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Meal

@mealmel.bsky.social
112 followers 597 following 380 posts

Epidemiologist and mom in Baltimore. Global health, measurement, and eval

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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This might be my favorite wordle result ever Wordle 1,935 3/6* ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This pisses me off 1. Vaccines are life saving interventions. Vaccinating your kids is one of the easiest and most effective things you can do to protect their health. And Paxton absolutely knows this, because he’s a crook but he’s not an idiot. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/h...
nytimes.com
Texas Pediatricians Face Paxton Investigations for Vaccinating Children
Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and Republican Senate candidate, has alleged a sprawling profit-driven conspiracy. Pediatricians say the accusations are an attempt at intimidation.
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shauna @goldengateblond.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
i especially love all the dopes saying “when the internet first went mainstream everyone hated it too” like it happened in the pioneer days so no one can dispute it, like mf’ers we were THERE
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Part of why I don't like the AI-or-bust economy is the constant flopsweat of people on the news who say this HAS to work. Quit making everyone so anxious. Goddamn. If this is the next Google then why are you acting like this? I don't remember being told to buy an iPhone at gunpoint.
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
There is plenty of tech that I use despite having ethical qualms about the product or company, because it is *useful* (eg, my smartphone, instagram). Gen AI is just not useful in my day to day, and often creates more work for me.
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I see some folks asking: what motivates RFK Jr to tell such horrific, dangerous, repulsive lies about the HPV vaccine? Well, he has made $856,559 from suing the HPV vaccine maker (his vaccine adviser, Dr Kulldorff, also got rich the same way) Always follow the 🤑! www.npr.org/sections/sho...
npr.org
RFK Jr. plans to keep a financial stake in lawsuits against the drugmaker Merck
RFK Jr. plans to keep collecting referral fees in lawsuits against the drug company Merck even if confirmed as HHS secretary, according to new filings with the Office of Government Ethics.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
You know this is my third or fourth go around with this kind of technological innovation for consumers and citizens. And a lot of it is the same. Same pattern of exaggerated benefits, underestimated challenges. What’s new this time is the sector isn’t even pretending to care about the consumer.
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For no reason at all, sharing this insight from my 4 y/o son “If someone says no, it means you have to stop” DAMN STRAIGHT
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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 29/09/2026
617 days into his 2nd term, Trump's Department of Transportation has *still* not approved a single new transit project for full funding. The problems I highlighted in March—how this lack of funding only makes projects cost more & delays completion—have only worsened www.urban.org/urban-wire/r...
There have been no approvals for new transit projects in the entire 2nd Trump Administration. This graph, produced in March 2026, remains accurate now, in September 2026.
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I find AI writing unreadable, and it is everywhere. I’m sure there is some that I’m missing, but most of it is so obvious, and so painful to read. Everything is in the same $&@!? voice. It’s as if everything was now written by the same mediocre author.
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
If you send me an AI rewrite of something I wrote, do not expect me to spend my time reviewing it. 🗑️
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Need to have some frank talk about #Yale President McInnis, General Counsel Alexander Dreier and the trustees. First, they keep saying that they are compelled to enter into a settlement with the #Trump administration. Untrue. 1/
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
👏👏👏
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 02/04/2026
Why women? Because neoliberalism and sexism go hand-in-hand. Essentially, the only way for the federal government to spend ~$0 taking care of people (the neoliberal dream) is to create a class of people who can be compelled to care for free (and sexist logic/structures establish women as that class)
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 01/04/2026
Or, to put it more bluntly: "Rich people could pay less in taxes if only women would do more unpaid labor at home."
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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
🧵Feels like shouting into the void, but it is essential to note that the Trump/Rubio gutting of the State Department and blowtorching of US diplomatic capacity and credibility is an accelerant to this spiraling war and will seriously undercut US/allied efforts to pick up the pieces after. 1/
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
This is a neocon take in progressive clothing
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
I will die on this lonely hill, telling every undergraduate that comes to me fretting about what they should major in that they should major in whatever they want, while they learn how to read, write, work with data, & speak a foreign language.
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Dr. Cecília Tomori @drtomori.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
No children in camps!! Public health and medical colleagues we need to keep speaking up! No camps. No more families torn apart and mistreated. End this now!
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Jeff Rueter @jeffrueter.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti. "Please get the truth out about our son."
Statement from Michael and Susan Pretti
Parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti

“We are heartbroken but also very angry.

Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact.

I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed. 

Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.
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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
they summarily executed a fucking VA health researcher. our field cannot just ignore this. or just release angry statements and move on.
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Shannon Heffernan @shannonheffernan.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
The 5-year-old arrested by ICE In Minnesota is detained at Dilley. We reported on conditions there in the below article. Parents said the food was contaminated with mold and worms & that children were so under so much stress that they were hitting their own faces & wetting themselves.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional! ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.
The Gravamen of the Disclosure

4. The gravamen of the disclosure is as follows: 
a. By memorandum dated May 12, 2025 (“the May 12 Memo”), Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons authorizes ICE agents to forcibly enter into certain people’s homes without a judicial warrant, consent, or an emergency.

b. Specifically, in the May 12 Memo, the Acting ICE Director authorized ICE Agents to rely on Form I-205 (which is not a judicial warrant) to enter the residence of an alien subject to a final order of deportation, without consent, including by “a necessary and reasonable amount of force.”2c. While addressed to “All ICE Personnel,” in practice the May 12 Memo has not been formally distributed to all personnel. Instead, the May 12 Memo has been provided to select DHS officials who are then directed to verbally brief the new policy for action. Those supervisors then show the Memo to some employees, like our clients, and direct them to read the Memo and return it to the supervisor.
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Richard Blumenthal @blumenthal.senate.gov · 21/01/2026
BREAKING: Whistleblower disclosures reveal a formal ICE policy to ignore the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.  Every American should be terrified by this secret ICE policy authorizing its agents to kick down your door & storm into your home. 1/
apnews.com
Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press reveals that the agency allows immigration officers to forcibly enter homes to make arrests without a judicial warrant.
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Jennifer C @thejenniwren.teamlh.social · 21/01/2026
Eight minutes matters. A pulse matters. Denied medical care matters. Doctors don’t speak out like this for politics or optics. They speak out when a line is crossed, when an oath is violated, when someone who could have been helped is instead left to die. It’s utterly vile they have to do this.
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
My 5th grader’s school had to go virtual this week, and it has been SO, SO much easier than virtual preK/K. I’m feeling bitter all over again at the people who, when we said virtual K was hard, told us we were doing it wrong/didn’t want to spend time with our kid.
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Minnesota Reformer @minnesotareformer.com · 21/01/2026
Diabetics rationing insulin. Jaundiced babies missing appointments. Appendicitis festering untreated for days. Expectant mothers laboring in hiding. Minnesota doctors say the immigration crackdown is forcing patients to hide, endangering lives. minnesotareformer.com/2026/01/20/m...
minnesotareformer.com
Minnesota doctors say immigration crackdown is forcing patients to hide, endangering lives • Minnesota Reformer
Minnesota doctors say the immigration crackdown is forcing patients to hide, endangering lives.  Diabetics rationing insulin. Jaundiced babies missing appointments. Appendicitis festering untreated fo...
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Chris Ingraham @cingraham.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Another critical piece of missing context in this story: tax dollars flow from the MSP metro to rural Minnesota. People in the city subsidize the lifestyles of people living in the country minnesotareformer.com/2023/12/04/t...
Chart of tax balances of Greater MN and Metro area, showing money flowing from latter to former
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Something like 80% of the US population live in urban areas. Why are rural residents even being interviewed about what’s happening in cities? I don’t see the media talking to city dwellers about rural broadband or BLM leases.
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Alicia Ault @aliciaault.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
An intimate look at the real-life consequences of the Trump admin's cancellation of Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium funding. A Trump voter, pictured, feels "betrayed." #Medsky #oncology #cancer #pediatrics #grants #research #clinicaltrials
theguardian.com
Kids with brain cancer were already in a life and death struggle. Then came Trump
The US president vowed to ‘end childhood cancer’. But his administration is dismantling the search for a cure and sending families scrambling for treatment
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Josh Zingher @zingherpolisci.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Somewhere along the way our political coverage became so obsessed with "neutrality" that calling a monstrous policy the monstrosity that it is became a bigger no-no than the monstrous policy itself. Pointing out the cartoon villain levels of racism is more verboten than the racism itself.
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Scott Hadland, MD @drscotthadland.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Parent and pediatrician here. All vaccines are still available & recommended. Talk to your pediatrician for more info. Know this: Even as our government shifts its recommendation language, I would never forgo the RSV, hepatitis A & B, or meningitis vaccines for my own kids.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Here is the Department of Homeland Security touting this new ban by describing the (among others) spouses and children of U.S. citizens coming on visas as "foreign invaders." It has never been about legal versus illegal. They hate legal immigration. They want to stop it. That's the story.
Homeland Security, @DHSgov, tweets the following:
"This administration is slamming the door shut on the foreign invaders who have undermined our national security. DHS, under the leadership of @POTUS Trump and @Sec_Noem, will relentlessly enforce our nation’s immigration laws."

