Lowell
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lowellprime.bsky.social
Lowell
@lowellprime.bsky.social
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Reposted by Lowell
klonick.bsky.social
Holy shit.

Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.

www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
The cable, sent to all U.S. missions on December 2, orders U.S. consular officers to review resumes or LinkedIn profiles of H-1B applicants - and family members who would be traveling with them - to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others.
December 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Lowell
qwantz.com
"what you say with irony i say with sincerity" is a paraphrase of captain picard talking to q. but you are always allowed to paraphrase captain picard talking to q; it's always morally correct

www.qwantz.com/index.php?co...
T-Rex: Time for me to spend some time doing my favourite hobby: learning... Off panel: Nice! T-Rex: ...about PLANE CRASHES! You didn't let me finish, Dromiceiomimus! Dromiceiomimus: You uh - you ENJOY learning about people dying, T-Rex? T-Rex: They don't ALWAYS die! Besides, what I'm really learning about is SAFETY and TECHNOLOGY. Every time a plane crashes we discover what went wrong and then change technology, training, AND/OR systems so that can't happen again! Utahraptor: I guess that could be reassuring! T-Rex: It IS!! T-Rex: The first crashes were all "Oh the wings SHOULD stay on, whoopsie, our bad" but today a whole SET of things all have to go wrong, IN PARALLEL, AND in some novel unforeseen way, for a crash to happen. Utahraptor: But - they still happen, dude. T-Rex: AND WE FIX 'EM!! T-Rex: We decided "no plane should ever crash again", and we've trying our level best to make that happen ever since, and that is BEAUTIFUL. Off panel: I'll think of that if I'm ever on a crashing plane. T-Rex: ME TOO!! What you say with irony I say with sincerity!
September 19, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Reposted by Lowell
donmoyn.bsky.social
Full resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back.
"The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."
My resignation letter from CDC. Dear Dr. Houry, I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business. I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested. This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough. While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people. This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles. The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people. The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership. This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors. Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people. It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC. The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense. Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function. Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC. Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc. I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again. I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season. Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.” We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary. I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us. Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources. At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him. To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information. The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer. I believe in nutrition and exercise. I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability. Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun. The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud. I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed. For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics. I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision. Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically. Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution. If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.
August 28, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by Lowell
joolia.bsky.social
people have been prosecuted for coercing someone into suicide. creating a machine to do that at scale doesn’t reduce the culpability
August 27, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Reposted by Lowell
elizabethjoh.bsky.social
HOW CAN I TEACH CONSTITUTIONAL LAW UNDER THESE CONDITIONS FOLKS
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 26
Trump on deploying the National Guard to Chicago: "I have the right to do anything I want to do. I'm the president of the United States."
August 26, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Lowell
edzitron.com
Newsletter: My 16,000 word opus - How To Argue With An AI Booster, a comprehensive guide to arguing with AI boosters, addressing both their bad faith debate style and their specific (and flimsy) arguments as to why generative AI is the future.

www.wheresyoured.at/how-to-argue...
How To Argue With An AI Booster
Editor's Note: For those of you reading via email, I recommend opening this in a browser so you can use the Table of Contents. This is my longest newsletter - a 16,000-word-long opus - and if you like...
www.wheresyoured.at
August 25, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Lowell
gianmarcosoresi.bsky.social
How stupid do you need to be to think the problem with history museums is there’s not enough “about the Future”
August 23, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Lowell
joshuajfriedman.com
NEW: Kilmar Abrego Garcia says the DOJ and DHS are conspiring to threaten to deport him to Uganda in an attempt to coerce him to plead guilty and instead be deported to Costa Rica after serving his sentence. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The only thing that happened between Thursday- Costa Rica and Friday-Uganda was Mr. Abrego's exercise of his legal entitlement to release under the Bail Reform Act and the Fifth Amendment. See United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 755 (1987). Indeed, the government has done more than just offer these two options in isolation. On Friday evening, the government informed Mr. Abrego that he has until first thing Monday morning precisely when he must report to ICE's Baltimore Field Office—to accept a plea in exchange for deportation to Costa Rica, or else that offer will be off the table forever. There can be only one interpretation of these events: the DOJ, DHS, and ICE are using their collective powers to force Mr. Abrego to choose between a guilty plea followed by relative safety, or rendition to Uganda, where his safety and liberty would be under threat.
August 23, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Lowell
swordsjew.bsky.social
this dc situation looks pretty horrible. i wish i had more to say except that autocracy is always mundane and petty and vicious and encourages you to look away and be safe. and you can live quite normally under it until you're a direct target
August 11, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Lowell
edzitron.com
Premium Newsletter: The enshittification of AI has begun. With GPT-5, OpenAI has cut access to all other models, reducing the value of even their $200-a-month subscriptions. They join Anthropic in screwing their customers over by making their products worse.

www.wheresyoured.at/the-enshitti...
The Enshittification of Generative AI
Thanks for subscribing to Where’s Your Ed At Premium, please shoot me an email at ez@betteroffline.com if you ever have any questions. Yesterday, OpenAI launched GPT-5, a new “flagship” model of some...
www.wheresyoured.at
August 8, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Lowell
slack2thefuture.bsky.social
If your business model doesn’t work without breaking the law, then you’re not in business.

