Candace Winstead
@candacewinstead.bsky.social
Immunologist, college professor... invested in harm reduction & academic/community engagement via service learning.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
Reposted by Candace Winstead
Lol, lmao. No.
Everything that's been done by Trump will be undone in 2029. You will lose.
Everything that's been done by Trump will be undone in 2029. You will lose.
January 2, 2026 at 1:30 AM
Lol, lmao. No.
Everything that's been done by Trump will be undone in 2029. You will lose.
Everything that's been done by Trump will be undone in 2029. You will lose.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
This would be so popular at the national level if centrist Democrats let us use those words in that order
Mamdani: "The cost of childcare will no longer discourage young adults from starting a family, because we will deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few"
January 1, 2026 at 8:04 PM
This would be so popular at the national level if centrist Democrats let us use those words in that order
Reposted by Candace Winstead
In 2026 I want all of the decent people to remember one thing.
You aren’t meant to be this disciplined, this self-sacrificing to survive. The environment is supposed to support good living. We can have that. You are not a failure. That is politics.
That is all.
You aren’t meant to be this disciplined, this self-sacrificing to survive. The environment is supposed to support good living. We can have that. You are not a failure. That is politics.
That is all.
January 1, 2026 at 10:30 PM
In 2026 I want all of the decent people to remember one thing.
You aren’t meant to be this disciplined, this self-sacrificing to survive. The environment is supposed to support good living. We can have that. You are not a failure. That is politics.
That is all.
You aren’t meant to be this disciplined, this self-sacrificing to survive. The environment is supposed to support good living. We can have that. You are not a failure. That is politics.
That is all.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
Moratorium on ChatGPT until guard rails can be put in place to stop it from killing people, including killing kids
Is that too much to ask?
(I’m personally not convinced that all of these deaths are the ‘necessary price’ we simply must pay in order to use Sam Altman’s apparently wonderful tool)
Is that too much to ask?
(I’m personally not convinced that all of these deaths are the ‘necessary price’ we simply must pay in order to use Sam Altman’s apparently wonderful tool)
Uh… check out what ChatGPT allegedly told a man before he killed his mother and then himself.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
December 31, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Moratorium on ChatGPT until guard rails can be put in place to stop it from killing people, including killing kids
Is that too much to ask?
(I’m personally not convinced that all of these deaths are the ‘necessary price’ we simply must pay in order to use Sam Altman’s apparently wonderful tool)
Is that too much to ask?
(I’m personally not convinced that all of these deaths are the ‘necessary price’ we simply must pay in order to use Sam Altman’s apparently wonderful tool)
Reposted by Candace Winstead
To be honest, I was genuinely surprised at how rapidly & how successfully RFK Jr and his close MAGA & MAHA allies (Drs Oz/Makary/Høeg/Bhattacharya/Prasad/Kulldorff) were able to dismantle vaccination systems & drive surges in infectious disease
Their very wildest dreams came true in just a year 😢
Their very wildest dreams came true in just a year 😢
December 31, 2025 at 4:14 PM
To be honest, I was genuinely surprised at how rapidly & how successfully RFK Jr and his close MAGA & MAHA allies (Drs Oz/Makary/Høeg/Bhattacharya/Prasad/Kulldorff) were able to dismantle vaccination systems & drive surges in infectious disease
Their very wildest dreams came true in just a year 😢
Their very wildest dreams came true in just a year 😢
Reposted by Candace Winstead
As we wrap up 2025 and look forward, remember that old line -- no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Everyone really can do something to stand up against authoritarianism. Work on an amicus brief, attend a protest, write to your congressperson, donate $, etc. There are so many 1/2
December 31, 2025 at 4:06 PM
As we wrap up 2025 and look forward, remember that old line -- no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Everyone really can do something to stand up against authoritarianism. Work on an amicus brief, attend a protest, write to your congressperson, donate $, etc. There are so many 1/2
Reposted by Candace Winstead
If the next Democratic president doesn’t abolish ICE then the Dems deserve to lose forever
Exclusive: ICE officials plan to spend $100 million to recruit gun-rights supporters and military enthusiasts through online influencers and a geo-targeted ad campaign, part of what the agency called a “wartime recruitment” strategy to hire thousands of officers, according to an internal document.
