Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
@healthywv.bsky.social
Academic, counselor, mom 😷💉physical activity advocate 🏃♀️ opinions and views are my own. Here to say nice things to strangers.
We are a deeply unwell society.
1. CNN and CNBC recently announced partnerships with Kalshi, a prediction market that lets you place bets on the news.
Now, every story is a casino game.
Although Kalshi's popularity has exploded, it remains relatively small and vulnerable to political manipulation.
Now, every story is a casino game.
Although Kalshi's popularity has exploded, it remains relatively small and vulnerable to political manipulation.
The casino-fication of news
New partnerships between the prediction market Kalshi and cable TV networks will transform every news event into a betting opportunity.
popular.info
December 8, 2025 at 5:44 PM
We are a deeply unwell society.
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
I can't stop thinking about the purported drug smugglers being murdered by the US military. The punishment for drug offenses isn't the death penalty. This is just bloodlust and men in suits playing with lives they don't care about. It's truly grotesque and gravely compromises this country.
December 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I can't stop thinking about the purported drug smugglers being murdered by the US military. The punishment for drug offenses isn't the death penalty. This is just bloodlust and men in suits playing with lives they don't care about. It's truly grotesque and gravely compromises this country.
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
Hey I wrote this and got a lot of hate mail so maybe you can share it
Hitler was bad.
An essay that, you know, I didn’t think I’d need to write.
An essay that, you know, I didn’t think I’d need to write.
Perry: The pro-Hitler problem with the American right
"We need to get back to the basics: Hitler was bad. The people who suggest otherwise are also bad," David M. Perry writes.
www.startribune.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Hey I wrote this and got a lot of hate mail so maybe you can share it
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
This is the first Thanksgiving for Sophie & Colin Hortman without their parents, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman who were assassinated along with the family dog in an act of political murder. National guards troops were not deployed to the state in response.
November 27, 2025 at 5:24 PM
This is the first Thanksgiving for Sophie & Colin Hortman without their parents, Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman who were assassinated along with the family dog in an act of political murder. National guards troops were not deployed to the state in response.
My starting salary in higher Ed in 2012 was $50k. Thirteen years and everything costs exponentially more but salaries have NOT grown. Wtf.
To put this in context, I was offered a teaching track job in 2023 that had a salary of $55,000.
November 27, 2025 at 10:18 PM
My starting salary in higher Ed in 2012 was $50k. Thirteen years and everything costs exponentially more but salaries have NOT grown. Wtf.
It’s all about finding your “why” 🤣
Funny how personal health and well-being never seemed like motivation enough for me.
But when you put it like this…
But when you put it like this…
Good morning.
This is your reminder to get to the gym so that you can beat up racists if you have to.
This is your reminder to get to the gym so that you can beat up racists if you have to.
November 15, 2025 at 11:22 PM
It’s all about finding your “why” 🤣
Another study, currently posted as a pre-print, linking long COVID and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome/connective tissue disorders.
People with EDS are 4x as likely to develop LC. COVID is not good for connective tissue, and connective tissue is found throughout the body!
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
People with EDS are 4x as likely to develop LC. COVID is not good for connective tissue, and connective tissue is found throughout the body!
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Understanding Comorbidities in Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: Could a Viral Infection Lead to a Diagnosis?
Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is a complex, underdiagnosed connective tissue disorder characterized by widespread symptoms affecting multiple organ systems. Recent clinical observations su...
www.medrxiv.org
November 15, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Another study, currently posted as a pre-print, linking long COVID and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome/connective tissue disorders.
People with EDS are 4x as likely to develop LC. COVID is not good for connective tissue, and connective tissue is found throughout the body!
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
People with EDS are 4x as likely to develop LC. COVID is not good for connective tissue, and connective tissue is found throughout the body!
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
Everything about SARS-CoV-2 weakens us as a species. Population-level immune dysregulation leading to both reactivation of latent pathogens and creating niches for new ones; the politicisation of our response regressing public health and massively amplifying anti-vax ideology.