Underneath is a QTed post from the White House Rapid Response account listing details about the new travel ban. The DHS post was posted at 4:38 PM on December 16, 2025.
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
If you’re looking for an alternative to doomscrolling, this whole thread is a fun read (read the QTed thread on Cook’s Illustrated drama first)
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
It’s really both, and we should be able to say that virtual/no school did have impacts (esp for certain cohorts) while also acknowledging that it may have been necessary. My kid did virtual K and her entire cohort (and the virtual 1st grade cohort to a lesser extent) has struggled with writing.
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It's ME(Jaime) @exceedhergrasp1.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
This is fucking brilliant, and you should read it: lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
THIS!👏👏👏 Children’s books are an art form. Writing one requires skill (and not a little imagination/weirdness). Being a random celebrity does not give you that skill. If you are a celebrity and you love kid’s books, use your platform to promote great ones.
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Robert Komaniecki @komaniecki.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
🗣️ celebrities are ruining the children’s book industry!
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
“Don’t normalize horrific nazi imagery” shouldn’t be a controversial statement. (I also think ceding the moral high ground here is not a winning approach)
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Has anyone written a history of private schools in #Baltimore (or other east coast cities) and their impact on public schools? #academicsky The number of private schools (esp non parochial schools) and the fraction of the city’s mid-to-upper class that send their kids there really blows my mind
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Same energy: asked a new dad how it was going and he said “It’s actually been pretty easy! [long pause] My wife might not agree”
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand: Didn’t adjust for confounders
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
This is quite a take from a party that thinks women should be having more babies…
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 19/10/2025
I have many non-niche ones, but I n the niche variety: Monetized youtube channels should not be allowed to feature children Private schools should be required to follow the same regulations as public schools Trampoline parks should be heavily regulated or banned
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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
suza kenyaba is the name of the girl in the link picture. she was five
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
And then you build out. Klein suggests that you build out from national figures who are deeply committed to hate, are tightly tied to the White House. That's a strategy, but seems deeply flawed. 9/
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
The point is that Klein is also making a tactical mistake. These actors are not signing up for protecting democracy, they are all-in its destruction. The value in spending time with them is limited to say the least. 4/
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Meal @mealmel.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
🤬🤬🤬
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Kevin Ault @kevinault.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Vaccines don't cause birth defects and that includes COVID vaccines. And thanks to Carol Hayes of American College of Nurse Midwives for speaking up at the ACIP meeting vikilovesfacs.bsky.social feel free to add more - #IDSky + #MedSky. www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/no-...
cidrap.umn.edu
No increase in birth defects found following COVID vaccination in pregnancy
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