Molly Bergen
@mollybergen.bsky.social
Freelance writer/editor available for hire. Previously: climate comms for WRI, Central Africa comms, blog editor for Conservation International. Primate nerd. Opinions my own. See examples of my work at www.molly-bergen.com
Reposted by Molly Bergen
This is horrific. RFK Jr’s CDC is funding a study in Guinea-Bissau which would involve deliberately withholding the hepatitis B vaccine from hundreds of newborn infants, putting them at great risk of death. They want to repeat Tuskegee.
CDC awards $1.6 million for hepatitis B vaccine study by controversial Danish researchers
www.cidrap.umn.edu
December 18, 2025 at 7:57 PM
This is horrific. RFK Jr’s CDC is funding a study in Guinea-Bissau which would involve deliberately withholding the hepatitis B vaccine from hundreds of newborn infants, putting them at great risk of death. They want to repeat Tuskegee.
Reposted by Molly Bergen
Utah Sen. Mike Lee has proposed changes to the Senate appropriations bill that could open the door for the sale of national parks, according to national park advocacy groups.
via @thatsmohrlikeit.bsky.social
www.sfgate.com/national-par...
via @thatsmohrlikeit.bsky.social
www.sfgate.com/national-par...
'Nobody wants this': Senator axes language protecting national parks
A Utah Senator cut an amendment protecting parks in the appropriations bill.
www.sfgate.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Utah Sen. Mike Lee has proposed changes to the Senate appropriations bill that could open the door for the sale of national parks, according to national park advocacy groups.
via @thatsmohrlikeit.bsky.social
www.sfgate.com/national-par...
via @thatsmohrlikeit.bsky.social
www.sfgate.com/national-par...
Reposted by Molly Bergen
It is hard to overstate how critical @ncar-ucar.bsky.social is to climate science in the US and around the world. It's the beating heart of our field. Generations of scientists have trained there, and almost everyone I know relies on deep collaborations with NCAR scientists. It's end is unthinkable.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 2:50 AM
It is hard to overstate how critical @ncar-ucar.bsky.social is to climate science in the US and around the world. It's the beating heart of our field. Generations of scientists have trained there, and almost everyone I know relies on deep collaborations with NCAR scientists. It's end is unthinkable.
Reposted by Molly Bergen
Behold: the first-ever list of news outlets that have banned generative AI in their reporting. As of today, this is literally information that you cannot find on Google.
My goal is to fill the starter pack, so please send over suggestions with supporting evidence!
go.bsky.app/8cn1XfT
My goal is to fill the starter pack, so please send over suggestions with supporting evidence!
go.bsky.app/8cn1XfT
December 17, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Behold: the first-ever list of news outlets that have banned generative AI in their reporting. As of today, this is literally information that you cannot find on Google.
My goal is to fill the starter pack, so please send over suggestions with supporting evidence!
go.bsky.app/8cn1XfT
My goal is to fill the starter pack, so please send over suggestions with supporting evidence!
go.bsky.app/8cn1XfT
Reposted by Molly Bergen
do leaders of the top investigative newsroom in the country not understand what makes their journalism valuable??????
1/ At bargaining yesterday, @propublica.org management said that they should have 100% discretion to replace workers with AI and would not commit to labeling future AI-generated content.
December 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM
do leaders of the top investigative newsroom in the country not understand what makes their journalism valuable??????
Reposted by Molly Bergen
Not long ago, when a company harvested your data, you could assume it was for the purpose of targeted advertising. With the advent of AI, it may now be for targeted price increases. @monicapotts.bsky.social
AI Isn’t Just Spying on You. It’s Tricking You Into Spending More.
Recent reports reveal how companies are using artificial intelligence to harvest customers’ data and even secretly target them with higher prices.
newrepublic.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Not long ago, when a company harvested your data, you could assume it was for the purpose of targeted advertising. With the advent of AI, it may now be for targeted price increases. @monicapotts.bsky.social
One of the innumerable ways what's happening now will impact people years into the future. Absolutely shameful.
A chilling account of what stress from ICE raids does to the pregnant body: high blood pressure, disrupted sleep, chest pains, depression. And when immigrants fear going outside, they skip prenatal appts & go untreated. OBs are worried: "These policies are having very deep effects on our patients.”
For months, I've been talking to providers and researchers across the country to understand how the Trump administration's immigration policies are impacting reproductive health. The story is out today in @rewirenewsgroup.com. I hope you'll give it a read:
rewirenewsgroup.com/2025/12/17/i...
rewirenewsgroup.com/2025/12/17/i...
December 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
One of the innumerable ways what's happening now will impact people years into the future. Absolutely shameful.
Reposted by Molly Bergen
“ the jail is at a horrific state right now."... “We hear stories,” Harris, the county mayor, tells me, of “individuals that are standing for 24 hours straight because there’s no room or place for them to sit down. I don’t have the words for what’s happening over there.”
