Sign in

Alina B Baciu

@alinabbaciu.bsky.social
407 followers 854 following 616 posts

she/her; my own views; #publichealth; ❤️ our nation of immigrants; abolish 🧊; ❤️ diversity, equity, inclusion; home is Nacotchtank land, Douglass Commonwealth, future 51st state

PostsRepliesMedia
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 4h
All You Fascists Bound to Lose
in colorful stenciled letters on a poster at the base of streetlight
110
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 16h
The US is literally being avoided like the plague.
972007383
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Four-byline alert: “.. Meta claimed that $4.1 billion of stock options exercised by Mr. Zuckerberg counted as a research expense ..” @nytimes.com $META www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...
14426081169
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...
But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.
11068991978
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
ProPublica @propublica.org · 30/09/2026
NEW: California is teeming with black-market dairies, propped up by consumer demand fueled by misinformation. With evidence against one raw goat milk farm, regulators could have sought punitive action. But that’s not what happened.
propublica.org
A Girl Nearly Died After Drinking Raw Milk. The State Did Little to Punish the Unlicensed Farmer Who Sold It.
California is teeming with black-market dairies, propped up by consumer demand fueled by misinformation. With evidence against one raw goat milk farm, regulators could have sought punitive action. But...
22724691191
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's wild to me that people like Rufo and Salam can promote fascistic framing like this and not imagine that it might come for them or their families. But whatever guys...good luck with all of those debates about "the Indian Question" or "the Jewish Question" or "the Thai Question" or whatever.
639847
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Rufo and his ilk are grotesque racist degenerates. It’s because of them that research and government programs aimed at helping all people and communities thrive have been shut down, universities & academic freedom are under attack, and people are caged in for-profit camps.
000
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 29/09/2026
Side note: *Just this weekend* I was trying to grab some data on liberal arts majors, but the metrics I could easily find were all “how much money does the degree make you” and not “how much do these graduates benefit society in ways that are hard to replicate, specifically” and I feel that was odd.
28616
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When they get back in power, Democrats need to go all-in on higher education. We need a campaign of reinvestment in public universities across the country that makes the Morrill Land-Grant Act look like nothing by comparison *and* a GI Bill of Rights-style program of tuition grants.
20752391422
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Russell Brand, who's awaiting trial in London next month on rape and sexual assault charges, will moderate a panel at DC's MAHA summit tomorrow on reforming a U.S. health agency
22425961066
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Emma Evans @trance.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Also reminder the best help for food pantries, or people struggling or any 'need' is cold hard cash. Always. Always always always. Food pantries can make that money stretch MUCH BETTER THAN YOU CAN, and it'll go to their most urgent needs. I mean, the other stuff is great too but cash is king
611723381
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I appreciate Gov. Pritzker’s frankness. Reminds me of when Gov. Mike Huckabee embarked on a public weight loss journey 2003-4. Pathways to better health & preventing early death should be nonpartisan common ground, but they require access to care, affordable healthy food, places to be active, etc.
000
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Horrifying early salvos of what culminated in the shooting at CDC which killed a police officer and traumatized civil servants protecting the public health. Now “the call is coming from inside the house” as leaders actively disinform & lie about vaccines. www.cidrap.umn.edu/public-healt...
cidrap.umn.edu
Local, state public health officials overwhelmingly faced serious backlash during pandemic, report reveals
010
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I’m sorry, what? This piece was not a joint publication/ reporting job (as some are). It was @propublica’s alone and the Times followed with a summary. This is so indicative of NYT. If they don’t ignore proper credit, they just go for stolen valor.
623739733
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I've had fire insurance on my house for decades and never had a fire. Obviously a fraudster.
4247483
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This serves as advertisement for Alex Gibney’s documentary, Musk, opening October 9. Pass it on.
hollywoodreporter.com
The Major Social Media Platforms Are All Rejecting Paid Ads for Alex Gibney’s ‘Musk’ (Exclusive)
YouTube, TikTok and Meta have all turned down the trailer for the Oct. 9 doc, citing “political” content. X won't even take Bleecker Street's calls. The distributor is appealing.
3024061502
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Huh, I knew about the wage theft, but was unaware of their spending against Mamdani. In July in DC, a tiny proposed surcharge on 3rd party deliveries (to support anti-hunger programs) so enraged DoorDash that they lobbied hard for HR 9720, a bill to curtail DC Home Rule! #deleteDoorDash #FreeDC
010
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"RKF took money earmarked to provide health care for Black infants and spent it on his personal security detail" is a ludicrous headline. Comic book villainy.
wsj.com
Exclusive | RFK Jr.’s Enhanced Security Was Funded With Money From Minority Health Office
The cost of the health secretary’s security grew from roughly $10 million in fiscal year 2025 to $17 million in fiscal year 2026.
27674923148
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Brittany Page @brittanyepage.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
NPR is the latest to rush in & give white supremacist Tucker Carlson a mainstream media boost, helping to normalize him as he floats creating a third party and running for president. I listened to the whole thing. Not one single question about his constant promotion of racist conspiracy theories.
Screenshot of NPR's Newsmakers - Tucker Carlson has a new enemy: The politics he helped build

