Maria Theresa Norn
mtnorn.bsky.social
Maria Theresa Norn
@mtnorn.bsky.social
University researcher. Firm believer in the power of science and technology as a force of good. Married, mother, metalhead, and EDM enthusiast. Came here after escaping the app formerly known as twitter and all meta-owned platforms. Still getting settled.
Reposted by Maria Theresa Norn
Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction 🧪

From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
September 4, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Maria Theresa Norn
To quote @mcopelov.bsky.social, the case for more, not less liberal arts education has never been stronger
JD Vance: "This is how wars ultimately get settled. If you go back to World War 2, if you go back to every major conflict in human history, they all end with some kind of negotiation."
August 24, 2025 at 3:09 PM
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If a president wanted to become effectively a dictator, he’d likely:

1. Purge govt of non loyalists
2. Weaponize law against opponents
3. Use military to police opposition strongholds
4. Threaten media, schools, businesses w penalties to get them to heel
5. Change election rules in his favor.
August 24, 2025 at 2:34 AM
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Malinowski: A couple of years ago, Vance gave a speech.. The title was universities are the enemy. He said explicitly, we cannot achieve anything in this country as a conservative movement unless we aggressively go after the universities. That's what they're doing right now
May 24, 2025 at 4:06 AM
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Sinister & authoritarian. “Kristi Noem…sent a letter to Harvard requesting, among other things, coursework for every international student and information on any student visa holder involved in misconduct or illegal activity.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/u...
Trump Seeks Extensive Student Data in Pressure Campaign to Control Harvard
www.nytimes.com
May 24, 2025 at 6:18 AM
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New, from me:
The DOGE project was sold as tech disruptors who would revolutionize government. To try to understand why DOGE has failed, I point to lessons that other technologists who worked in government learned, but DOGE ignored. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-doge-...
What DOGE gets wrong about tech and government
Lessons learned by civic tech, forgotten by DOGE
donmoynihan.substack.com
May 17, 2025 at 2:14 PM
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First they came after the law firms
And I said nothing
Then they came after universities
And I said nothing
Then they came after nonprofits
And I said nothing.
Then they disappeared students who they disagreed with
And I said nothing
Then they came after me.
This is outrageous.
YouTube video by Cory Booker
youtube.com
May 16, 2025 at 5:40 PM
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I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.
May 4, 2025 at 6:21 AM
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Very good on nuances of current trade policy
5 positive steps that major trading partners to the US should take to preserve the essence of the global trading system when responding to Trump’s reciprocal tariffs: pause retaliation, not joining US discrimination against China...& more 👉 citp.ac.uk/publications... @michaelgasiorek.bsky.social
April 17, 2025 at 6:14 AM
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🚀🚀
April 15, 2025 at 10:35 AM
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Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.
April 15, 2025 at 3:52 AM
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Jawdropping.

You would expect this in a dictatorship, not the United States.

This country is unrecognizable.
March 20, 2025 at 2:11 AM
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If you attack the Capitol to overturn election results and to overthrow democracy on behalf of a criminal, you’re a hero.

If you attack a Tesla dealership, we’ll throw away the key.
Pam Bondi: "If you're gonna touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything, you better watch out, because we're coming after you."
March 15, 2025 at 11:20 PM
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On the basis of the evidence presented so far, the Trump administration appears to be arbitrarily & baselessly accusing people of supporting terrorism and deporting them. Nothing to stop anti-Trump protest being penalised in the same way.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/n...
March 15, 2025 at 9:04 PM
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March 9, 2025 at 8:09 PM
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Because of historic investments in foundational research, we have effective treatments for lethal conditions today. A retrenchment of American science could mean that people will suffer from the many illnesses for which we currently have little to offer.
Trump’s Agenda Is Undermining American Science
Research funded by the federal government has found useful expression in many of the defining technologies of our time. This Administration threatens that progress.
www.newyorker.com
March 9, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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3/8/15, NY USA: Musk/Trump Regime pull $400 million of funding from Columbia University to undermine free speech & university research (which US has dominated to their benefit since WW2). Undermining universities is standard authoritarian move to protect regime from hotbed of pro-democratic protest.
March 8, 2025 at 10:44 PM
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Something interesting happened here around 2000. The GOP took a hard right turn and never looked back.
www.ft.com/content/3046...
March 8, 2025 at 4:24 PM
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EU kommisionen planlægger at omlægge forskningstøtten med større politisk styring og fokus på markedsrelevans – på bekostning af grundforskning. Det vil være ramme den frie forskning og koste på fremtidens viden og udvikling.

@theyoungacademydk.bsky.social @januseriksen.bsky.social
Danske politikere må forsvare EU’s succesprogram for grundforskning
EU’s program, der siden 2007 har støttet de bedste forskningsprojekter i Europa, er potentielt i fare. Hvis pengene i stedet går til projekter ud fra vurderet markedspotentiale, vil det koste på EU’s ...
www.information.dk
March 5, 2025 at 12:56 PM
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Judith Butler: "Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic, because that means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice, and a third, a fourth, and then what happens?"
Judith Butler, philosopher: ‘If you sacrifice a minority like trans people, you are operating within a fascist logic’
A leading figure in feminism and gender studies, the thinker welcomes EL PAÍS in California after being voted one of the most influential minds in the world
english.elpais.com
February 21, 2025 at 7:38 PM
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Our new leader. The @economist.com has always been staunchly Transatlanticist. We don't say this lightly: "Europe must prepare to be abandoned or extorted. Not to prepare for that could leave Europe vulnerable to Russia and to an increasingly hostile America" www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
The lesson from Trump’s Ukrainian weapons freeze
And the grim choice facing Volodymyr Zelensky
www.economist.com
March 5, 2025 at 11:18 AM
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Ukraine is Europe!
We stand by Ukraine.

We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the agressor.

Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.
February 28, 2025 at 8:22 PM
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In 6 weeks Trump has effectively gutted the government, threatened the world order, threatened government workers, risked plunging us into a recession with all the personnel cuts and eliminated most of the regulations that kept the oligarchs in check.
www.salon.com/2025/02/27/t...
The king of his Cabinet: Trump’s display of White House power is an ominous sign for democracy
In less than six weeks, Donald Trump has forever changed the country
www.salon.com
February 27, 2025 at 5:16 PM
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February 28, 2025 at 7:14 PM
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No, the meeting did not go badly for Ukraine. It exposed in the most undeniable, unequivocal way possible the pro-Putin commitments of the president and vice president. That was information Americans and allies needed to have clear before them.
February 28, 2025 at 5:57 PM