Emily Conklin
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emzconk.bsky.social
Emily Conklin
@emzconk.bsky.social
Marine Scientist/Advocate/Enthusiast | I like birds | she/her | Newport, RI hyperlocal | I pay too much attention for my own good | Opinions my own |
Pinned
If you're here to follow along with municipal meetings, you're in the right place. I post about #NewportRI #localpolitics to share what's going on (and some editorializing on events) because paying attention is important. Details of meetings and some community resources in this thread 👇
Hello existential dread. I think that’s enough internet for me.
a woman is laying in a bed with a blanket on her head .
Alt: Kim Kardashian lying in bed with her blanket pulled up to her chin, staring blankly at the ceiling
media.tenor.com
February 11, 2026 at 4:14 AM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
Vinay Prasad failed at vaccine ethics 101. You cannot use a placebo when a previously effective vaccine is already available.

He wants to take vaccines away.
Vinay Prasad of the FDA has broken with the usual approval process and refuses to review Moderna’s new flu shot.

He claims that the proposed clinical trial, which would compare the new vaccine to an already approved one, “does not reflect the best-available standard of care”.
Moderna says FDA refuses to review its application for experimental flu shot
Moderna said the move is inconsistent with previous feedback from the FDA on the experimental influenza shot, called mRNA-1010.
www.cnbc.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:46 AM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
“I’ve mentioned before that concentration camp regimes in their early stages often make use of large open infrastructure to convert into detention spaces. Dachau was converted from a shuttered factory into a concentration camp in 1933.”
When I got the contract to write a history of concentration camps in 2014, I hoped to keep the US from ending up here. That didn't work out! But now it's critical to understand how much is already in process and the enormity of what's coming. The sooner we act to stop it, the more people we'll save.
Building the camps
The warehouseification of detention and initial thoughts on stopping it.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
February 11, 2026 at 2:49 AM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
I really feel like: Donald Trump is building a prison camp system on the scale of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao … would be a good and true headline to run every day. Advertisements across media. Speeches on the Senate. Everywhere.
When I got the contract to write a history of concentration camps in 2014, I hoped to keep the US from ending up here. That didn't work out! But now it's critical to understand how much is already in process and the enormity of what's coming. The sooner we act to stop it, the more people we'll save.
Building the camps
The warehouseification of detention and initial thoughts on stopping it.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:44 AM
Thank you @magaziner.house.gov for signing on to this legislation. We should not be aiding in the murder of normal folks, domestically or abroad. Rep @amo.house.gov why aren’t you signed on yet?
Every current member of Congress who has cosponsored the Block The Bombs Act

"62 Representatives now supporting H.R. 3565, the Block the Bombs Act, to block bombs, tank shells, and artillery rounds to Israel:"
February 11, 2026 at 4:05 AM
This is so fucked! There is no reform that works for people who are intent on terrorizing communities! This is not law enforcement! Why are we giving them this space to learn and trample our resistance!
I want to reiterate, because it may have gotten lost in this thread, but ice is now wearing plain clothes, carrying whistles and blowing them at observers in an effort to intentionally confuse people on the ground. That alone is a major escalation and shift in tactics which should be noted.
February 11, 2026 at 4:03 AM
So so grim
February 11, 2026 at 3:52 AM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
I’ve been saying this over and over since 2016 (responding to personal and collective threats)

Now is the time to be who you mean to be.

Now is the time.

Think about that deeply.

What does it mean to choose your role in this moment.

What is your inner mandate?
February 11, 2026 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
I just donated to help families in Minneapolis who can’t pay rent because of ICE. Can you help?
WE NEED YOUR HELP❗️It’s February 10, 2026, & rent is past due. I’m working with 7 different families who have been impacted by ICE & are now struggling to pay rent. I’m hoping to raise $6,082 to help pay the month of February rent for all of them.

Cash app: $jasonchavezcruz
Venmo: @ LiamDavisTemple
February 11, 2026 at 12:51 AM
Especially in the cold. He puffy.
February 11, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Denying science, creating conditions that make us less safe in basically every way, and preventing expanded health protections. This administration is trying to kill us. Also - more and more reasons to mask!
apnews.com/article/mode...
Moderna says FDA refuses its application for new mRNA flu vaccine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is refusing to consider Moderna’s application for a new flu vaccine made with mRNA technology.
apnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:00 AM
I would love to see one. So cool, so huge.
February 11, 2026 at 12:54 AM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
We could have nice things, we could be much less sick. But not when grifters are put in charge. 🩺 #Medsky
February 11, 2026 at 12:46 AM
😭😭😭 gorgeous!
February 11, 2026 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
Everyone here has had to decide what they will and won’t do. Will you take someone in your house? Will you bring them groceries? Will you patrol streets with a whistle? Will you do some other kind of work, of which there are many. And how many of these types.
Friends from Minneapolis reporting to me that things are at the point where folks are being hidden in other people's houses and we are in the "again" part of "never again" which the "never" was supposed to preclude
February 11, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
Worth watching this in full. The statement is more powerful than this quote alone. Here is is from USA Today, with alt text.

Also! Rich Ruohonen is a personal injury lawyer and the oldest athlete to ever represent the United States in a Winter Games at 54 years old.
February 10, 2026 at 10:12 PM
It’s torture, man. I hope everyone appreciates what I give up for them 🤣🤣🤣
February 11, 2026 at 12:20 AM
What amy you don’t want to subject yourself to that for me??
February 11, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
Friends from Minneapolis reporting to me that things are at the point where folks are being hidden in other people's houses and we are in the "again" part of "never again" which the "never" was supposed to preclude
February 10, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Yes, Rhode Island Red and lol no, unless you own one, you aren’t seeing those things around.
February 10, 2026 at 11:34 PM
Newport school committee happening right now! Remember I won’t be there so check it out yourself.
First is School Committee on Tuesday, 4/10 at 6:30pm in Pell School. No livestream but they do post after on their YouTube. I don’t see an agenda but it should be posted here: www.npsri.net/page/school-...
Client Challenge
www.npsri.net
February 10, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
In fiery remarks, Rep. Goldman tells Lyons if he doesn't want ICE to be called "a fascist regime" or "secret police," then his agency needs "to stop acting like one."

"People are simply just observing what they are seeing. That’s why people are making those comments."
February 10, 2026 at 5:10 PM
I would no exaggeration be about to piss my pants if there were this many officers around my car. The calm this observer maintains is amazing. And of course, they and rep @andysmithmn.bsky.social are completely correct that there is no law being broken here by these observers.
Witness the bravery of constitutional observers in #Minnesota
February 9, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
I'm going to do a thread of all the references and context behind Bad Bunny's performance and what it means for Puerto Ricans to see this on the biggest stage.

The opening title screen is a street mural in Puerto Rico that comes to life with footballs as coconuts.

Follow along!
February 9, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Emily Conklin
Shut down all of these concentration camps and provide everyone inside with medical care and US citizenship as reparations, if they want it.
One way concentration camps become zones where law doesn't apply is by neglecting policies & standards that would protect health & provide healthcare. You deny laws & norms & dehumanize your victim.
Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Two tuberculosis cases detected at Camp East Montana ICE facility
Eighteen cases of COVID-19 were also identified. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar on Friday visited the 5,000-bed tent facility on the Fort Bliss Army base and said she saw many "chronic issues."
www.texastribune.org
February 9, 2026 at 5:12 PM