September 24, 2026 - 5:00 AM ET 

Steve Inskeep 

57-minute listen
107221
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
"We saw multiple vans & buggies bringing people of all ages to the site. Some attendees...said they came to get vaccinated because they were scared of getting sick. They explained that many people in the Plain community have contracted measles, & they wanted to protect themselves and their children"
wgal.com
Peach Bottom clinic draws families seeking protection from measles
A pop-up vaccination clinic in Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania, hosted by the state health department, provided measles vaccines to members of the Plain community and other people in the area amid rising c...
520165
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
As a regular user of the Archives of American Art's online collections in my research & teaching, painful to see the site still down. Hoping this isn't akin to catastrophic 2023 British Library cyberattack. If you're curious to learn more, take a few minutes to watch this video on the AAA's mission:
youtu.be
Archives of American Art — Dig Deep (2025)
YouTube video by Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
1249
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Frankie de la Cretaz @thefrankiedlc.news · 18/09/2026
I'm really glad that Code Switch included this part of my interview, because I think these are the points that so often get lost in the discussion of trans panic and why the WNBA might be an ideal target for those anti-trans groups to latch onto. www.npr.org/2026/09/15/n...
We're talking about actual bigotry and the belief that this group of people shouldn't have, like, the same human rights as another group. It legitimizes them. And so the WNBA is a big platform for them to be able to do that. But I think what's actually really insidious about being the target is that transphobia is rooted in white supremacist ideas of who is allowed to be a woman and what a woman should look like. Those beliefs have, you know, negatively impacted Black and brown and non-Western women throughout history.

So what you have is a league in the WNBA that is full of Black women, 7-foot-tall women, masculine women, women who don't fit kind of the traditional markers of conventional white Western ideas of womanhood. And so I don't think it's surprising that transphobic ideas around the acceptable kind of woman are coming and impacting this league.