I'm a veteran criminal justice reporter. I've never seen anything like ICE-occupied Memphis.
“It’s about as sad as you can possibly imagine."
www.motherjones.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:04 PM
“ the jail is at a horrific state right now."... “We hear stories,” Harris, the county mayor, tells me, of “individuals that are standing for 24 hours straight because there’s no room or place for them to sit down. I don’t have the words for what’s happening over there.”
Reposted by Molly Bergen
still think usaid is the biggest story of the year
NEW: Without USAID funding to help buy food for refugees, the World Food Program rushed to prioritize families based on need, determining that only half the population would get food.
Refugees learned which half they were in from a number stamped on the back of their ration card.
Refugees learned which half they were in from a number stamped on the back of their ration card.
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
“Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.
www.propublica.org
December 17, 2025 at 2:29 PM
still think usaid is the biggest story of the year
Reposted by Molly Bergen
not so much touching the stove as slamming our hand down on the burner good and hard
they will pay a heavy political price for this but millions of people will suffer as a result
they will pay a heavy political price for this but millions of people will suffer as a result
NEW: Mike Johnson says he WON'T call a House vote on extending ACA funding this week
Weekend talks with centrist Republicans on a health care amendment collapsed.
Enhanced tax credits will expire, raising costs in 2026.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
Weekend talks with centrist Republicans on a health care amendment collapsed.
Enhanced tax credits will expire, raising costs in 2026.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
House Republican leaders ditch vote on ACA funding, all but ensuring premiums will rise
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Republicans worked on the issue throughout the weekend but could not come to an agreement with a group of members who want the funds extended.
www.nbcnews.com
December 16, 2025 at 5:38 PM
not so much touching the stove as slamming our hand down on the burner good and hard
they will pay a heavy political price for this but millions of people will suffer as a result
they will pay a heavy political price for this but millions of people will suffer as a result
Reposted by Molly Bergen
An unapologetic ally through and through. Thank you, Rob Reiner. May you and Michele rest in power.
December 16, 2025 at 12:28 AM
An unapologetic ally through and through. Thank you, Rob Reiner. May you and Michele rest in power.
Reposted by Molly Bergen
Less than 48 hours after the deadly attack at Sydney's Bondi Beach that left more than a dozen dead, Australian authorities announced proposals for sweeping new gun laws. n.pr/48UTa7g
Australia announces strict new gun laws. Here's how it can act so swiftly
Less than 48 hours after the deadly attack at Sydney's Bondi Beach that left more than a dozen dead, Australian authorities announced proposals for sweeping new gun laws.
n.pr
December 15, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Less than 48 hours after the deadly attack at Sydney's Bondi Beach that left more than a dozen dead, Australian authorities announced proposals for sweeping new gun laws. n.pr/48UTa7g
Reposted by Molly Bergen
The human cost of Trump's gutting of USAID: By the time Tor Top’s mother was sick with cholera, the nearby clinic had been shuttered for weeks. He bundled her into a canoe & paddled toward the nearest hospital, 8 hours away. Less than halfway into the journey, his mother died.
New, @propublica.org
New, @propublica.org
Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.
Behind closed doors in Washington, top advisers made a series of decisions that had devastating repercussions for the poorest country on earth. We went to South Sudan and found people who died as a re...
www.propublica.org
December 15, 2025 at 10:37 AM
The human cost of Trump's gutting of USAID: By the time Tor Top’s mother was sick with cholera, the nearby clinic had been shuttered for weeks. He bundled her into a canoe & paddled toward the nearest hospital, 8 hours away. Less than halfway into the journey, his mother died.
New, @propublica.org
New, @propublica.org
Reposted by Molly Bergen
Here’s an example: We know *so little* about the boats we’re striking that the Nobel Peace Prize winner we’re coordinating with to topple the government and install her as president was worried she would get blown up when she tried to escape the country to visit Norway.
The Trump administration’s bombing of suspected drug boats has prompted bipartisan inquiries. How much do intelligence officials really know about who is being killed?
How much does America know about its boat-strike targets?
Controversies about the lethal strikes touch on intelligence operations
econ.st
December 11, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Here’s an example: We know *so little* about the boats we’re striking that the Nobel Peace Prize winner we’re coordinating with to topple the government and install her as president was worried she would get blown up when she tried to escape the country to visit Norway.
Reposted by Molly Bergen
Reposted by Molly Bergen
Reminder that not only do library systems have physical media (& many also lend tools, electronics etc), your library card may give you access to streamers Kanopy and Hoopla. We just watched Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of The Rainmaker via a hoopla the other night. Pretty good!
“As prices for streaming subscriptions continue to soar and finding movies to watch, new and old, is becoming harder as the number of streaming services continues to grow, people are turning to the unexpected last stronghold of physical media: the public library.”