November 15, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Everything about SARS-CoV-2 weakens us as a species. Population-level immune dysregulation leading to both reactivation of latent pathogens and creating niches for new ones; the politicisation of our response regressing public health and massively amplifying anti-vax ideology.
She should be shamed so spectacularly for this that she is never able to show her face in public ever again.
In the wake of newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein where Trump was a regular topic, Megyn Kelly is trying to downplay Epstein's sex crimes by arguing that “there’s a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old."
Megyn Kelly suddenly finds pedophilia very hard to define
When a 16-year-old accused Russell Brand of rape, Kelly begged conservatives to condemn him. Now she's splitting hairs about men "into the barely legal type."
www.motherjones.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:49 PM
She should be shamed so spectacularly for this that she is never able to show her face in public ever again.
They relish being able to kill with impunity. This is only going to get worse.
Trump has executed six more civilians in a small boat. The death toll now stands at 76.
November 10, 2025 at 4:48 PM
They relish being able to kill with impunity. This is only going to get worse.
“Left unchecked their mandate will grow; the boundaries of acceptable identity and speech will shrink. I want you to think about elections in this future. I want you to understand that every issue you care about—any hope of participatory democracy—is downstream of this.”
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 10, 2025 at 1:19 PM
“Left unchecked their mandate will grow; the boundaries of acceptable identity and speech will shrink. I want you to think about elections in this future. I want you to understand that every issue you care about—any hope of participatory democracy—is downstream of this.”
The Democratic party needs to clean house. More Kats and Zohrans, fewer Abigails please!
November 4, 2025 at 1:14 AM
The Democratic party needs to clean house. More Kats and Zohrans, fewer Abigails please!
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
Today we are mailing out our Annual Appeal. It is the ONLY time of the year we ask for donations. Please consider helping us reach even more kids. To make an online donation, use the DONATE button at aliceskids.org To pay by check, mail it to PO Box 60, Mount Vernon, VA 22121.
Alice's Kids
Alice’s Kids provides targeted financial assistance to children in need in the hopes of boosting their self-esteem.
aliceskids.org
November 3, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Today we are mailing out our Annual Appeal. It is the ONLY time of the year we ask for donations. Please consider helping us reach even more kids. To make an online donation, use the DONATE button at aliceskids.org To pay by check, mail it to PO Box 60, Mount Vernon, VA 22121.
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
On this day in 1920, a white mob in Ocoee, Florida, lynched as many as 30 Black Americans and razed the Black community because a Black man attempted to vote.
Nov. 2, 1920 | White Mobs Destroy Black Community of Ocoee, Florida
Learn more about our history of racial injustice.
calendar.eji.org
November 2, 2025 at 2:05 PM
On this day in 1920, a white mob in Ocoee, Florida, lynched as many as 30 Black Americans and razed the Black community because a Black man attempted to vote.
It's been a long week, we all deserve dogs in costumes today!
🧙🏻Hope your Halloween is a skele-TON of fun🧛🏻
Eat to your heart’s content, scream in the streets & dance till you drop 💃🏻🍭🕺🏻
Have a fa-BOO-lous Halloween 👻 🎃 🐾 😄 🧟
HAPPY HALLOWEEN #BlueSkyFriends
1/2🧵
Eat to your heart’s content, scream in the streets & dance till you drop 💃🏻🍭🕺🏻
Have a fa-BOO-lous Halloween 👻 🎃 🐾 😄 🧟
HAPPY HALLOWEEN #BlueSkyFriends
1/2🧵
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
It's been a long week, we all deserve dogs in costumes today!
I expected to learn more about Baldwin’s life and work; didn’t expect that it would also help me in coping with my divorce.
October 26, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I expected to learn more about Baldwin’s life and work; didn’t expect that it would also help me in coping with my divorce.
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
The pandemic has, and continues to have, significant effects on global politics. I am certain that in the future entire books will be written on this subject, but these effects can be distilled to one concept: the vast majority of people have normalised that which is abnormal.