You’re in organized crime.
May 26, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Lowell
iwriteok.bsky.social
it's the closest thing that exists to equipping a magical item in D&D. oh this takes 2 seconds and renders me immune to a whole new type of damage? yes please.
May 23, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Lowell
alyssaharad.bsky.social
It is really bothering me (understatement) that the message is “bring back that one innocent guy” and not “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK SHUT DOWN THIS WHOLE OPERATION IMMEDIATELY.”
April 16, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by Lowell
iwriteok.bsky.social
reading Gay Berlin and tearing up at the story of Karl Ulrichs, the first person to express in public a modern understanding of homosexuality and also simultaneously the first gay man to come out openly under his own name. talk about standing on the edge of the world.
March 28, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Lowell
murray.senate.gov
Gregg is a former Marine and Forest Service ranger. He's saved the lives of hikers dangling off a cliff or going through cardiac arrest, and he's bravely fought forest fires to save small rural towns.

100% of his salary is paid by WA state.

Elon fired him. Share his story.
February 23, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Lowell
mishellbaker.bsky.social
Being a person with deadly, incurable cancer who is nonetheless still alive for an indefinite timeframe gives me an interesting metaphor that helps me deal with things like large-scale corruption in government or commerce.

Bear with me for a second while I try to explain.
January 21, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Lowell
mikeroyce.bsky.social
not the Wall Street Journal making the point that private insurance is 12 times more administratively expensive than Medicare
Some efficiency evangelists claim mandatory programs can be run much more cheaply. Medicare, for instance, spent $12 billion last year on administrative expenses. Can that be reduced? Maybe. But it's just 1% of total costs, compared with 12% or more at private insurers.
December 28, 2024 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Lowell
kathbarbadoro.bsky.social
sesame street isn't supposed to make money. the post office isn't supposed to make money. not everything is supposed to MAKE MONEY
December 16, 2024 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Lowell
rbreich.bsky.social
Trump says he's wants to privatize USPS because it's "unprofitable".

Reminder that the Post Office isn't a for-profit enterprise: it's a public service that guarantees everyone in America reliable, affordable, and universal mail service.
moreperfectunion.bsky.social More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · Dec 16
BREAKING: Trump says his team is looking into the privatization of the Postal Service.
December 17, 2024 at 4:31 AM
Reposted by Lowell
hankgreen.bsky.social
Hey, so it turns out that paper on black plastic was a bit blown out of proportion by a simple math error.

nationalpost.com/news/canada/...
How a simple math error sparked a panic about black plastic kitchen utensils
A study warned that people were being exposed to a toxic chemical from kitchen utensils. But the researchers misstated the safe daily limit
nationalpost.com
December 16, 2024 at 5:09 AM
Reposted by Lowell
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
on the one hand I guess it's good that there is an answer to the question "what kind of villainy would the far right have to champion to get even a semblance of resistance from the center right" but on the other hand I would have hoped for a higher bar than "literally giving children polio"
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · Dec 13
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader and a polio survivor, issued a statement in support of the polio vaccine, hours after The New York Times reported that the lawyer for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. petitioned regulators to withdraw the vaccine from the market. nyti.ms/4iwSCbV
McConnell Defends Polio Vaccine, an Apparent Warning to RFK Jr.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous,” said the former Republican leader, who is a polio survivor.
nyti.ms
December 14, 2024 at 12:50 AM
Reposted by Lowell
willoremus.com
Vlado Chernozemski, who assassinated King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, belonged in his youth to a club that was devoted to a game of regicide.

In the game, known as "chess," contestants subtly maneuver into a position that allows them to topple the opponent's monarch.
December 10, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Lowell
hellgatenyc.com
As NYPD officials boasted of the resources expended finding the killer of a corporate CEO, another sidewalk murder the same week, of a migrant teen, has not received the same treatment. hellgatenyc.com/two-manhatta...
Two Very Different Manhattan Murder Investigations
The NYPD spent countless hours and resources searching for a CEO’s killer, but has made little evident progress on the fatal stabbing of a migrant teen.
hellgatenyc.com
December 9, 2024 at 10:19 PM