iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Karen Benjamin Guzzo @karenguzzo.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

@prbdata.bsky.social's 2026 World Population Data Sheet is here! It's interactive and lovely and full of all sorts of wonderful demographic data!

wpds.prb.org

World Population Data Explorer (2026 Data)

Explore population and health indicators for 200+ countries and territories.

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

New: Macklemore will donate entire $1M of his earnings from Ed Sheeran's tour to six orgs helping Palestinians — and invites Robert Kraft to match him. Says he wants to center Palestinians being killed + journalists & aid workers who keep going. "Their risk is of a far different order than mine."

With everything that has happened over the last 48 hours, I want to bring the conversation back to where it belongs: to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation, and still fighting for their freedom.
I will be donating the entire $1 million of my net earnings from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour to six organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people. And I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation. Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting. A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth.
That is what this has always been about. Not me. Not a tour. Not the headlines or the controversy. It is about Palestinians right to freedom, dignity and safety in their own homeland. I want to center the parents carrying their children into hospitals without the basic resources to treat them, and the physicians, paramedics, journalists and aid workers who keep going back in. I want to center the organizers and activists who have paid real costs for standing with Palestine. Their risk is of a far different order than mine.
Just yesterday, 15 year old Muhammad al Zinati was killed in an Israeli strike while rushing to help aid worker Sherif Lubbad, who had already been injured. He was a child. Both were murdered. Both should be alive. And the ones still under the rubble, whose names exist only in the memories of people who may not have survived to speak them. Writing a check is one of the least costly forms of solidarity available to me. I am doing it because I can, and because these organizations are doing the work while much of the world debates it.
But aid alone cannot address the conditions that make it necessary. This is a manmade injustice, and I believe it requires immediate political change. Palestinians have lived for decades without basic rights and should not have to wait another day to be free. That is where my focus will remain. I will …

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A Jean Stevenson @amandajean.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

As we see so many colleagues cower and comply it's getting harder and harder to maintain faith that the academy really shares a commitment to the pursuit of human knowledge. The researchers who filed this lawsuit feed that faith. ❤️✊

aclu.org

Researchers Challenge NIH Screening of Grants for Disfavored Viewpoints | American Civil Liberties Union

Class action lawsuit seeks to stop censorship and termination of federally funded scientific research

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Amanda Nagle, MPH @nagle-ac.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Texas’s total abortion ban is associated with an increase in bleeding related severe morbidity among people experiencing pregnancy loss. My coauthors and I analyzed data from all hospitals in Texas from 2017-2023. Read more here: doi.org/10.2105/AJPH...

doi.org

AJPH

American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA)

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The House of Pod @kavehmd.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

As an Iranian American, it feels like I need to help explain something: A friend recently expressed confusion as to why those in the Iranian diaspora (liked myself), who hate the regime, would be opposed to the attacks on Iran. I’ll try to explain my thoughts/feelings. 🧵

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Helen Rosner @hels.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

God my absolute heart is with the people of Iran, who’ve fought so steadfastly for their own liberation, and are getting fucked half a dozen ways by a whole pantheon of geriatric war criminals while being told they should be grateful for it

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Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

it’s even more demoralizing when the history you’re repeating is history you were around for the first time

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John Pavlovitz @johnpavlovitz.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Hit the streets tomorrow. Be nonviolent. Be joyfully defiant. Be defiantly joyful. Ridicule him. Condemn fascism. Oppose I.C.E. Affirm diversity. Embody America. Love your neighbor. Refuse to be intimidated. Be safe. Be loud. Be encouraged. #NoKingsDay

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Sheryl Weikal says Prosecute ICE @leftistlawyer.com · 14/06/2025

I am so sick of seeing people respond to anti-war posts with "so you want Iran to have nuclear weapons?" Believe it or not, there are lots of ways to prevent nuclear proliferation that don't include starting wars. The choices are not limited to "bomb residential buildings" or "nuclear armageddon."

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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

The racist calls by those on the far-right for a “ban on third-world immigration” is grotesquely bigoted & a part of the project to gut the gains of the Civil Rights Movement. The 1965 Immigration & Nationality Act ended explicit racism in U.S. immigration policy. www.lbjlibrary.org/news-and-pre...

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Helen Shang @helenshang.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

I just have to say for those of you not in LA that in the days before the horrible raids started, there was no crisis or whatever they would let you believe. It wasn't like something was escalating out of control and somebody had to step in. THEY are creating the problems.

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Charles Johnson @charles.littlegreenfootballs.com · 07/06/2025

People in Los Angeles rising up against ICE.

Huge demonstrations in Los Angeles against ICE raids.

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Jess Hardie @jesshardie.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

It’s not the rhetoric. It’s that ICE is causing irreparable harm and acting with impunity and people can see that. When you act like fascists, people are going to treat you like fascists.

