Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
@rcmedphys.bsky.social
Medical Physicist | Professor, Emory University School of Medicine *opinions are my own*
#medphys
#medphys
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
It’s past the time to stand up, but the opportunities are dwindling! Better late than never. 🧵
Faculty, alums, students and staff at universities across the country. Time to stand up. Your presidents and trustees need to hear from you. Stiffen their spines. Just say no to extortion.
Trump's higher ed ransom note is here - everyone would have to acquiesce to their unprecedented demands or not be "given priority for grants," plus they can demand "reimbursement" for "violations" www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy
A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy
October 2, 2025 at 11:22 AM
It’s past the time to stand up, but the opportunities are dwindling! Better late than never. 🧵
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
"it's too much liquid" going into the baby, instantly up there with the injecting bleach moment.
Trump: "It's too much liquid. Too many different things are going into that baby at too big a number. The size of this thing when you look at it. It's like 80 different vaccines and beyond vaccines."
September 22, 2025 at 9:32 PM
"it's too much liquid" going into the baby, instantly up there with the injecting bleach moment.
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
To celebrate #HispanicHeritageMonth, we are highlighting stories of chemists with Latin American roots. Read more about C&EN’s Trailblazers: cen.acs.org/careers/dive... #HHM #chemsky 🧪
September 15, 2025 at 2:35 PM
To celebrate #HispanicHeritageMonth, we are highlighting stories of chemists with Latin American roots. Read more about C&EN’s Trailblazers: cen.acs.org/careers/dive... #HHM #chemsky 🧪
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
MAHA is all marketing and a distraction.
It wants to tackle poor air and water quality but the EPA just got defunded.
It wants to promote healthy eating, but the admin gutted SNAP benefits that would do just that.
Biggest killer of kids? Guns. Totally silent on that.
@anacabrera.bsky.social
It wants to tackle poor air and water quality but the EPA just got defunded.
It wants to promote healthy eating, but the admin gutted SNAP benefits that would do just that.
Biggest killer of kids? Guns. Totally silent on that.
@anacabrera.bsky.social
September 10, 2025 at 4:51 PM
MAHA is all marketing and a distraction.
It wants to tackle poor air and water quality but the EPA just got defunded.
It wants to promote healthy eating, but the admin gutted SNAP benefits that would do just that.
Biggest killer of kids? Guns. Totally silent on that.
@anacabrera.bsky.social
It wants to tackle poor air and water quality but the EPA just got defunded.
It wants to promote healthy eating, but the admin gutted SNAP benefits that would do just that.
Biggest killer of kids? Guns. Totally silent on that.
@anacabrera.bsky.social
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
RIP CBS "news." popular.info/p/cbs-news-h...
CBS News hires Trump loyalist to review news coverage
CBS News has hired Kenneth R.
popular.info
September 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
RIP CBS "news." popular.info/p/cbs-news-h...
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
Completely agree. It’s absolutely outrageous that nobody stood up for @yamiche.bsky.social — media spinelessness has played a major role in how we got here.
September 8, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Completely agree. It’s absolutely outrageous that nobody stood up for @yamiche.bsky.social — media spinelessness has played a major role in how we got here.
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
Now this is a headline.
Front page lead in NYT.
And very strong, no-BS story by @julianbarnes.bsky.social Barnes and Catie Edmondson.
Respect, to all involved. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...
Front page lead in NYT.
And very strong, no-BS story by @julianbarnes.bsky.social Barnes and Catie Edmondson.
Respect, to all involved. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...
September 8, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Now this is a headline.
Front page lead in NYT.
And very strong, no-BS story by @julianbarnes.bsky.social Barnes and Catie Edmondson.
Respect, to all involved. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...
Front page lead in NYT.
And very strong, no-BS story by @julianbarnes.bsky.social Barnes and Catie Edmondson.
Respect, to all involved. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
This was painful to write. I hate that Emory’s new interim president, on her second day of office, just last week, called for abolishing DEI programs at Emory.
open.substack.com/pub/noellemc...
open.substack.com/pub/noellemc...
Is Emory Joining the Club of Capitulators?
