k8lin
@k8lin.bsky.social
Assoc professor in LIS at Rutgers SC&I. I study online health information and what people do with it. I love clean air. Transplant recipient, cyborg, knitter, masker, maker. Solidarity. 🏳️🌈
Pinned
k8lin
@k8lin.bsky.social
· Nov 9
Mask bans disenfranchise millions of Americans with disabilities
“I have a kidney transplant and will take immunosuppressant medication for the rest of my life. I can’t return to your mask-free ‘normal,’” writes Kaitlin Costello.
www.statnews.com
Don't give up your rights to mask in advance and don't give in to mask bans. Masking is love, it's inclusion, it is community care and solidarity. Read my opinion piece on mask bans, it's even more relevant today: www.statnews.com/2024/08/20/m...
Reposted by k8lin
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries IMLS
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries
Press Release: Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island struck down the Trump Adm...
librarytechnology.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries IMLS
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
Reposted by k8lin
Via a friend: the recipient of the first successful neonatal heart transplant celebrated his 40th birthday a few days ago, still with the same donor heart transplanted into him when he was just days old: news.llu.edu/patient-care...
40 years of life: the miracle of ‘Baby Moses’ and the heart that changed medicine | News
First and longest-living infant-to-infant heart transplant recipient celebrates 40th birthday at reunion event.
news.llu.edu
November 21, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Via a friend: the recipient of the first successful neonatal heart transplant celebrated his 40th birthday a few days ago, still with the same donor heart transplanted into him when he was just days old: news.llu.edu/patient-care...
Every 8 minutes another name is added to the transplant waiting list. Yesterday was another anniversary of my 2nd transplant and I am grateful every day for this blessed gift of life - consider becoming an organ donor and learn more at unos.org/register-to-...
How to Register to Be an Organ Donor | UNOS | Become an Organ Donor
Learn more about eye, tissue, and organ donation including how you can make a difference by registering to be an organ donor.
unos.org
November 21, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Every 8 minutes another name is added to the transplant waiting list. Yesterday was another anniversary of my 2nd transplant and I am grateful every day for this blessed gift of life - consider becoming an organ donor and learn more at unos.org/register-to-...
Reposted by k8lin
1. They are eugenicists.
2. Viruses don't care about your daily step count.
2. Viruses don't care about your daily step count.
The only way to understand this is to realize that they are eugenicists.
To Survive the Next Pandemic, Walk More, the NIH Says
The agency is picking up Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s argument that a healthy immune system can keep even pandemic germs at bay.
www.theatlantic.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:23 PM
1. They are eugenicists.
2. Viruses don't care about your daily step count.
2. Viruses don't care about your daily step count.
Reposted by k8lin
I mean you are living through an attempt at inflicting mass starvation on millions of people. This is an ELIMINATIONIST political movement. The sooner folks wake up to this, the better for all of us.
November 3, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I mean you are living through an attempt at inflicting mass starvation on millions of people. This is an ELIMINATIONIST political movement. The sooner folks wake up to this, the better for all of us.
Reposted by k8lin
Read this thread! 🧵 It’s been clarifying to witness just how fast workplaces went from “we’re all in this together” to “forced infection is a condition of employment”. No discussion about making in-person work safer. CBC’s COVID coverage leaves much to be desired and sadly, this experience tracks.
🆄🅽🆂🅰🅵🅴 🅸🅽 🆃🅷🅴 🆆🅾🆁🅺🅿🅻🅰🅲🅴
how the CBC forced me to resign over COVID
and why we’re all worse off for it—especially our kids
a 🧵
(on the occasion of my son’s [5th] and the CBC’s [89th] shared birthday, nov. 2)
👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
[links to referenced articles in ALT text]
how the CBC forced me to resign over COVID
and why we’re all worse off for it—especially our kids
a 🧵
(on the occasion of my son’s [5th] and the CBC’s [89th] shared birthday, nov. 2)
👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
[links to referenced articles in ALT text]
November 2, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Read this thread! 🧵 It’s been clarifying to witness just how fast workplaces went from “we’re all in this together” to “forced infection is a condition of employment”. No discussion about making in-person work safer. CBC’s COVID coverage leaves much to be desired and sadly, this experience tracks.
Reposted by k8lin
wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
“With fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”
www.404media.co
October 17, 2025 at 1:15 AM
wikipedia's data shows that AI is siphoning traffic away from the site, which is a danger to its sustainability. ironically Wikipedia is more important than ever to users who want reliable information instead of slop, and to AI companies that need it for training data www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...