ICE plans $100 million ‘wartime recruitment’ push targeting gun shows, military fans
An internal ICE document shared among immigration officials details plans to use influencers and geo-targeted ads to rapidly hire thousands of deportation officers.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 31, 2025 at 2:01 PM
If the next Democratic president doesn’t abolish ICE then the Dems deserve to lose forever
Reposted by Candace Winstead
EXCLUSIVE: @laurenweberhp.bsky.social & I have spent the last year collecting school+county-level vaccination data from across the US and found that only about 28% of counties now have herd immunity for kindergartners from measles—that leaves about 5.2mn kids unprotected.
Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43
Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43
U.S. vaccination rates are plunging. Look up where your school stands.
Take a look to see what the kindergarten measles vaccination rates are in your area.
wapo.st
December 31, 2025 at 2:29 PM
EXCLUSIVE: @laurenweberhp.bsky.social & I have spent the last year collecting school+county-level vaccination data from across the US and found that only about 28% of counties now have herd immunity for kindergartners from measles—that leaves about 5.2mn kids unprotected.
Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43
Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43
Reposted by Candace Winstead
May we shut the door on this dismal last quarter of the first quarter of the 21st century
May 2026 usher in health, prosperity, and peace
May we feel joy
May we hope and aspire
May we love, trust, and protect one another up
May we repair, rebuild and reimagine
#OneWorld #NewYear2026
May 2026 usher in health, prosperity, and peace
May we feel joy
May we hope and aspire
May we love, trust, and protect one another up
May we repair, rebuild and reimagine
#OneWorld #NewYear2026
December 30, 2025 at 10:23 PM
May we shut the door on this dismal last quarter of the first quarter of the 21st century
May 2026 usher in health, prosperity, and peace
May we feel joy
May we hope and aspire
May we love, trust, and protect one another up
May we repair, rebuild and reimagine
#OneWorld #NewYear2026
May 2026 usher in health, prosperity, and peace
May we feel joy
May we hope and aspire
May we love, trust, and protect one another up
May we repair, rebuild and reimagine
#OneWorld #NewYear2026
Reposted by Candace Winstead
The other thing about normalizing gAI use in higher ed is that we are teaching our students that they cannot trust their own creativity, their own thoughts and brains, their own skills without having it reshaped/shellacked/transmogrified by LLMs. We’re setting them up for failure and dependence.
December 28, 2025 at 12:46 PM
The other thing about normalizing gAI use in higher ed is that we are teaching our students that they cannot trust their own creativity, their own thoughts and brains, their own skills without having it reshaped/shellacked/transmogrified by LLMs. We’re setting them up for failure and dependence.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
Even those who understood that many forces in this country never let go of racist, sexist ideas are shocked by the velocity of the rocketing backward--and the ease with which supposedly countervailing “liberal” forces, including the press corps, have swallowed it all.
fair.org/home/kimberl...
fair.org/home/kimberl...
Kimberle Crenshaw on Anti-Blackness
US corporate media have a white supremacy problem: They decide whose ideas are taken for granted and whose deemed marginal.
fair.org
December 28, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Even those who understood that many forces in this country never let go of racist, sexist ideas are shocked by the velocity of the rocketing backward--and the ease with which supposedly countervailing “liberal” forces, including the press corps, have swallowed it all.
fair.org/home/kimberl...
fair.org/home/kimberl...
Reposted by Candace Winstead
There is not a facepalm big enough for RFK Jr claiming the 1918 flu was a lab leak. We didnt even know the flu virus existed in 1918. It was not in a lab! 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
Good thread tho
Good thread tho
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated that the 1918 flu pandemic was caused by a lab virus from vaccine research, a defective influenza vaccine. Let’s analyze what a lie this is. First, in 1918, 107 years ago, virology was in its infancy
December 28, 2025 at 4:47 PM
There is not a facepalm big enough for RFK Jr claiming the 1918 flu was a lab leak. We didnt even know the flu virus existed in 1918. It was not in a lab! 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
Good thread tho
Good thread tho
Reposted by Candace Winstead
I wrote a reflection on how I experienced this year, as a physician, a scientist, and a human being.
If you’ve been carrying a lot too, this one’s for you.