And I think the last piece that I will say is, I think, in some ways, the lack of visibility that the league had for a lot of years really protected it. Like, it wasn't as successful as it should have been because of racism and homophobia and misogyny. And once it becomes successful, the flip side of that is it really does become a different kind of victim of those ideas. And the fact that you have a league that is all women, predominantly Black women, largely queer women who have been successful and they don't need men to do it, and their product is not necessarily for men. I think that's a threat to the status quo. And so it's not just about protecting women's sports. It's actually about dismantling them from the inside.
9840327
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"This week, a Superior Court judge upheld what’s already been law in Connecticut: that there are no religious exemptions when it comes to requirements for kids getting vaccinated for school." www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/c...
nbcconnecticut.com
Connecticut court upholds school vaccine law, religious exemptions still not permitted for students
This week, a Superior Court judge upheld what’s already been law in Connecticut: that there are no religious exemptions when it comes to requirements for kids getting vaccinated for school. Connecticu...
25024
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Manisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Just saw Best of Best on @netflix.com last night and it was such good fun. I think that crazy racist in Texas Bo French would lose his mind if he saw it!
1102
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Bethany Albertson @albertsonb2.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Our students don’t deserve this. For those who don’t understand UT Austin admissions, most undergrads get in bc they were top 5% of their graduating class, from a Texas high school. Anyone calling for more white students is advocating for race conscious admissions - to help out white students.
201370341
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Last year, one day after a radicalized anti-vaxxer shot up the CDC campus over mRNA vaccines, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya called to end use of the platform. www.importantcontext.news/nih-director...
importantcontext.news
NIH Director Spreads Vaccine Misinformation One Day After CDC Shooting
Jay Bhattacharya called to end the mRNA platform on Steve Bannon’s War Room.
518770
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 19/09/2026
We cannot let history forget what happens when a federal government uses law enforcement to terrorize innocent people.
 And let me say to any agent or administration official who thinks we've forgotten or that their cruelty will go unchecked: Illinois remembers.
572859606
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is what happens when you don’t have diverse voices in EVERY room where decisions are being made. If you only have one category of human you’ll have massive blind posts that present reputational and other kinds of risk. We need DEI in all messages, products, services. thegrio.com/2026/09/18/c...
thegrio.com
Converse apologizes for ad campaign image that resembled a Ku Klux Klan hood and a hanging body
The unfortunate and uncomfortable optical illusion sparks discourse and reminds us why a picture is worth a thousand words.
121
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 19/09/2026
Exactly! I made this point in my recent piece with Nathaniel Raymond on ever-increasing drone attacks on civilians - it’s people knowingly doing this, not automated systems:
foreignpolicy.com
Civilians Need Better Protections in the Drone Age
Hunting noncombatants from the sky is growing disturbingly common.
17512
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Good to see this national AI conversation get going. But it’s still too much on Silicon Valley’s terms. The rest of us don’t have to act like everything is computer. We can talk real world instead of sci fi. We don’t need to put tech companies’ power and profit first, and societal impacts second.
7712104
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
AI didn’t “go rogue.” People connected a computer system they know can mess with another computer system in unpredictable ways to less advanced computer system and it messed with that computer system in unpredicted ways. As @tressiemcphd.bsky.social argues, don’t lose sight that *people* did that.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Panic Won’t Fix the Looming A.I. Threat. Politics Will.
The threats from A.I. are real — and they’re ones we know how to deal with.
251169310
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
We already have an AI kill switch: cut power to servers. Really want to talk existential threat? Fine. We humans have many ways to blow things up. Like data centers. Panicky discourse assumes the first priority is protect tech company investments and expand their businesses. But why should it be?
441631325
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 18/09/2026
We scraped through the data and found that 50% of all clinical trials are at risk of being cancelled. 1,026 cancer trials 273 pediatric trials 115 heart disease trials 184 diabetes trials This is unacceptable and inhumane.
415689
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Alison Gopnik @alisongopnik.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
An especially clear and insightful piece on AI from Melanie Mitchell Misleading Metaphors and Real Risks aiguide.substack.com/p/misleading...
aiguide.substack.com
Misleading Metaphors, Real Risks
What To Fear from AI Agents and How to Reclaim Our Human Agency
03616
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This happened under an ostensibly pro-life administration that claims these beliefs emanate from Christianity, whose Bible states every individual is made in the image of God. The Administration’s apparent hierarchy of human value is unbiblical & unchristian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
Revealed: ICE lost count of miscarriages, while detaining a record number of pregnant women
ICE says it has no updated information on the number of miscarriages after 3 October 2025. Lawmakers, advocates and immigration attorneys have raised alarms that pregnant detainees are not receiving b...
000
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I hope these folks get to go back to their home states to respond to any urgent needs there. DC does not need them and taxpayer dollars should be spent on worthwhile matters, not wasted on housing, feeding, and transporting unnecessary troops. NO to military occupation of our neighborhoods. #FreeDC
Armed National Guard troops getting out of  a minivan across from National Archives on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC
000
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Wrong question, wrong answer
Ad on a DC Metro station platform:
The AI race depends on human ingenuity
011
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