Reposted by k8lin
but under no circumstances should we expect any common-sense mitigation practices beyond annual boosters for a vaccine the government is openly discouraging/preventing people from getting
wouldn’t want to seem ✨unreasonable✨
wouldn’t want to seem ✨unreasonable✨
Long Covid Is Real — And It’s Changing an Entire Generation
Hundreds of thousands of kids in America are struggling with an illness that many doctors and schools refuse to recognize.e
Feature: www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
Hundreds of thousands of kids in America are struggling with an illness that many doctors and schools refuse to recognize.e
Feature: www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
October 16, 2025 at 4:54 PM
but under no circumstances should we expect any common-sense mitigation practices beyond annual boosters for a vaccine the government is openly discouraging/preventing people from getting
wouldn’t want to seem ✨unreasonable✨
wouldn’t want to seem ✨unreasonable✨
No one I know wants "universal masking." We want people to wear masks at the grocery store, in hospitals and other healthcare settings like pharmacies, and on public transit. Places where people like me *sometimes have to be.* We're asking for the bare minimum and y'all still think we want too much!
October 15, 2025 at 8:01 PM
No one I know wants "universal masking." We want people to wear masks at the grocery store, in hospitals and other healthcare settings like pharmacies, and on public transit. Places where people like me *sometimes have to be.* We're asking for the bare minimum and y'all still think we want too much!
Reposted by k8lin
Ignoring COVID-19, after all the research findings about it’s full body damage, is plain and simply another form of for profit collectively normalized self-harm.
October 12, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Ignoring COVID-19, after all the research findings about it’s full body damage, is plain and simply another form of for profit collectively normalized self-harm.
Today is a great day to start masking in public again 💜
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
October 11, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Today is a great day to start masking in public again 💜
Reposted by k8lin
I haven't seen one single study that shows it's harmless to keep getting Covid again & again. But there are thousands of peer-reviewed studies that document long-term harms
October 4, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I haven't seen one single study that shows it's harmless to keep getting Covid again & again. But there are thousands of peer-reviewed studies that document long-term harms
Reposted by k8lin
Generally speaking, I have found that people who work in medicine and high profile public health do not follow Covid anywhere nearly as closely as those of us directly impacted by mass government abandonment do. And this is what happens.
September 30, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Generally speaking, I have found that people who work in medicine and high profile public health do not follow Covid anywhere nearly as closely as those of us directly impacted by mass government abandonment do. And this is what happens.
Reposted by k8lin
Every time I attend an n95-required event, I cry afterward. We can have accessible, justice-oriented spaces. We can create new ways of organizing & connecting. We can enact disability justice. We can educate & protect each other. We can get free, if we do it together.
A better world is possible.
A better world is possible.
September 20, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Every time I attend an n95-required event, I cry afterward. We can have accessible, justice-oriented spaces. We can create new ways of organizing & connecting. We can enact disability justice. We can educate & protect each other. We can get free, if we do it together.
A better world is possible.
A better world is possible.
Reposted by k8lin
Masking EVERYWHERE INDOORS that isn’t your home is an act of resistance.
No one is coming to save us. We need to save each other by masking, getting vaxxed, and advocating for clean air
1 way masking is great, but 2 way masking (when EVERYONE PRESENT is masking) is best.
No one is coming to save us. We need to save each other by masking, getting vaxxed, and advocating for clean air
1 way masking is great, but 2 way masking (when EVERYONE PRESENT is masking) is best.
Wear a face mask when you go out in public- if for no other reason than knowing that they want you too sick, too exhausted and too burned out from dealing with back to back respiratory infections to speak up for yourself & your community. You deserve to protect your health.
September 16, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Masking EVERYWHERE INDOORS that isn’t your home is an act of resistance.
No one is coming to save us. We need to save each other by masking, getting vaxxed, and advocating for clean air
1 way masking is great, but 2 way masking (when EVERYONE PRESENT is masking) is best.
No one is coming to save us. We need to save each other by masking, getting vaxxed, and advocating for clean air
1 way masking is great, but 2 way masking (when EVERYONE PRESENT is masking) is best.
I wish my transplant doctors would mask without me asking. Shameful behavior from healthcare providers.
When you get a vaccine or a medical checkup, we expect the healthcare worker to wash their hands and wear gloves.
We should think the same about wearing masks in medical settings. Viruses can spread pre-symptomatically; masks are another effective infection control measure.
We should think the same about wearing masks in medical settings. Viruses can spread pre-symptomatically; masks are another effective infection control measure.
September 16, 2025 at 9:09 PM
I wish my transplant doctors would mask without me asking. Shameful behavior from healthcare providers.