Stepping into the role of Emory University’s interim president, Justice Leah Ward Sears brought with her quite a legacy: a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, the youngest person eve...
open.substack.com
September 7, 2025 at 2:25 AM
This was painful to write. I hate that Emory’s new interim president, on her second day of office, just last week, called for abolishing DEI programs at Emory.
open.substack.com/pub/noellemc...
open.substack.com/pub/noellemc...
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city.
This is not a joke. This is not normal.
Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.
This is not a joke. This is not normal.
Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.
September 6, 2025 at 4:37 PM
The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city.
This is not a joke. This is not normal.
Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.
This is not a joke. This is not normal.
Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
What’s happening in Fulton County Georgia right now impacts all of us when we go to the polls in 2026 and 2028. We owe it to ourselves & our country to stay informed. joycevance.substack.com/p/five-quest...
September 6, 2025 at 1:40 PM
What’s happening in Fulton County Georgia right now impacts all of us when we go to the polls in 2026 and 2028. We owe it to ourselves & our country to stay informed. joycevance.substack.com/p/five-quest...
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
September 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
This is the digital stasi. Social media influencers utilizing tips from followers for content that they monetize while working with state actors to target the people they want.
It's all a spectacle packaged as content. Destroying people's lives for profitable ideological bloodsport.
It's all a spectacle packaged as content. Destroying people's lives for profitable ideological bloodsport.
September 5, 2025 at 12:57 PM
This is the digital stasi. Social media influencers utilizing tips from followers for content that they monetize while working with state actors to target the people they want.
It's all a spectacle packaged as content. Destroying people's lives for profitable ideological bloodsport.
It's all a spectacle packaged as content. Destroying people's lives for profitable ideological bloodsport.
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
Refusing to "trust the experts" is meant to be a brave, responsible position.
But (as Carl explains in the thread) there is too much knowledge in the world. You have to trust *somebody*, much of the time.
If you have no trust in experts, you end up trusting the idiots.
But (as Carl explains in the thread) there is too much knowledge in the world. You have to trust *somebody*, much of the time.
If you have no trust in experts, you end up trusting the idiots.
1. "'Trusting the experts is not a feature of either a science or democracy," Kennedy said."
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
RFK Jr. in interview with Scripps News: ‘Trusting the experts is not science’
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. sat down with Scripps News for a wide-ranging interview, discussing mRNA vaccine funding policy changes and a recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
www.scrippsnews.com
August 12, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Refusing to "trust the experts" is meant to be a brave, responsible position.
But (as Carl explains in the thread) there is too much knowledge in the world. You have to trust *somebody*, much of the time.
If you have no trust in experts, you end up trusting the idiots.
But (as Carl explains in the thread) there is too much knowledge in the world. You have to trust *somebody*, much of the time.
If you have no trust in experts, you end up trusting the idiots.
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
Phang: The Constitution says representatives shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons.
It doesn’t say you’re only supposed to count U.S. citizens.
Trump says you’ve got to redo the census but can’t include “illegals”? Tough shit—the Constitution says otherwise.
It doesn’t say you’re only supposed to count U.S. citizens.
Trump says you’ve got to redo the census but can’t include “illegals”? Tough shit—the Constitution says otherwise.
August 9, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Phang: The Constitution says representatives shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons.
It doesn’t say you’re only supposed to count U.S. citizens.
Trump says you’ve got to redo the census but can’t include “illegals”? Tough shit—the Constitution says otherwise.
It doesn’t say you’re only supposed to count U.S. citizens.
Trump says you’ve got to redo the census but can’t include “illegals”? Tough shit—the Constitution says otherwise.
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
I have an incentive for rich people like you @mcuban.bsky.social
Federally funded R&D has fueled the innovation that drives American prosperity. Scores of billionaires owe their fortunes to advancements made in labs across the nation.
An investment in @standupforscience.bsky.social to help save…
Federally funded R&D has fueled the innovation that drives American prosperity. Scores of billionaires owe their fortunes to advancements made in labs across the nation.
An investment in @standupforscience.bsky.social to help save…
Want to use rich people like me to your advantage? Incent us to help those who need it the most. Lower corp taxes for comps that pay a min of $25 per hour. Lower corp taxes if employees get stock at the same pct as the CEO.