Thanks for reading and engaging with me here and on other platforms. There's plenty of work ahead!
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-i-expe...
If you’ve been carrying a lot too, this one’s for you.
Thanks for reading and engaging with me here and on other platforms. There's plenty of work ahead!
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-i-expe...
How I Experienced This Year
Living through 2025 as a Physician, Scientist and Advocate
bktitanji.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 1:49 PM
I wrote a reflection on how I experienced this year, as a physician, a scientist, and a human being.
If you’ve been carrying a lot too, this one’s for you.
Thanks for reading and engaging with me here and on other platforms. There's plenty of work ahead!
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-i-expe...
If you’ve been carrying a lot too, this one’s for you.
Thanks for reading and engaging with me here and on other platforms. There's plenty of work ahead!
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-i-expe...
Reposted by Candace Winstead
Sofi thought she was being offered the American dream with an H-2A farmworker visa. She wound up in a nightmare that authorities say almost got her killed.
@maxblau.bsky.social on Sofi’s harrowing experience & why it’s vital to understand the perils H-2A workers face: https://propub.li/4jp9SAH
@maxblau.bsky.social on Sofi’s harrowing experience & why it’s vital to understand the perils H-2A workers face: https://propub.li/4jp9SAH
December 28, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Sofi thought she was being offered the American dream with an H-2A farmworker visa. She wound up in a nightmare that authorities say almost got her killed.
@maxblau.bsky.social on Sofi’s harrowing experience & why it’s vital to understand the perils H-2A workers face: https://propub.li/4jp9SAH
@maxblau.bsky.social on Sofi’s harrowing experience & why it’s vital to understand the perils H-2A workers face: https://propub.li/4jp9SAH
Reposted by Candace Winstead
And lastly, a lot of people out there seem to take the perhaps more visible anger that many of us who are gAI critics express online as a sign that our points are invalid--a lot of men use our (justified) anger to brush off legitimate criticisms of gAI, especially those coming from women profs.
December 27, 2025 at 5:06 PM
And lastly, a lot of people out there seem to take the perhaps more visible anger that many of us who are gAI critics express online as a sign that our points are invalid--a lot of men use our (justified) anger to brush off legitimate criticisms of gAI, especially those coming from women profs.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
Once again, I think academics who fall for this narrative are doing a real disservice to their students.
If we want our students to learn critical skills in our classrooms--they need to do so without gAI BEFORE they choose to use gAI, if they want to or not.
THAT is my job.
If we want our students to learn critical skills in our classrooms--they need to do so without gAI BEFORE they choose to use gAI, if they want to or not.
THAT is my job.
December 27, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Once again, I think academics who fall for this narrative are doing a real disservice to their students.
If we want our students to learn critical skills in our classrooms--they need to do so without gAI BEFORE they choose to use gAI, if they want to or not.
THAT is my job.
If we want our students to learn critical skills in our classrooms--they need to do so without gAI BEFORE they choose to use gAI, if they want to or not.
THAT is my job.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
However we feel about gAI personally, most academics I know aren't arrogant enough to believe we can "make it go away." What we do have the experience to know is that it is harmful for many classrooms, and the ability to do is refuse the tech and this narrative of inevitability.
Academics literally cannot make Gen AI go away. As in it is not possible to make it happen on a political, legal, and technical level. We do not and will not command the massive violence necessary to make chatGPT or Claude disappear. Responsible pedagogy grapples with the fact!
No one says to legit business owners, "hey I see there's an underground market selling toxic knock-offs of your product: how will you incorporate the toxic product AND protect your customers against its harms?" But apparently it's fine to make this suggestion to educators with respect to AI.
December 27, 2025 at 5:02 PM
However we feel about gAI personally, most academics I know aren't arrogant enough to believe we can "make it go away." What we do have the experience to know is that it is harmful for many classrooms, and the ability to do is refuse the tech and this narrative of inevitability.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
In other words: we saw CECOT. Nothing can ever excuse that. It is indefensible in any use case for any person. We’ve also heard what happens in these facilities within our borders. That too is unacceptable. Either everyone has human rights or no one does, and if we accept their rules they win.