When do business leaders (not tech oligarchs) become alarmed by the US’s declining global status, lack of AI regulation, dismantling of our scientific enterprise, and ongoing damage to our national data systems (soon the Census!) that they start speaking out and lobbying Congress to act? Never?
010
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Supporters of a #FreeDC met tonight, like most nights in spots around the city, to protest the occupying National Guard troops for 5 minutes of noise in the park Troops in uniform should not be clogging up our sidewalks and metro stations, intimidating Washingtonians, and wasting $ millions daily
homemade sign on a park bench says “401 days under occupation” and bears a Free DC sticker
0117
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Each of my books has depended on the archives of the Performing Arts Library, of which I made free use because I'm lucky enough to live close by. This gift robs me of my unfair advantage & I hate it. (Seriously: A miracle that will transform performing arts research.) www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/a...
nytimes.com
New York Performing Arts Library Gets $60 Million Gift for Preservation (Gift Article)
The anonymous donation, the library’s largest ever, will support digitization of archival items related to theater, dance and music.
632852
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Michael D. Green, PhD @michaeldgreen.phd · 17/09/2026
Honestly, it was scary to think about being named. As I sat with the opportunity more, I thought that there aren’t a ton of moments to act and set up a better future for science. We’ve all been through a lot. Even though I’m at a vulnerable stage of my career, I also have relative privilege…
11476115
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Shefali Luthra @shefali.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Big news: The family of Tierra Walker, who died after she couldn't get an abortion, is suing a slate of Texas actors in state court, including AG Ken Paxton. They say the state ban is unconstitutional. This is the first suit of its kind. 19thnews.org/2026/09/texa...
19thnews.org
Tierra Walker died after she couldn’t get an abortion. Her family is suing Ken Paxton
The case, filed Tuesday, argues that Texas’ near-total abortion ban violates the state and U.S. Constitutions, which “prohibit state actors from killing their citizens.”
731277178065
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It doesn’t matter if you eat organic foods. It doesn’t matter if you exercise regularly. It doesn’t matter if you inject peptides. It doesn’t matter if you have “good genes”. None of these things will prevent you from contracting vaccine-preventable diseases. There is only one thing that will.
281455325
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
“What we have been seeing, that got amplified even more with these measles cases, is a breakdown in the coordination and trust between states and the federal government”. -Dr. Anne Zink, highlighting one of the many problems when the Federal government decides public health is the enemy.
npr.org
As diseases loom, CDC's response to measles deaths stirs fears about agency's reliability
The worst U.S. measles outbreak in decades is growing and flu season is imminent. Experts are fretting about federal health data reliability after the CDC questioned two Pennsylvania measles deaths.
1217867
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Qasim Rashid, Esq. @qasimrashid.com · 11/09/2026
Just got this text from “Flip the Senate.” It has Jon Ossoff, who isn’t flipping a seat, and has $45M in the bank. It does NOT have Angie Nixon, who is flipping a seat and needs all the funds she can get as she polls 47-47. Smh the disrespect. DONATE TO ANGIE: secure.actblue.com/donate/frien...
1523693
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Hagerstown Rapid Response @hagerstownrapidresponse.com · 10/09/2026
By now you know hopefully know about the assault that happened by ICE on peaceful protesters in Frederick, Maryland. Well, here's one way you can help.
066
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
How is ICE making record arrests? I found the answer in Pa. coal country, where cops lured by a promise of federal $$$ have embraced ICE's 287(g) and are throwing up checkpoints, raiding job sites, arresting 100s, and terrorizing their communities My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/penn...
inquirer.com
In Pa. coal country, local police join with ICE to bring arrests, fear | Will Bunch
Pa.'s Schuylkill County is the new face of Trump's mass deportation, as local cops lured by federal cash bust scores of migrants.
6517951048
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
PBS News @pbsnews.org · 10/09/2026
FDA inspections of foreign food sites — including the Mexican farm linked to the ongoing outbreak — are down nearly 35% since 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to agency records reviewed by The Associated Press. to.pbs.org/4yu4nam
pbs.org
Cyclospora outbreak followed years of declining FDA foreign inspections
A nationwide outbreak of cyclospora tied to contaminated lettuce has heightened safety concerns about imported food, while underscoring a longer-term trend: U.S. regulators are conducting fewer intern...
012557
Alina B Baciu @alinabbaciu.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Ectopic pregnancy deaths have doubled, and it’s worse in states with abortion bans. “Abortion bans make exceptions for ectopic pregnancies, but getting a definitive diagnosis can mean waiting days or even weeks, while the risk of rupture and death rises.” www.propublica.org/article/ecto...
propublica.org
Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.
With prompt and appropriate medical care, experts say, people shouldn’t die from an ectopic pregnancy. Women in Texas and Oklahoma have sued over delays in care, which, coupled with our new analysis, ...
000
Reposted by Alina B Baciu
Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · 08/09/2026
Much of the talk was about how constitutional meaning has always been contested, and as I was digging up examples, I was delighted to come across a resolution adopted by Maine's state legislature, going off after Dred Scott enjoy! blackfreedom.proquest.com/wp-content/u...
Screenshotted text from the resolution, reading:

Resolved, That the extra-judicial opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Dred Scott is not binding in law or conscience upon the government or citizens of the United States, and
that it is of an import so alarming and dangerous, as to demand the
instant and emphatic reprobation of the country.

Resolved, That the Supreme Court of the United States should, by peaceful and constitutional measures, be so reconstituted as to relieve it from the domination of a sectional faction, and make it a tribunal whose decisions shall be in harmony with the Constitution of the
United States and the spirit of our institutions, and at whose hands all classes of persons in the United States, without regard to race or locality, shall receive even and exact justice.
516343