The Last Video Rental Store Is Your Public Library
Audio-visual librarians are quietly amassing large physical media collections amid the IP disputes threatening select availability.
www.404media.co
December 9, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reminder that not only do library systems have physical media (& many also lend tools, electronics etc), your library card may give you access to streamers Kanopy and Hoopla. We just watched Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of The Rainmaker via a hoopla the other night. Pretty good!
Reposted by Molly Bergen
In addition to all of the other benefits already reported about NYC congestion pricing, "In the first six months of the program, air pollution – in the form of particulate matter 2.5 micrometers and smaller – dropped by 22% in the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ)"
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
Congestion pricing improved air quality in NYC and suburbs | Cornell Chronicle
Cornell researchers tallied the environmental benefits of New York City’s congestion pricing program and found air pollution dropped by 22% in Manhattan, with additional declines across the city’s fiv...
news.cornell.edu
December 9, 2025 at 2:19 AM
In addition to all of the other benefits already reported about NYC congestion pricing, "In the first six months of the program, air pollution – in the form of particulate matter 2.5 micrometers and smaller – dropped by 22% in the Congestion Relief Zone (CRZ)"
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
news.cornell.edu/stories/2025...
Reposted by Molly Bergen
imagine investing in public media and ensuring that media literacy (and spotting unreliable narrators) was integral in primary school education
Finland has emerged as a global leader in countering “fake news”. Here's how they've done it
Teaching when to trust
As fake news accelerates, we need to teach our children how to think critically. Finnish schools are leading the charge
newhumanist.org.uk
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 PM
imagine investing in public media and ensuring that media literacy (and spotting unreliable narrators) was integral in primary school education
Reposted by Molly Bergen
tapping the "please support billionaire free, worker run, reader supported news" holiday edition
Corporate-owned outlets that answer to billionaires are increasingly showing they’re not built for this moment. Independent media is filling the gaps and building something new.
Help us keep building for another year with a gift subscription to one of these awesome outlets:
Help us keep building for another year with a gift subscription to one of these awesome outlets:
Giving the gift of independent journalism: a guide
The Handbasket has subscription suggestions for almost everyone on your list.
www.thehandbasket.co
December 6, 2025 at 8:57 PM
tapping the "please support billionaire free, worker run, reader supported news" holiday edition
Reposted by Molly Bergen
The first school to market itself as AI free is going to corner the market on people interested in actually learning. And I would not be surprised if rich families and the children of people creating this tech were the first movers.
My employer, Dartmouth College, today boasts it's 1st Ivy "to launch AI at an institutional scale." It is doing this by partnering--"more than a collaboration"--with Anthropic, a company that stole the books of many faculty, me included, which many of us are suing.
December 5, 2025 at 1:40 AM
The first school to market itself as AI free is going to corner the market on people interested in actually learning. And I would not be surprised if rich families and the children of people creating this tech were the first movers.
Reposted by Molly Bergen
Court rules that the Constitution exists
Federal agents can no longer arrest people in D.C. on immigration violations without a warrant or probable cause to believe they could potentially flee if not detained, a judge has ruled.
It's the second significant legal loss for the Trump administration over its activities in D.C. in two weeks.
It's the second significant legal loss for the Trump administration over its activities in D.C. in two weeks.
Federal judge limits warrantless immigration arrests in D.C.
Lawyers say federal agents unlawfully operated under an ‘arrest first, ask questions later’ policy.
51st.news
December 4, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Court rules that the Constitution exists
Reposted by Molly Bergen
rfk jr wants to kill your kids, it’s really that simple.
Kennedy’s Methodical 2-Decade Quest to Dismantle Vaccine Policy
www.nytimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:14 PM
rfk jr wants to kill your kids, it’s really that simple.
Reposted by Molly Bergen
Who are all these grinning white people laughing at Trump's vile racism? h/t to @helenkennedy.bsky.social for pulling together a list. Shame on each & every one of them.
December 4, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Who are all these grinning white people laughing at Trump's vile racism? h/t to @helenkennedy.bsky.social for pulling together a list. Shame on each & every one of them.
Reposted by Molly Bergen
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength"
-- George Orwell (1949)
-- George Orwell (1949)
December 4, 2025 at 2:42 PM
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength"
-- George Orwell (1949)
-- George Orwell (1949)
Reposted by Molly Bergen
These are good moments to remember that the CEOs of all the biggest companies in America are happy to go to White House dinners and slap this guy’s back. They do not care about this. Remember this, years from now, when they want you to forget.
Trump: "It’s a hellhole right now. And those Somalians should be out of here. They've destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain. You have her. She’s always talking about the Constitution provides me with – go back to your own country and figure out your constitution."
December 4, 2025 at 12:13 AM
These are good moments to remember that the CEOs of all the biggest companies in America are happy to go to White House dinners and slap this guy’s back. They do not care about this. Remember this, years from now, when they want you to forget.