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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 14h

MIT President Sally Kornbluth just issued a statement to the campus community saying NO to Trump’s authoritarian compact

“And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”

Dear Madam Secretary,
I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.
I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.
As we discussed, the Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges. We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:
• MIT prides itself on rewarding merit.
Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute
was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.

• MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family's finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available
to any American with an internet
connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly
10%.
• We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don't like - and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree.

These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission - work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific
funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that tree marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences.
Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.

As you know, MIT's record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America's research universities and the
U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people.
We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.
Sincerely,
Sally Kornbluth
CC
Ms. May Mailman
Mr. Vincent Haley

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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Todd Wolfson @proftwolf.bsky.social · 13h

I am proud to say that MIT has rejected Trump's poison compact. MIT President Sally Kornbluth: "Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education."
@aaup.org @aft.org @higheredlabor.bsky.social @uaw.org
links.mit.edu/nl3/N5Jy2cKq...

Regarding the Compact

links.mit.edu

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Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · 1d

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-...

Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

AAUP @aaup.org · 1d

"We can make a difference if we unite together, organize, and fight together."

— Sang Hea Kil

Dr. Kil is a tenured professor in the Justice Department at San Jose State University. She explains that she was suspended for her support of students organizing encampments and exercising free speech.

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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Anat Shenker-Osorio @anatosaurus.bsky.social · 15d

You are also basically guaranteed to never be heard because that rhetoric is Charlie Brown adults. Sounds like everything else. Instead, you must frame flip to centering evils of regime:
No dollars for dictatorship
No funding for fascism
No payout for pedophile protectors (to go ALL the way there)

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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Washington State Department of Health @doh.wa.gov · 28d

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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Anat Shenker-Osorio @anatosaurus.bsky.social · Sep 10

No matter our background, origin, or party, most of us believe violence has no place in our politics. Yet, the MAGA regime fans flames of violence, trying to turn government into a weapon against us. We must make this a country where no one fears for our lives or our loved ones.

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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Sep 9

Campus Reform tried to get me fired from being a *postdoc in physics* in 2015 because I said Thomas Jefferson was a rapist

Anthea Butler @antheabutler.bsky.social · Sep 9

When Campus Reform and Turning point came after professors and created the professor watchlist, administrators didn't pay attention..Now they are being fired and attacked. Maybe institutions should have done more to protect academic freedom....

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Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Sep 5

West Coast Health Alliance expands to include Hawaii. Who else is in?

Dr. Vin Gupta @vinguptamd.bsky.social · Sep 5

Deep gratitude and appreciation to the West Coast Health Alliance and medical societies like @ameracadpeds.bsky.social for filling the void in rational health leadership while the federal government abdicates its role.

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Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Sep 4

5 minute video about this work
youtu.be/NFGulHJFNIE?...

Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Sep 4

"HIV-related mortality for all children and young adolescents (aged 0–14 years) decreased over time, between 2000 and 2020 globally"

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Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Sep 4

New @ihmeuw.bsky.social paper today --- "HIV-related mortality time trends among children and young adolescents on antiretroviral therapy by age, treatment duration, and region: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis": www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Past cohort studies have examined mortality among children and young adolescents (aged 0–14 years) who have received antiretroviral therapy (ART), but…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Washington State Department of Health @doh.wa.gov · Sep 3

Today, WA joins CA and OR in forming the West Coast Health Alliance to ensure our residents continue receiving science-based #PublicHealth recommendations. This partnership ensures our states will continue working with trusted medical orgs to protect our communities' health and safety.

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Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Aug 21

There was a baby boom of elephants in 2020 and now they are turning 5
www.elephanttrust.org/wp-content/u...

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Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Aug 19

Cost of medical care in USA: the percent increase last month is the third highest in the last 30 years. Will next month break this record?

Plot of percent increase in medical care costs by month in USA for the last 30 years

Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · Aug 18

“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time rather than his current ability to kill by the thousands. …
Kennedy’s words can be as lethal as the smallpox virus. Americans deserve better.”
That’s former CDC director Bill Foege.
🧪

Former CDC Director William Foege: How public health can fight back in a time of dangerous nonsense

“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time,” writes former CDC Director William Foege.

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · Aug 17

Rethink your mayoral endorsement

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal @jayapal.house.gov · Aug 17

Clearing encampments and throwing people in jail does NOTHING to actually get Americans off the streets.

Homelessness is not a personal failure, it’s a policy failure. Congress must pass my Housing Not Handcuffs Act with @frost.house.gov.

nextcity.org/urbanist-new...

A New Study Proves Criminalizing Homelessness Doesn’t Reduce Homelessness

"The deterrence logic doesn’t hold": A recent analysis finds that encampments bans and other local ordinances aimed at unhoused populations don't actually lead to decreased homelessness.

nextcity.org

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Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Aug 17

"This is no Dutch bike lane with a safe, modern design and well-funded construction. This is an American bike lane—a blood-pumping obstacle course of neglected asphalt and ideas from the 1970s."

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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

J. Offir, PhD @joffirphd.bsky.social · Aug 17

🔹️>10,000 cases across 10 countries
🔹️18 reported fatalities

"The pace of infections [is] 34 times higher than a year ago, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said today, urging countries to step up their vaccination, surveillance, and outbreak responses."

www.cidrap.umn.edu/measles/meas...

Measles surge continues in Americas, with outbreaks in 10 nations

www.cidrap.umn.edu

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Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Aug 13

"Telehealth for patients experiencing homelessness has been surprisingly successful in improving access and extending care beyond traditional clinic settings."

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Aug 13

NSF says to @carpentries.carpentries.org “Your project contains activities for the retention of underrepresented students” --- activities like this are no longer allowed by our government!

www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...

Nonprofit Refuses $1.5M Science Grant Due To New Federal DEI Rules

A coding nonprofit turned down a $1.5M NSF grant after new DEI restrictions, highlighting the clash between federal policy and scientific community values.

www.forbes.com

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Reposted by Abraham D. Flaxman

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · Aug 9

Still explaining: How do tariffs work, and who pays?

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Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Aug 9

3/4 of my age group does not mail in their poop

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Visual abstract of paper Population Health Colorectal Cancer Screening Strategies in Adults Aged 45 to 49 Years
A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Aug 9

Common self-injected meds:
Insulin
Testosterone
Vitamin B12
Growth hormone
TNF inhibitors
IL-17/23/12-23
Methotrexate
Dupilumab
Omalizumab, benralizumab, mepolizumab
Migraine CGRP mAbs
Gonadotropins
Low-molecular-weight heparins

(double check this list, it is from Dr. Bluebberry)

Abraham D. Flaxman @healthyalgo.bsky.social · Aug 9

^^^ cited by pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36253420/

A wearable soft robot that can alleviate the pain and fear of the wearer

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