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Horrific murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in the middle of DC. This kind of violence is illegal, immoral, inexcusable and of course - if the chant of ‘free Palestine’ by the alleged shooter is true - solves nothing and helps zero Palestinians.

theguardian.com

Two Israeli embassy staff shot dead near Washington DC Jewish museum

Police said a suspect was in custody after the shooting near the Capital Jewish Museum

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Erin A. Snider @erinsnider.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Utterly vile and a profound betrayal to the 9,000 Afghans living in the US who had been protected from deportation. In a statement as cruel as it is absurd, Kristi Noem claimed that allowing Afghan nationals to stay temporarily in the U.S. is 'contrary to the national interest.'

wisconsinexaminer.com

Noem revokes temporary deportation protections for some Afghans in the U.S. • Wisconsin Examiner

About 9,000 Afghans living in the United States who had been protected from deportation will no longer be shielded as of mid-July.

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Paul Krugman @pkrugman.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

So let me get this straight: masks are bad and un-American if worn to fight a pandemic, but good if worn by people claiming to be government agents when they kidnap people off the street

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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 09/05/2025

She’s out!! They have released Ozturk from ICE custody!

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Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Steve Kerr’s father was president of the University of Beirut and was murdered by extremists. Almost no one better to speak on our political moment.

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Leslie Root @lesja.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

To go further, it's not possible to square pronatalism with reproductive justice

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 10/04/2025

This is why you never capitulate. This would be the end of Columbia university. It would be a testing ground for the direct fascist takeover of private universities by a dictator. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

"Screenshot of a Wall Street Journal article headline reading, 'Trump Administration Wants to Install Federal Oversight of Columbia University.' The subheadline states, 'Government is aiming to legally bind the school to changes as they negotiate over federal funding.' The article is written by Liz Essley Whyte and Douglas Belkin and dated April 10, 2025, 2:18 pm ET."

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Mark Hayward @mdhayward.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Dr. Diana Bianchi, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, was fired this morning at 10AM EDT. Part of the NIH “reorg” (whatever that means)? Or the start of an NIH leadership bloodbath. Guess we will find out.

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Liz Borkowski @lizborkowski.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

NIH has rescinded its scientific integrity policy. Hard to see this as anything other than clearing the way for shoddy research on things like vaccines. Regardless of the rationale, it's bad news for public health. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

grants.nih.gov

NOT-OD-25-080: Rescission of the Final Scientific Integrity Policy of the National Institutes of Health

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Rescission of the Final Scientific Integrity Policy of the National Institutes of Health NOT-OD-25-080. OD

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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Columbia isn't getting that $400 million back. To the surprise of everyone who has ever dealt with a middle school bully, or watched a movie about one...

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

They are not playing 3-dimensional chess. They pulled the rug out from under their fellow Democrats from progressives to the Blue Dogs and showed the GOP their willingness to capitulate. 1/

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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

This letter, written to cater to the interest of a foreign, Israeli, state, goes against every shred of academic integrity, imposing dictatorial process & adopting a false definition of antisemitism & practically shuttering Middle East studies dept. And there’s no doubt Columbia will comply. 1/

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The Monica @mclemoremr.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Our editorial board is committed to these principles & will continue to publish high-quality manuscripts that reflect the most current scientific ideas & language, regardless of if they appear on banned lists or other edicts that are incongruent w/academic freedom www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/...

liebertpub.com

What Health Equity Journal Stands For | Health Equity

Health Equity

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James Sims @simsjames.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

“Whether one is concerned about democracy, how scientific research can continue to position the U.S. as a global leader, how to solve global issues such as disease and climate change, or how to maintain a competitive edge with other nations…we need our universities.” @theatlantic.com

theatlantic.com

Academia Needs to Stick Up for Itself

American higher education would be in a much stronger position today if it had made a proactive case to the public for its own importance—and taken steps to address its very real shortcomings.

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Mary @marybadthings.com · 11/03/2025

This story was already terrifying and this is also a reproductive justice issue. People have a right to parent and raise their family in safe environments, free from state violence and oppression.

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Goleen Samari @goleensamari.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Horrific and so damaging for generations of research.

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Chris Bennett @chrisbennettedu.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Heartbreaking to see announcements of major layoffs at most research organizations that have played a vital role in supporting federal statistics for education and developing high-quality evidence about what policies/practices actually work. Below are just a few examples from my LinkedIn feed.

Mathematica
65,991 followers
1d •
• • •
To our clients, partners, and peers:
We want to let you know that we are reducing our workforce to align with the needs of our clients and ensure the continued, exceptional support we've offered for decades to the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. The staff we are letting go are skilled, experienced, and passionate about their work. Any organization would be fortunate to have them. Please don't hesitate to reach out if we can be of assistance.

Dan Gaylin • 2nd
President and CEO, NORC
10h •
너
+ Follow
Like many of our peer organizations, this week NORC had to reduce our staff to ensure we are operating effectively and have the right mix of skills to align with client needs. The people departing NORC are highly talented and capable professionals, and they have made important contributions to our mission of delivering trustworthy and reliable data and analysis to inform society's most important decisions. They will be valuable employees and colleagues wherever their careers take them next.
To each of you who are leaving, and on behalf of everyone at NORC, I offer our deepest thanks and appreciation for your dedicated service and the lasting impact you've made on our organization.

marc
MDRC
15,135 followers
9h • 0
To our collaborators: Like many of our peer organizations, MDRC has had to reduce our staff in recent days, letting go of many talented and highly skilled professionals. Each of these colleagues would be an asset to another organization, and we encourage you to consider them for any career opportunities you may have.
MDRC remains committed to our mission of learning what works to improve policy, practice, and people's well-being.

