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leils

@leils.bsky.social
1.8K followers 723 following 303 posts

Vascular surgeon, sailor, lover of good fun and friends, obsessed data nerd. Native NYer living in the south. Comments are my own. Klaatu barada nichto. Temba, his arms wide.

PostsRepliesMedia
leils @leils.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
@theweekendmsnow.bsky.social mmmmmmmmm donuts…….
media.tenor.com
homer simpson is holding a plate with a donut on it .
ALT: homer simpson is holding a plate with a donut on it .
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The People's News @fallssquatter.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Must read... www.propublica.org/article/prop...
propublica.org
The Data Doesn’t Lie: How ProPublica Reports the Truth in an Era of False Claims
As federal data becomes less available, our journalists are doing shoe-leather reporting to provide readers with the precise numbers.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Proof that AI is not taking my job anytime soon: I asked a commercial LLM to help me track down a bug (yeah, its Friday night and I couldn't find my error - which was soooooooo tiny.....). Here's the screenshot:
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
My nerd heart is broken. blog.adafruit.com/2025/11/21/d...
blog.adafruit.com
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
@elienyc.bsky.social talking truth and drinking from a Death Star mug….
media.tenor.com
a woman is sitting at a table with her hands folded in front of her .
ALT: a woman is sitting at a table with her hands folded in front of her .
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
@dukesurgery.bsky.social -a great day of golf! Thanks to UNC Surgery for hosting!!!
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Chili cook-off?? @dukesurgery.bsky.social
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
This seagull seems… judgey.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Someone decided to dig. Someone got a bath. FAFO.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
@dukevascular.bsky.social There was a dress code for journal club… #VascularSurgery
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Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
RFK Jr. is reportedly going to forbid government scientists from publishing in the world’s most respected medical journals — the Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, etc. It’s going to take decades to repair the damage done by this administration.
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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 16/05/2025
Please check in with your fed friends. It's kinda stressful here You’re fired You’re rehired You’re refired You’re staying but your team is fired Your team is staying but your funding’s cut You’re moving across the country, maybe Restraining order 🛑 Restraining order against the restraining order 🔙
media.tenor.com
a cartoon character from bob 's burgers wearing a pink bunny hat says this is fine
Alt: Louise from bob 's burgers wearing a pink bunny hat and staring into the distance. Her left eye is twitching with stress. The caption says "this is fine"
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
wck.org/news/gaza-up...
wck.org
World Central Kitchen | WCK Forced to Halt Cooking in Gaza as Supplies Run Out
After serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
fortune.com/2025/04/15/u... Are we great yet???
fortune.com
U.S. economy to lose billions as foreign tourists stay away
A pullback in foreign tourism and boycotts of American products are adding to a growing list of headwinds keeping the risk of a recession high.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
www.science.org/content/arti... It just keeps getting worse….
science.org
NIH freezes funds to Harvard and four other universities, but can’t tell them
Move follows broader White House attack on Harvard funding and stop-work orders to contractors
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Trump ends promising cancer research. USA! USA! “Two patients’ treatments using the experimental therapy had to be delayed because NIH’s capacity to make personalized cell therapies has been slowed by the firing of highly skilled staff..." www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
washingtonpost.com
NIH scientists have a cancer breakthrough. Layoffs are delaying it.
A big step forward in cancer therapy has been slowed by layoffs and new restrictions at the National Institutes of Health, where it was developed.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
@elienyc.bsky.social Today’s reading….
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Ilan Schwartz @germhuntermd.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Nearly half a billion dollars ($484M) lost in the NC research triangle alone Where TF are Thom Tillis & Ted Budd?
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Brennan Center @brennancenter.org · 26/03/2025
The SAVE Act may as well be called the anti-voting rights act. Here’s why:
brennancenter.org
Voting Rights Act at 60: Congress Could Hit New Low with SAVE Act
The new legislation would require American citizens to produce documents like a passport or birth certificate to register to vote.
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Alt Musician @altmusician.altgov.info · 27/03/2025
🤬 www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
nbcnews.com
HHS plans to shutter or downsize several health agencies, including at CDC
Health and Human Services is planning to cut 10,000 jobs across the sprawling department.
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WRAL Top Stories (unofficial) @not-wral.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