Bottom up incentives work. Dems never innovate. They bitch
Bottom up incentives work. Dems never innovate. They bitch
August 10, 2025 at 9:52 PM
I have an incentive for rich people like you @mcuban.bsky.social
Federally funded R&D has fueled the innovation that drives American prosperity. Scores of billionaires owe their fortunes to advancements made in labs across the nation.
An investment in @standupforscience.bsky.social to help save…
Federally funded R&D has fueled the innovation that drives American prosperity. Scores of billionaires owe their fortunes to advancements made in labs across the nation.
An investment in @standupforscience.bsky.social to help save…
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
"Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who oversees the CDC, did not make a statement the day of the shooting.
Late the following morning, more than 30 minutes after posting photos of fishing with his family, Kennedy posted condolences on his official X account..."
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/u...
Late the following morning, more than 30 minutes after posting photos of fishing with his family, Kennedy posted condolences on his official X account..."
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/u...
After Years of Anger Directed at C.D.C., Shooting Manifests Worst Fears
www.nytimes.com
August 10, 2025 at 6:25 PM
"Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who oversees the CDC, did not make a statement the day of the shooting.
Late the following morning, more than 30 minutes after posting photos of fishing with his family, Kennedy posted condolences on his official X account..."
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/u...
Late the following morning, more than 30 minutes after posting photos of fishing with his family, Kennedy posted condolences on his official X account..."
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/u...
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
Good.
No doctor should be forced to turn away families because of political threats.
No doctor should be forced to turn away families because of political threats.
Boston Children's Hospital says it won't be bullied into abandoning trans youth - LGBTQ Nation
The hospital has faced bomb threats, hate campaigns, and threats to funding over the years but has never wavered in supporting gender-affirming care.
www.lgbtqnation.com
August 5, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Good.
No doctor should be forced to turn away families because of political threats.
No doctor should be forced to turn away families because of political threats.
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
Important details from this story:
1) Yet another news-break by student journalists (this time @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social) www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
2) Harvard saying "see you in court," not "let's make a deal."
3) Per Garber, WH/MAGA leaked news of a "deal." NYT then ran with it.
1) Yet another news-break by student journalists (this time @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social) www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
2) Harvard saying "see you in court," not "let's make a deal."
3) Per Garber, WH/MAGA leaked news of a "deal." NYT then ran with it.
August 4, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Important details from this story:
1) Yet another news-break by student journalists (this time @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social) www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
2) Harvard saying "see you in court," not "let's make a deal."
3) Per Garber, WH/MAGA leaked news of a "deal." NYT then ran with it.
1) Yet another news-break by student journalists (this time @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social) www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
2) Harvard saying "see you in court," not "let's make a deal."
3) Per Garber, WH/MAGA leaked news of a "deal." NYT then ran with it.
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
It's really weird to demand accountability from a NYC mayoral candidate for a deadly NYC shooting rather than the current NYC mayor, an ex-cop who campaigned on a "tough on crime" platform and promptly got indicted for crimes
July 31, 2025 at 4:53 PM
It's really weird to demand accountability from a NYC mayoral candidate for a deadly NYC shooting rather than the current NYC mayor, an ex-cop who campaigned on a "tough on crime" platform and promptly got indicted for crimes
With @aapmhq.bsky.social 2025 annual meeting underway, I am reminded of this reflection following the 2022 meeting coming off the heels of the pandemic. Let our shared humanity be the context moving forward....
@aapm-hlmpsc.bsky.social
@aapm-hlmpsc.bsky.social
July 28, 2025 at 3:30 PM
With @aapmhq.bsky.social 2025 annual meeting underway, I am reminded of this reflection following the 2022 meeting coming off the heels of the pandemic. Let our shared humanity be the context moving forward....
@aapm-hlmpsc.bsky.social
@aapm-hlmpsc.bsky.social
Reposted by Richard Castillo, PhD, FAAPM
"At least 12 people have already died in ICE custody so far this year, the same number that died in all of 2024."
Kristi Noem Guts ICE Oversight as Detainee Deaths Surge
ICE Barbie Kristi Noem is making it harder to hold ICE accountable.
newrepublic.com
July 11, 2025 at 3:57 PM
"At least 12 people have already died in ICE custody so far this year, the same number that died in all of 2024."