October 24, 2025 at 12:11 PM
The pandemic has, and continues to have, significant effects on global politics. I am certain that in the future entire books will be written on this subject, but these effects can be distilled to one concept: the vast majority of people have normalised that which is abnormal.
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
No kid should ever have to protest or advocate for their friends’ basic humanity.
But they’re standing up at No Kings anyway.
But they’re standing up at No Kings anyway.
October 18, 2025 at 4:24 PM
No kid should ever have to protest or advocate for their friends’ basic humanity.
But they’re standing up at No Kings anyway.
But they’re standing up at No Kings anyway.
October 18, 2025 at 8:45 PM
The real “disruption” that Higher Ed needs is a shutdown of the narratives constantly being spread by the RW outrage propaganda machines and reimplementation of policies that support state/federal funding.
October 7, 2025 at 2:05 PM
The real “disruption” that Higher Ed needs is a shutdown of the narratives constantly being spread by the RW outrage propaganda machines and reimplementation of policies that support state/federal funding.
I have been addressed as "Ms." instead of "Dr." more times this week than in the last few years combined.
I don't think this can be separated from the forcing of conservative views of gender and open misogyny displayed by this administration and the GOP as a whole. We continue to go backwards.
I don't think this can be separated from the forcing of conservative views of gender and open misogyny displayed by this administration and the GOP as a whole. We continue to go backwards.
October 3, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I have been addressed as "Ms." instead of "Dr." more times this week than in the last few years combined.
I don't think this can be separated from the forcing of conservative views of gender and open misogyny displayed by this administration and the GOP as a whole. We continue to go backwards.
I don't think this can be separated from the forcing of conservative views of gender and open misogyny displayed by this administration and the GOP as a whole. We continue to go backwards.
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
I reference this early in The Originalism Trap's chapter on elections bc it perfectly illustrates the dynamic we're still dealing with today
as some white people thought no education was preferable to integrated schools, some white people think no democracy is preferable to an integrated electorate
as some white people thought no education was preferable to integrated schools, some white people think no democracy is preferable to an integrated electorate
Even a passing knowledge of Black history will make clear that not only was this level of destruction possible, it was inevitable. “Did you know they’d shut down US AID?” I mean these are the same people who closed all public schools in a county rather than desegregate. Yes. Yes I did.
I don't think the people expressing surprise about things the Trump administration is doing understand how absolutely fucking crazymaking each of your posts is for Black and Indigenous folks who called *all of this* and sat through people talking about "respecting norms" for years
September 30, 2025 at 9:34 PM
I reference this early in The Originalism Trap's chapter on elections bc it perfectly illustrates the dynamic we're still dealing with today
as some white people thought no education was preferable to integrated schools, some white people think no democracy is preferable to an integrated electorate
as some white people thought no education was preferable to integrated schools, some white people think no democracy is preferable to an integrated electorate
I traveled over an hour each way to get COVID vaxx for myself and my kids in MD. Really grateful to @govwesmoore.bsky.social for his leadership on this!
Today, Maryland took additional actions to protect COVID access:
- Issued a standing order so vaccines can be administered based on guidance developed by medical professional societies instead of the federal government
- Confirmed they have joined the Northeast Public Health Collaborative
- Issued a standing order so vaccines can be administered based on guidance developed by medical professional societies instead of the federal government
- Confirmed they have joined the Northeast Public Health Collaborative
Pages
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Maryland Department of Health issues respiratory virus vaccine guidance, COVID-19 vaccine standing order
An official website of the State of Maryland.
health.maryland.gov
September 19, 2025 at 10:36 PM
I traveled over an hour each way to get COVID vaxx for myself and my kids in MD. Really grateful to @govwesmoore.bsky.social for his leadership on this!
Reposted by Birdie, PhD, MA 🦚
all i know is that normalizing debate with fascists has only facilitated the rise of fascism.
September 12, 2025 at 1:25 PM
all i know is that normalizing debate with fascists has only facilitated the rise of fascism.