NC Health and Human Services Department to cut 80 jobs, lose $100 million in federal funding The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' reductions are due to the federal government's "abrupt and immediate termination of several federal grants," a department spokesperson said in ...
wral.com
NC Health and Human Services Department to cut 80 jobs, lose $100 million in federal funding
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ reductions are due to the federal government’s “abrupt and immediate termination of several federal grants,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Everything in this thread is true.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
We are super excited to welcome Jordyn O’Dell to our Duke Vascular Surgery family! Congrats and welcome, Jordyn!!! #MatchDay2025 @dukevascular.bsky.social
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Dr Rasu Shrestha @rasushrestha.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
‼️Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander (NOT Musk) may have found actual fraud. The federal judge stops Musk's team from 'unbridled access' to MILLIONS of American’s Social Security private data! www.reuters.com/legal/us-jud...
A federal judge said on Thursday the Social Security Administration likely violated privacy laws by giving tech billionaire Elon Musk's aides "unbridled access" to the data of millions of Americans, and ordered a halt to further record sharing.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander of Maryland said Musk's Department of Government Efficiency was intruding into "the personal affairs of millions of Americans" as part of its hunt for fraud and waste under President Donald Trump.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
some thoughts.... here are where our 2021 tax dollars went. Want to minimize what we spend on healthcare? Expand Medicaid, considering a no-for profit model. Want to get more money from elsewhere to help w social security?
graphic of where 2021 taxes went
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Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Le Monde reporting that a French scientist traveling to Houston to attend a conference was denied entry to US after a search of his phone & computer revealed messages critical of Trump's science cuts, "which [says CPB] conveyed hatred of Trump & could be qualified as terrorism". Computer confiscated
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
@elsieross.bsky.social as visiting professor at @dukevascular.bsky.social
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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Legit, fascist talk from those closest to the President and advising him. In any normal timeline, these people would, at the very least, be run out of their jobs on a rail. Congress has the power NOW to stop this. I fear that no one is coming to save us and we’ll have to do this ourselves.
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 18/03/2025
hard not to conclude every Gazan is going to get exiled or killed, with Trump's full support www.axios.com/2025/03/18/i...
axios.com
Israel resumes war in Gaza with airstrikes against Hamas: 200 Palestinians reported dead
Israeli officials told Axios they notified the Trump administration in advance of the airstrikes and briefed it on the objectives.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
the fallout continues. I have a dear friend who works for a private sector company (analytics software). He was fired yesterday due to the uncertainty in academia and the government research sector. It's just going to get worse. I've called all my senators and reps. Why don't they care?
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juliruth.bsky.social @juliruth.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
I retired, and my replacement at the USDA was fired. There aren't any jobs for entomology researchers in the US. I recommended she look overseas. Government researchers can't get jobs at universities because their funding is gone. Trump and his cronies are absolutely destroying this country.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
serious question: Why are the creators of PEPFAR silent? Why are George W. Bush and Laura Bush not saying anything??? Why have power and platform if you don't use them?
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
YIKES THE ACCURACY 😬
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Fact check: true. www.military.com/daily-news/o...
military.com
Community Care Is Not VA Care
There's a new cliche being parroted at congressional hearings on veterans' affairs these days: "Community care is VA care."
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Lauren Ashley Davis @laurenmeidasa.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
The Trump administration recently denied a funding request from the city of Asheville, North Carolina, to help its recovery from Hurricane Helene, telling the city it must cut a program meant to aid female and minority contractors. www.yahoo.com/news/trump-a...
yahoo.com
Trump admin makes Asheville remove ‘DEI’ language to access hurricane relief aid
The Trump administration recently denied a funding request from the city of Asheville, North Carolina, to help its recovery from Hurricane Helene, telling the city it must cut a program meant to aid f...
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
I bet they searched ‘sterilization’… www.nbcnews.com/politics/dog...
nbcnews.com
DOGE plans to cut VA contracts may harm veterans' care, employees say
The list of contracts on the chopping block hasn't been made public, and the VA declined to provide it. NBC News reviewed documents identifying 200 of the contracts scheduled for cancellation.