Reposted by k8lin
Most people don’t realize this, but every time you enter a public space without wearing a mask, what that shows to an #immunocompromised person is:
Their life doesn’t matter to you
You don’t care if you spread COVID to them, which could 💀 them or cause further disability (LongCOVID)
🧵 1/3
Their life doesn’t matter to you
You don’t care if you spread COVID to them, which could 💀 them or cause further disability (LongCOVID)
🧵 1/3
September 13, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Most people don’t realize this, but every time you enter a public space without wearing a mask, what that shows to an #immunocompromised person is:
Their life doesn’t matter to you
You don’t care if you spread COVID to them, which could 💀 them or cause further disability (LongCOVID)
🧵 1/3
Their life doesn’t matter to you
You don’t care if you spread COVID to them, which could 💀 them or cause further disability (LongCOVID)
🧵 1/3
Reposted by k8lin
Former CDC leaders hand-wringing about the death of public health and how bad RFK Jr is like some of them in recent years did not pave and polish the way for this to happen by clinging to the nonsense of droplet dogma, going full anti-mask, and prioritizing profit at the expense of public health
September 6, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Former CDC leaders hand-wringing about the death of public health and how bad RFK Jr is like some of them in recent years did not pave and polish the way for this to happen by clinging to the nonsense of droplet dogma, going full anti-mask, and prioritizing profit at the expense of public health
COVID is a labor issue, it has always been a labor issue - no one should get sick at work! No one should be exposed to pathogens at work without adequate PPE. COVID hurts workers in the workplace and it does not have to be this way.
Hey remember when COVID-19 disabled millions American workers in hospitals, restaurants, and other workplaces - and continues to do so? OSHA now wants to cover this up and make the problem even worse.
September 3, 2025 at 8:14 PM
COVID is a labor issue, it has always been a labor issue - no one should get sick at work! No one should be exposed to pathogens at work without adequate PPE. COVID hurts workers in the workplace and it does not have to be this way.
Drug company that sells my transplant drugs decided to take away copay cards for everyone starting Sept 1. Got the notice in the mail on Aug, 29, Friday of a holiday weekend. No time to make plans for accessing my transplant meds next month, which I've taken without fail for 29+ years. Heartless.
August 30, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Drug company that sells my transplant drugs decided to take away copay cards for everyone starting Sept 1. Got the notice in the mail on Aug, 29, Friday of a holiday weekend. No time to make plans for accessing my transplant meds next month, which I've taken without fail for 29+ years. Heartless.
🎶the pandemic isn't over just because you're over it🎶
1/
Just because you have a PhD in health or science doesn’t mean you know shit about health or science. 🧵
Just because you have a PhD in health or science doesn’t mean you know shit about health or science. 🧵
August 25, 2025 at 7:56 PM
🎶the pandemic isn't over just because you're over it🎶
Reposted by k8lin
That COVID spike relative to other countries is especially insane. We produced the most effective vaccines in massive numbers and then let ourselves get into a ridiculous fight about whether to use them
Super interesting deep dive into US excess mortality. We're doing better than we were in 1980 but a *lot* worse than every other high-income country.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
August 21, 2025 at 8:51 PM
That COVID spike relative to other countries is especially insane. We produced the most effective vaccines in massive numbers and then let ourselves get into a ridiculous fight about whether to use them
Reposted by k8lin
From masks & wider public health to virtual meeting options, sure is hard to get square with how fully & fundamentally this society has toddler-screamed "NO!" at everything that made things even marginally more accessible in the early days of this pandemic because thinking about it makes them scared
August 14, 2025 at 8:54 PM
From masks & wider public health to virtual meeting options, sure is hard to get square with how fully & fundamentally this society has toddler-screamed "NO!" at everything that made things even marginally more accessible in the early days of this pandemic because thinking about it makes them scared
Reposted by k8lin
The Washington Post running this five days after a shooting directly caused by this kind of disinformation is - and I very rarely use this phrase - journalistic malpractice. Meanwhile, what have elected Democrats or public health leaders had to show so far other than literal thoughts and prayers?
This op-ed from NIH director Jay Bhattacharya is *infuriating*. He says we have to stop funding mRNA vaccine research because it hasn't "earned public trust." Motherfucker, WHO DID THAT.
Opinion | Jay Bhattacharya: Why the NIH is pivoting away from mRNA vaccines
As a vaccine for broad public use, mRNA technology has failed to earn the public’s trust.
www.washingtonpost.com
August 12, 2025 at 9:25 PM
The Washington Post running this five days after a shooting directly caused by this kind of disinformation is - and I very rarely use this phrase - journalistic malpractice. Meanwhile, what have elected Democrats or public health leaders had to show so far other than literal thoughts and prayers?