December 25, 2025 at 3:31 PM
In other words: we saw CECOT. Nothing can ever excuse that. It is indefensible in any use case for any person. We’ve also heard what happens in these facilities within our borders. That too is unacceptable. Either everyone has human rights or no one does, and if we accept their rules they win.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
New report from Yale Univ warns that the Trump regime's abrupt cancellation of funding for mRNA vaccine research—including mRNA cancer vaccines—could have devastating health & economic consequences for years to come. Malevolent clowns are now in charge of the once-envied US scientific enterprise👇
New report sounds alarm on health fallout from mRNA vaccine funding cuts
A new report from the Yale School of Public Health warns that the U.S. government’s abrupt cancellation of funding for mRNA vaccine research could have
ysph.yale.edu
December 27, 2025 at 7:26 AM
New report from Yale Univ warns that the Trump regime's abrupt cancellation of funding for mRNA vaccine research—including mRNA cancer vaccines—could have devastating health & economic consequences for years to come. Malevolent clowns are now in charge of the once-envied US scientific enterprise👇
Reposted by Candace Winstead
My teaching has been very effective, students love it, won lots of awards, etc.
But my approach now simply doesn't work. >80% of the submissions for every assignment use some AI. I have to *completely* change the entire way I teach SOLELY because of some greedy and irresponsible billionaires.
But my approach now simply doesn't work. >80% of the submissions for every assignment use some AI. I have to *completely* change the entire way I teach SOLELY because of some greedy and irresponsible billionaires.
December 26, 2025 at 2:55 PM
My teaching has been very effective, students love it, won lots of awards, etc.
But my approach now simply doesn't work. >80% of the submissions for every assignment use some AI. I have to *completely* change the entire way I teach SOLELY because of some greedy and irresponsible billionaires.
But my approach now simply doesn't work. >80% of the submissions for every assignment use some AI. I have to *completely* change the entire way I teach SOLELY because of some greedy and irresponsible billionaires.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
Yes, this!: "this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning"
I'm finding that I don't have just to change assignments. I have to **abandon my entire teaching strategy**, which has always been built around scaffolded independent projects across the semester.
I'm finding that I don't have just to change assignments. I have to **abandon my entire teaching strategy**, which has always been built around scaffolded independent projects across the semester.
It is EXHAUSTING not only being made responsible for coming up with new kinds of assignments for our students; it's also tedious reading op-eds that suggest the core problem is a crisis in teaching. But, as Chris and I lay out here, this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning.
"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
December 26, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Yes, this!: "this isn't a crisis in teaching; it's an attack on learning"
I'm finding that I don't have just to change assignments. I have to **abandon my entire teaching strategy**, which has always been built around scaffolded independent projects across the semester.
I'm finding that I don't have just to change assignments. I have to **abandon my entire teaching strategy**, which has always been built around scaffolded independent projects across the semester.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
No woman I know in academia would be surprised by this, but its good to see it documented like this, I guess.
Experimental evidence that students are more likely to contest grades when they are delivered by an evaluator with a female-sounding name.
"These findings suggest that women in evaluative positions face disproportionate resistance when delivering negative assessments."
"These findings suggest that women in evaluative positions face disproportionate resistance when delivering negative assessments."
December 26, 2025 at 12:38 PM
No woman I know in academia would be surprised by this, but its good to see it documented like this, I guess.
Reposted by Candace Winstead
This is the same dynamic which happened to me, a year ago to the day: a faculty appeals panel cleared
me entirely, after a six month investigation. NU effectively ignored it.
This is why adhering to rules (in Congress, the UN, unis) rarely works: the rules benefit the rulers, who can ignore them.
me entirely, after a six month investigation. NU effectively ignored it.
This is why adhering to rules (in Congress, the UN, unis) rarely works: the rules benefit the rulers, who can ignore them.
Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.
Texas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findings
A vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”
www.texastribune.org
December 26, 2025 at 9:02 AM
This is the same dynamic which happened to me, a year ago to the day: a faculty appeals panel cleared
me entirely, after a six month investigation. NU effectively ignored it.
This is why adhering to rules (in Congress, the UN, unis) rarely works: the rules benefit the rulers, who can ignore them.
me entirely, after a six month investigation. NU effectively ignored it.
This is why adhering to rules (in Congress, the UN, unis) rarely works: the rules benefit the rulers, who can ignore them.