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Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Whelp ed research orgs had mass lay-offs yesterday Mathematica: www.linkedin.com/posts/mathem... MDRC: www.linkedin.com/posts/mdrc_t... NORC: www.linkedin.com/posts/dan-ga... RTI: www.linkedin.com/posts/no%C3%... Westat: www.linkedin.com/posts/westat... WestEd: www.linkedin.com/posts/amyhre...
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
if you haven't seen it... 'The only girl in the orchestra' is a great documentary.
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JAMA @jama.com · 03/03/2025
Viewpoint discusses discordance between patient report and objectively measured walking impairment in people with peripheral artery disease without critical leg ischemia. ja.ma/3F06w6Z
Image shows website.
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Maximum nerd in 10…9…8….
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
apnews.com/article/doge...
apnews.com
VA pauses billions in cuts lauded by Musk as lawmakers and veterans decry loss of critical care
The Department of Veterans Affairs has temporarily suspended billions of dollars in contract cuts after an uproar that critical veterans health services were harmed, lawmakers and veterans service org...
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
You've simply got to read this. beyond belief You Must Read This: Uproar Over Malicious and Disastrous Cuts at VA talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/you-m...
talkingpointsmemo.com
You Must Read This: Uproar Over Malicious and Disastrous Cuts at VA
Yesterday I saw a video from VA Secretary Doug Collins (former member...
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Ted Corcoran (RedTRaccoon) @redtraccoon.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
‘We are watching the gutting of VA,’ veterans groups warn in wake of federal worker firings www.stripes.com/veterans/202...
stripes.com
‘We are watching the gutting of VA,’ veterans groups warn in wake of federal worker firings
The nation’s leading veterans advocacy groups condemned the purge of workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs and called on President Donald Trump’s administration to reinstate an estimated 6,000...
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Aidan Wright @aidangcw.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
NIH cuts are getting the press, but VA research is getting slashed too. What do we lose when VA research goes away? Here's some greatest hits: The nicotine patch, invention of the cardiac pacemaker, first successful liver transplant, development of the CAT/CT scan prospect.org/health/2025-...
prospect.org
VA Research Funding Slashed
Though not as prominent as the NIH, VA researchers play a major role in advancing basic health science. Hundreds of projects have been cut.
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VoteVets @votevets.org · 21/02/2025
📢Veterans, now is the time to raise hell! While Trump & Musk fire critical VA staff, House Republicans are rushing through bills to GUT Veterans’ care. They think no one will fight back. Prove them wrong. Speak out. Spread the word. MORE: www.military.com/daily-news/o...
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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
I’ll keep pushing this line of analysis because I’m increasingly convinced the clearest path out of this mess is for Dems to adopt a relentless anti-corruption, anti-inequality, anti-oligarchy, pro-democracy platform. The Dem leadership hasn’t realized it yet, but they’re now a reform party.
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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
The DOGE firings have nothing to do with “efficiency” or “cutting waste.” They’re a direct push to weaken federal agencies perceived as liberal. This was evident from the start, and now the data confirms it: targeted agencies overwhelmingly those seen as more left-leaning. 🧵⬇️
Scatterplot titled “Empirical Evidence of Ideological Targeting in Federal Layoffs: Agencies seen as liberal are significantly more likely to face DOGE layoffs.”
	•	The x-axis represents Perceived Ideological Leaning of federal agencies, ranging from -2 (Most Liberal) to +2 (Most Conservative), based on survey responses from over 1,500 federal executives.
	•	The y-axis shows Agency Size (Number of Staff) on a logarithmic scale from 1,000 to 1,000,000.

Each point represents a federal agency:
	•	Red dots indicate agencies that experienced DOGE layoffs.
	•	Gray dots indicate agencies with no layoffs.

Key Observations:
	•	Liberal-leaning agencies (left side of the plot) are disproportionately represented among red dots, indicating higher layoff rates.
	•	Notable targeted agencies include:
	•	HHS (Health & Human Services)
	•	EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
	•	NIH (National Institutes of Health)
	•	CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
	•	Dept. of Education
	•	USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development)
	•	The National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE), despite its conservative leaning (+1 on the scale), is an exception among targeted agencies.
	•	A notable outlier: the Department of Veterans Affairs (moderately conservative) also faced layoffs despite its size.

Takeaway:

The figure visually demonstrates that DOGE layoffs disproportionately targeted liberal-leaning agencies, supporting claims of ideological bias. The pattern reveals that layoffs were not driven by agency size or budget alone but were strongly associated with perceived ideology.

Source: Richardson, Clinton, & Lewis (2018). Elite Perceptions of Agency Ideology and Workforce Skill. The Journal of Politics, 80(1).
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leils @leils.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Snowy McSnowface
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