If you've noticed that I haven't been on here lately, it's because our cats both conspired to trip me as I reached the top step, and I had a bad backwards fall down to the kitchen.
I can only sit at my desk for a few minutes at a time.
Heading back to lay on a heating pad.
![From "them":
Gavin Newsom Cites Trans Godson While Taking Anti-Trans Position
The California governor said that the states trans-inclusive laws around sports should change.
By
Samantha Riedel
October 27, 2025
California Gov. Gavin Newsom doubled down on his comments about transgender athletes in an interview last week, saying that a state law protecting trans student athletes should be changed while still casting himself as a trans rights advocate.
Speaking to California public broadcast station KQED, Newsom defended remarks he made to the late right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk on the first episode of his podcast earlier this year. Newsom said, at the time, that policies which allow trans women and girls to play in women’s sports leagues — including K-12 student-athletes — are “deeply unfair” and that conservatives’ “concerns” about such policies are “completely legit.”
“[W]hen it comes to sports, that’s impacting other people’s rights. It’s different,” Newsom told KQED, adding, “I agree on the issue of fairness in that respect, that it is unfair in these circumstances, and I haven't been able to reconcile it.” Newsom went on to say that there should be “nuance and grace” in policies impacting trans athletes’ participation, drawing a distinction between competitive and recreational events while denying he had “roll[ed] people under the bus.” At one point, Newsom stressed that he had “only one godson, who is trans” in defending his conversation about trans rights with Kirk, adding that he “hope[s] people actually listen to the episode.”
[...]
Newsom also pushed back against criticism for having right-wing propagandists like Kirk and Steve Bannon on his podcast, decrying what he referred to as political “litmus tests” and saying “[y]ou don't have to listen to it.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbjt34xi2fiib7fslbuyzame/bafkreigbl2rgmizuxjto3sernc5uvjysj743kbtbbhicwlfsj3aod6u2ym)
![From TruthOut:
Jeffries Says Dems Aren’t Thinking About Trump Impeachment “At This Moment”
Multiple polls have demonstrated majority support from voters for impeaching President Donald Trump.
By Chris Walker , Truthout
PublishedJune 3, 2026
[Further down, he says the meaningless:]
“We haven’t ruled anything in; we haven’t ruled anything out,”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbjt34xi2fiib7fslbuyzame/bafkreiaoo62eb5uutrt25nxrlwka2ieskhap2kbnujaa7e3prdfioafx4q)
![From AP:
Trump’s sanctions on ICC prosecutor have halted tribunal’s work
By MOLLY QUELL
Updated 5:26 AM EDT, May 15, 2025
[ Inset image, 1 of 5 showing Karim Khan, chief prosecutor at the ICC, 3 July, 2023 ]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court ’s chief prosecutor has lost access to his email, and his bank accounts have been frozen.
The Hague-based court’s American staffers have been told that if they travel to the U.S. they risk arrest.
Some nongovernmental organizations have stopped working with the ICC and the leaders of one won’t even reply to emails from court officials.
Those are just some of the hurdles facing court staff since U.S. President Donald Trump in February slapped sanctions on its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, according to interviews with current and former ICC officials, international lawyers and human rights advocates.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbjt34xi2fiib7fslbuyzame/bafkreigxetpfaqqgmt3zbvd6lze2bbldrbqh2kfvx4vtde5int5fax55xu)
![Links in 2/2
From "Science, Public Health Policy and the Law":
A Systematic Review Of Autopsy Findings In Deaths After COVID-19 Vaccination
Nicolas Hulscher *
Paul E. Alexander
Richard Amerling
Heather Gessling
Roger Hodkinson
William Makis
Harvey A. Risch
Mark Trozzi
Peter A. McCullough
Peer Reviewed, Public Health, Science
11/17/2024
v5.2019-2024
Abstract
Background: The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines, combined with a high number of adverse event reports, have led to concerns over possible mechanisms of injury including systemic lipid nanoparticle (LNP) and mRNA distribution, Spike protein-associated tissue damage, thrombogenicity, immune system dysfunction, and carcinogenicity. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate possible causal links between COVID-19 vaccine administration and death using autopsies and post-mortem analysis.
