Helen Sonner
@helensonner.bsky.social
Medical writer by vocation and cultural historian by avocation. More often than not, these are one and the same. Enjoying the blue sky.
Reposted by Helen Sonner
wtf is a FIFA peace prize? that's like being an NFL laureate in physics
December 5, 2025 at 7:21 PM
wtf is a FIFA peace prize? that's like being an NFL laureate in physics
Reposted by Helen Sonner
"How can you ethically recruit somebody into a clinical trial if you can't be sure the administration won't change its mind on its priorities and terminate your study mid-stream?" @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social slams new NIH policies making it easier to halt grants
www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...
www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...
New NIH Policies Make It Easier to End Grants, Ignore Peer Review
Also, long-time AIDS leader was reassigned
www.medpagetoday.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:44 PM
"How can you ethically recruit somebody into a clinical trial if you can't be sure the administration won't change its mind on its priorities and terminate your study mid-stream?" @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social slams new NIH policies making it easier to halt grants
www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...
www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...
Reposted by Helen Sonner
Reposted by Helen Sonner
Currently dorking out over this graph about child mortality with my brother. Just mind boggling to take in.
December 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Currently dorking out over this graph about child mortality with my brother. Just mind boggling to take in.
'This is no time to “keep my powder dry” for some future emergency. The moment to act for our patients, our science, our children is now' - Brave and glorious call to action.
For all of us who have been afraid, read this from @iwashyna.bsky.social
www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10....
www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10....
On Not Betraying Our Trainees, Especially Now | American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
www.atsjournals.org
December 1, 2025 at 6:31 PM
'This is no time to “keep my powder dry” for some future emergency. The moment to act for our patients, our science, our children is now' - Brave and glorious call to action.
Reposted by Helen Sonner
For all of us who have been afraid, read this from @iwashyna.bsky.social
www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10....
www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10....
On Not Betraying Our Trainees, Especially Now | American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
www.atsjournals.org
December 1, 2025 at 4:35 PM
For all of us who have been afraid, read this from @iwashyna.bsky.social
www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10....
www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Helen Sonner
Oscar Wilde’s forgotten friend who nurtured him back from prison life on the French Riviera
Oscar Wilde’s forgotten friend who nurtured him back from prison life on the French Riviera
Despite editor Frank Harris’s reputation as a rogue, the Irish literary light trusted him, as he approached his death 125 years ago
www.irishtimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Oscar Wilde’s forgotten friend who nurtured him back from prison life on the French Riviera
Reposted by Helen Sonner
Find me the policymaker, entrepreneur or pundit who distinguishes the goals of higher education from wealth-creation, or learning from employable skills, or understanding from access to data, or creativity from content. Find me the university leader who listens more to teachers than to these three.
November 29, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Find me the policymaker, entrepreneur or pundit who distinguishes the goals of higher education from wealth-creation, or learning from employable skills, or understanding from access to data, or creativity from content. Find me the university leader who listens more to teachers than to these three.
Reposted by Helen Sonner
Reposted by Helen Sonner
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 AM
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Reposted by Helen Sonner
In 1968, a soldier named Hugh Thompson defied orders to save Vietnamese lives during the My Lai massacre. Eventually seen as a hero, in real time he was vilified and nearly court-martialed
It's Congress' job to stop Trump's war crimes, not the troops. My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
It's Congress' job to stop Trump's war crimes, not the troops. My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
The Catch-22 around Trump’s illegal orders | Will Bunch Newsletter
Plus, Pennsylvania chooses a budget over the planet.