// Westat
Westat
35,042 followers
22h •
In light of recent industry changes, Westat is making strategic reductions to our workforce to better align with our clients' needs. The talented professionals who are leaving Westat have made significant contributions to our mission and embody our values of uncompromising excellence, client commitment, and innovation. They are current and future leaders in their fields and will undoubtedly be an asset to any organization they join.
We remain committed to our mission to improve lives by delivering exceptional data-driven research and technical assistance, fostering insights and solutions to advance health, education, and social and economic opportunity.

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Hari Kunzru @harikunzru.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

They adopted a posture of total submission and it bought them precisely nothing. A lesson for the Trump era www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03...

nytimes.com

The Trump administration cancels $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University.

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Hansi Lo Wang (he/him) @hansilowang.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

JUST IN: The Census Bureau's #2030Census Advisory Committee has been terminated by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who oversees the bureau, Arturo Vargas, the committee's chair, confirms to @npr.org. I've reached out to the press offices of the bureau and the Commerce Department for comment...

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Sarah Burnes @sarahburnes.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

“To be clear, the opposite of welcoming diversity is supporting segregation. The opposite of moving toward equity is hoarding resources. The opposite of being more inclusive is exclusion.”

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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Okay so you know I like to remind everyone how the American immigration system has been cruel for a very long time. But loading people on flights to deport them to countries that they are not from, like Iranians to Panama, is not business as usual.

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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

It’s been buried in all the news today, but every scientist in the US should pay attention to this: Mike Lauer went out on a limb for us all, sending out a memo saying institutes should start awarding grants. And it looks like Trump/Musk fired him for that. 🧪

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Alison Gemmill @alisongemmill.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Our two papers on abortion bans and fertility/infant mortality are now out. In 14 states w/ abortion bans, fertility increased 1.7% and infant mortality increased 6%. Key takeaway is that these impacts were disproportionately felt among those w/ greatest structural disadvantages. Links below.

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JAMA @jama.com · 13/02/2025

🧵 US states that implemented abortion bans saw higher than expected infant mortality rates, with larger increases among Black infants and those in southern states, according to this analysis of US national vital statistics data from 2012–2023. ja.ma/4aVchPn #MedSky

Figure 1. Trends in Biannual US Infant Mortality Rates, 2012-2023

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Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

BREAKING: 22 states sue NIH over Trump administration's new 15% cap on overhead for federal research grants. Suit filed federal court in Boston contends lifesaving research 'will grind to a halt' under the policy. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

storage.courtlistener.com

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

higher ed is the largest employer in 10 states and in over 60% of the 100 largest cities. destruction of federal research funds is economic sabotage.

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Caitlin Patler @caitlinpatler.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

"Birthright citizenship is a fundamental constitutional right...No amount of policy debate can change that...The constitution is not something with which the government may play policy games...the president's order is unconstitutional...The PI is granted on a nationwide basis."

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Karen Benjamin Guzzo @karenguzzo.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

The Demographic Health Surveys Program is on pause. This is not surprising, but it's devastating on many levels. dhsprogram.com

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

NEW — DOGE now has full access to HHS Payment Management System, I’ve learned. The system distributes almost $1 trillion per year in grants (largest in the govt) and supports all of NIH, CDC + many other public health initiatives. Musk guy Luke Farritor is actively delaying payments to recipients.

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

NEW from inside NIH: I am hearing that a “young” DOGE staffer now has access to eRA, the software system used to track/administer all NIH grants.

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 04/02/2025

A four-person flight crew. A lawyer eager to celebrate her 33rd birthday, seven hunting buddies, a Kansas farming couple, 28 people returning from an elite figure skating camp. These are many of the victims of the plane crash in Washington D.C.

nytimes.com

Who Are the Victims in the D.C. Plane Crash?

They were from all over — Kansas, Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area, and as far away as the Philippines.

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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Context for those who don't have funding through NIH. People spend many months (I take 6) preparing a R01 that can run hundreds of pages long. 2 days prior to the deadline (which is hard, there are basically never extensions) you really need to be able to access that system.

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Loren DeJonge Schulman @lorenraeds.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

You say: they shutdown USAID. You mean: they illegally broke in to a secure facility over a weekend, hijacked sensitive data on vulnerable people and US businesses, destroyed property Americans paid for, cut off resources for sick and hungry families, and fired Americans across the country.

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Timothy McBride @mcbridetd.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

The USAID budget: $43.4 billion; 0.64% of federal budget USAID (targeted by Elon) provided aid to ~130 countries Top 5 recipients of USAID funds: Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, Congo, Somalia Health is the largest USAID sector of funding, especially PEPFAR crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/...

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