Got me through the 1990s. Your turn: Post a banger not in English. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jGs...)

We used to think that the benefit of GLP-1 drugs (like Ozempic) was dependent on weight loss. Now we know so many health benefits have little to do with that! Today's report: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New MACPAC data show the highly effective Medicaid Drug Rebate Program reducing gross Medicaid drug costs by 54.9% in FY 2024. Earlier Congressional Budget Office research found that Medicaid gets the lowest net prices of other federal programs/agencies even the VA: www.macpac.gov/publication/...

So it's a power move to make lots of typos and spelling mistakes? I am just figuring this out.

Here’s What the Latest Epstein Files Say About His Ties to Higher Ed: Collectively, the files underscore how deeply Epstein remained embedded in academic and intellectual circles even after his criminal history became public. www.chronicle.com/article/here...

This image is a bit different than my usual "style," if that's even a thing. Much more minimalistic given the Snowy Owl sitting out in the field. Not sure how well this image translates to a smaller screen (phone, thumbnail, etc.) but thought I'd share it nonetheless. #wildlife #birds #owls

Good for her.

How HHS is implementing Trump AI mandates, in numbers I take a look at the AI tools the nation's health agency is using for everything from controversial audits to helping the agency cope with layoffs & executive orders. Full charts in the story @statnews.com: www.statnews.com/2026/02/03/n...

As plenty of others have noted, one striking thing the Epstein files reveal is just an extraordinary level of moral rot among elites, even if you assume most of his eager friendly correspondents were not directly involved in his crimes.

Downfall Bovino Edition. You're welcome.

Selective silencing of the CDC: ~50% of surveillance databases have halted updates —87% of these were vaccine related www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/... editorial www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...

I am taking down the paywall for this one, as I believe it remains relevant as a reflection on the limits of the authoritarian assault – and the need to push back against the idea that America is inevitably and irresistibly marching towards a Trump dictatorship. This week’s piece:

there are so many gutting stories, but this one is hitting me extra hard. just imagining wael tarabishi slowly dying without his dad there to care for him because he was jailed by ICE makes me…i don’t have words. this country is disgusting.

Pretty galling what the first urologist tried to do here. www.statnews.com/2026/01/21/w...

Holy hell, what an obituary

"Last April, HHS had informed staff of plans to terminate around 90% of NIOSH's roughly 1,000 employees, eviscerating the agency." Nine months later, the decision is reversed and layoff notices to workplace safety workers have been revoked. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The Trump administration reinstated on Tuesday hundreds of CDC employees who had been placed on administrative leave in April. Gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/h...

hi! do you want to be my editor? i know you do - come work with me

🚨 NEW: DRAMA! House to vote on 3-yr extension of enhanced #ACA tax credits this week...while Senate GOP tries to cobble together SOMETHING acceptable: acasignups.net/26/01/07/dra...

Homicides have dropped in L.A. by roughly 43% since 2021, according to a Los Angeles Times review of crime stats. The LAT's @liborjany.bsky.social & Richard Winton have details: www.latimes.com/california/s...

@mcgowankat.bsky.social writes of the double stigma of being a #caregiver supporting a person living with severe #mentalillness. There are not meal trains or get well soon cards, rather suffering and silence

I grew up glued to the Iran-contra bearings—so shocking at the time!—so I see a lot of wisdom in this framing of the Venezuela coup as an 80s reboot

🦉

I'm so proud of ProPublica's journalism from 2025. In case you missed it, here's our most-read stories, as well as some you may have missed: www.propublica.org/article/prop...

I've heard about this before, but the details are fascinating. A Saudi-owned alfalfa farm in the middle of the Arizona desert, pumping groundwater to irrigate crops that feed dairy cows in Saudi Arabia--because growing water-intensive crops is banned there. www.latimes.com/environment/...

The book of Job really brings it:

I count 10 cities in 2025 that are on track to have the fewest murders since at least 1970. Newark is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1956 (though only have data through Oct this year) and San Francisco is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1942.

I'm obsessed with this topic--the lions of a Certain Type of literary journalism, the ones seated on thrones and pedestals (Joseph Mitchell! Truman Capote! Tom Wolfe!) so clearly made up their dialog and probably more. (I have libelous suspicions about John McPhee, too.)

I thought, based on the social media-fication of the @rachelaviv.bsky.social Oliver Sacks piece, that Sacks had invented patients wholesale. But instead it’s what was once seemingly secretly acceptable among highbrow writers: making up quotes and details about people to make them more interesting.

A wet desert lily flowering with a grand view while storm clouds are moving in from the west this morning (Photo: Sicco Rood).

In 2023 I became obsessed with videos of dads in cargo shortswaiting in parking lots during Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. So when she came to town, I grabbed a camera and headed down to talk to them. I thought it'd be funny. It turned out to be something else entirely.

If you would like to be shocked and appalled this afternoon--and who wouldn't, really?--please to read this dismaying roundup of the worst healthcare frauds, abuses and moral bankruptcies. The Shkreli awards! lowninstitute.org/projects/shk...

Latest articles from the WJO: Differences in the diets of red and gray Eastern Screech-Owls (Megascops asio). #ornithology doi.org/10.1080/1559...

Barn owl #photography #birds

a solid 25% of generative ai responses are "how would tom waits answer this question"

Google Gemini Pro: please generate a map of the western united states showing cities of over 250K population

This is 404 Media's @jasonkoebler.bsky.social waving at himself through a Flock camera; one of 60 we learned was left exposed to the open internet. Not only could anyone with a link livestream it, but some admin portals were open with no login credentials required. www.404media.co/flock-expose...

To get ahead of the curve, here are some spots in California that we voters could rename after Trump: •the stretch of 99 between Fresno and Stockton •the fetid toxic dustbowl developing where the Salton Sea used to be •Castiac •the Coalinga-Avenal rest area on northbound I-5

CATO INSTITUTE: Despite DOGE slashing jobs, government spending in every month of 2025 “was greater than in every other year .. An observer who did not know when DOGE started could not identify it” on a chart. 🤡 www.cato.org/blog/doge-pr...

Sincerely one of the funniest things the WSJ has ever written or done. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

Happening right now: BIG bipartisan Senate meeting on health care.

Advocates and policy experts tell me adult caregiving is getting more visible, but I was still surprised by yesterday's speech by Senator @andykimnj.bsky.social. His "maiden speech" was 100% about care. He was real and raw about caregiving for his dad with Alz. www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3oK...

If you've been thinking of subscribing to Scientific American, or gifting a sub, now's the time -- it's 50% off! sciam.com/getsciam/

Academic lectures have invaded L.A. bars and tickets are selling out in minutes

My next Bird of the Day as I think about a new tattoo is the Great Grey Owl. I’ve shared a number of shots of this bird and every time I think about the experience. I love the Sax-Zim bog and there is no better symbol for such a magical place. #itsabird 🪶

They should do MyChart Wrapped

Paid my respects over the holiday weekend

Then: How did {wildly silly and incompetent person} ever get appointed to {position of power}? Now, as I reach the age typical of people in {position of power}: Oh.