lead to the deaths of untold numbers of people, many of whom have not even been born. It's difficult to overstate the long-term danger he poses."

"Why Humans Cry" Hmmmm, the @nytimes.com certainly makes me cry... www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/w...

Matt Gaetz AG Nomination Is Just Dear Leader Trump Trying To Consolidate Power Also elaborate trolling www.wonkette.com/p/matt-gaetz...

Thank you @angierasmussen.bsky.social. Oster & Wen have a special spidey-sense for gravitating towards people ascending in power. Both of them misunderstand what is at stake. RFK Jr. isn't interested in the nuances of science, but they offer an open hand to say, let's sit down and discuss...

The wreck of the USS Edsall, a lone American destroyer that fought a Japanese fleet that had attacked Pearl Harbor, has been found in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. Navy says.

One thing the Trump era revealed is how every billionaire is, at heart, a craven little shit. This dude is worth $50 billion and chief of one of the most powerful investment firms in the world and he's nonetheless spent years flopping around like an inflatable dancing tube man at a car dealership.

My latest for The Nation on public health under Trump, whether or not RFK Jr. takes a formal post or remains as an unofficial advisor. Reckless. Conspiracy-addled. Know-nothing. We need to get ready. www.thenation.com/article/arch...

Be nice if we had anti-Nazi laws like these here in the US, wouldn't it? www.theguardian.com/world/articl...

Trump’s Memorial Day 2024 message was an unhinged rant against the woman he sexually assaulted and keeps defaming. www.playtyperguy.com/p/psychopath...

I'm running the NY Half Marathon in support of Planned Parenthood; to support the group in their critically important mission (and my run), please click through the link: fundraisers.hakuapp.com/john-bianchi

Fun fact! Al Capone was found guilty on five counts of tax fraud and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He developed signs of neurosyphillis and died of cardiac arrest after a stroke.

“They can eat anything and everything.” Released into the wild, the seemingly humble goldfish can grow to monstrous proportions. They can even kill off native marine wildlife and help destroy fragile and economically valuable ecosystems. Canadian researchers are tracking the fish. nyti.ms/47Okbb0

www.ft.com/content/c886... 🧪

Thermometer hasn’t risen above freezing in four days here Downeast. Spectacular frost on the salt marsh.

If Trump becomes president again and acts on his plans to jail journalists who say anything negative about him—which includes factual reporting that makes him look bad—we can take solace in knowing that newspaper headlines will describe it with something like “President Pushes Back Against Critics.”