Methods: We searched PubMed and ScienceDirect for all published autopsy and organ-restricted autopsy reports relating to COVID-19 vaccination up until May 18th, 2023. All autopsy and organ-restricted autopsy studies that included COVID-19 vaccination as an antecedent exposure were included. Because the state of knowledge has advanced since the time of the original publications, three physicians independently reviewed each case and adjudicated whether or not COVID-19 vaccination was the direct cause or contributed significantly to death.
Results: We initially identified 678 studies and, after screening for our inclusion criteria, included 44 papers that contained 325 autopsy cases and one organ-restricted autopsy case (heart).
[...]
The mean time from vaccination to death was 14.3 days. Most deaths occurred within a week from last vaccine administration. A total of 240 deaths (73.9%) were independently adjudicated as directly due to or significantly contributed to by COVID-19 vaccination, [...]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbjt34xi2fiib7fslbuyzame/bafkreicqzxupm33tp4rpuezjcwwetptfke5ywncti6pvv2a5ly7y753gsi)
![Link follows in 2/2
From The Lancet:
ArticlesVolume 399, Issue 10334p1513-1536April 16, 2022
Open access
Estimating excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic analysis of COVID-19-related mortality, 2020–21
COVID-19 Excess Mortality Collaborators†
Publication History:
Published March 10, 2022
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02796-3 External Link
Also available on ScienceDirect External Link
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
User License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) | Elsevier's open access license policy
Refers to:
Errata
Department of Error
April 16, 2022
Summary
Background
Mortality statistics are fundamental to public health decision making. Mortality varies by time and location, and its measurement is affected by well known biases that have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims to estimate excess mortality from the COVID-19 pandemic in 191 countries and territories, and 252 subnational units for selected countries, from Jan 1, 2020, to Dec 31, 2021.
Methods
All-cause mortality reports were collected for 74 countries and territories and 266 subnational locations (including 31 locations in low-income and middle-income countries) that had reported either weekly or monthly deaths from all causes during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, and for up to 11 year previously. In addition, we obtained excess mortality data for 12 states in India. Excess mortality over time was calculated as observed mortality, after excluding data from periods affected by late registration and anomalies such as heat waves, minus expected mortality.
[...]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbjt34xi2fiib7fslbuyzame/bafkreiayvgv6zhnf5bhvdk7fzt752riecdmyv2mpwp5s25tzijoxjkwihy)
![Link in following 2/2
From The Lancet:
ArticlesVolume 399, Issue 10342p2191-2199June 11, 2022
Risk of myocarditis and pericarditis after the COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in the USA: a cohort study in claims databases
Hui-Lee Wong, PhDa,* ∙ Mao Hu, BSa,* ∙ Cindy Ke Zhou, PhDa ∙ Patricia C Lloyd, PhDa ∙ Kandace L Amend, PhDa ∙ Daniel C Beachler, PhDa ∙ et al. Show more
Summary
Background
Several passive surveillance systems reported increased risks of myocarditis or pericarditis, or both, after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination, especially in young men. We used active surveillance from large health-care databases to quantify and enable the direct comparison of the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis, or both, after mRNA-1273 (Moderna) and BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) vaccinations.
[...]
Interpretation
An increased risk of myocarditis or pericarditis was observed after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and was highest in men aged 18–25 years after a second dose of the vaccine. However, the incidence was rare. These results do not indicate a statistically significant risk difference between mRNA-1273 and BNT162b2, but it should not be ruled out that a difference might exist. Our study results, along with the benefit–risk profile, continue to support vaccination using either of the two mRNA vaccines.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbjt34xi2fiib7fslbuyzame/bafkreifzep2w7yxdujinsn3ze7wmnsk4qfqeochpxewkgd7ckhzwuqraia)