www.inquirer.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
In 1968, a soldier named Hugh Thompson defied orders to save Vietnamese lives during the My Lai massacre. Eventually seen as a hero, in real time he was vilified and nearly court-martialed
It's Congress' job to stop Trump's war crimes, not the troops. My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
It's Congress' job to stop Trump's war crimes, not the troops. My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
I guess in order to fly going foward, in addition to a Real ID we are going to need an affidavit certifying we have watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
Duffy on his demand that air travelers not wear slippers or pajamas: "It honors our country ... don't take your shoes off and put your feet on the chair ahead of you"
November 24, 2025 at 9:09 PM
I guess in order to fly going foward, in addition to a Real ID we are going to need an affidavit certifying we have watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
Alas. I don't surf, but as someone who grew up at the Virginia oceanfront, watching surfers navigate the Eisbachwelle was one of my favorite things to do when I lived in Munich. So exotic and unexpected and obviously difficult, this urban surfing on the edges of the Englisher Garten.
Munich's famous river wave, the Eisbachwelle, vanished after a dredging in early November. Authorities are working to resurrect the beloved wave but impatient surfers have also tried their own methods.
Surf's down! Munich, until now an inland surfing hotspot, has lost its biggest wave
Munich's famous river wave, the Eisbachwelle, vanished after a dredging in early November. Authorities are working to resurrect the beloved wave but impatient surfers have also tried their own methods.
n.pr
November 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Alas. I don't surf, but as someone who grew up at the Virginia oceanfront, watching surfers navigate the Eisbachwelle was one of my favorite things to do when I lived in Munich. So exotic and unexpected and obviously difficult, this urban surfing on the edges of the Englisher Garten.
Reposted by Helen Sonner
Jamal Khashoggi. Say his name.
November 18, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Jamal Khashoggi. Say his name.
Reposted by Helen Sonner
The vast body of research that Ken Burns relied upon to make his new documentary on the American Revolution would be practically impossible to be produced today, what with the defunding of humanistic scholarship, the collapse of stable academic jobs, the attack on public history & academic freedom.🗃️
November 17, 2025 at 9:43 PM
The vast body of research that Ken Burns relied upon to make his new documentary on the American Revolution would be practically impossible to be produced today, what with the defunding of humanistic scholarship, the collapse of stable academic jobs, the attack on public history & academic freedom.🗃️
Reposted by Helen Sonner
Ah poetry. The last refuge.
Where AI cannot follow.
Where angels fear to tread.
And where we realize that metaphorical thinking is what makes humanity.
Where AI cannot follow.
Where angels fear to tread.
And where we realize that metaphorical thinking is what makes humanity.
November 9, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Ah poetry. The last refuge.
Where AI cannot follow.
Where angels fear to tread.
And where we realize that metaphorical thinking is what makes humanity.
Where AI cannot follow.
Where angels fear to tread.
And where we realize that metaphorical thinking is what makes humanity.
Reposted by Helen Sonner
LESS. THAN. A. WEEK.
Took them less than a week to take one of the most visible public repudiations of the GOP in my lifetime and turn it into hog slop.
I’m so mad my temperature is higher than my ACA premiums.
Took them less than a week to take one of the most visible public repudiations of the GOP in my lifetime and turn it into hog slop.
I’m so mad my temperature is higher than my ACA premiums.
November 10, 2025 at 2:59 AM
LESS. THAN. A. WEEK.
Took them less than a week to take one of the most visible public repudiations of the GOP in my lifetime and turn it into hog slop.
I’m so mad my temperature is higher than my ACA premiums.
Took them less than a week to take one of the most visible public repudiations of the GOP in my lifetime and turn it into hog slop.
I’m so mad my temperature is higher than my ACA premiums.
Reposted by Helen Sonner
Sen Tim Kaine DOES NOT take voicemail on his WDC or RVA offices.
😡🤬😡🤬
😡🤬😡🤬
November 10, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Sen Tim Kaine DOES NOT take voicemail on his WDC or RVA offices.
😡🤬😡🤬
😡🤬😡🤬
Reposted by Helen Sonner
agreeing to make a terrible deal while your main opponent is quite literally being boo'd on live tv by an entire stadium of people is the kind of political instinct you'd normally only find in a 3 week old dead goldfish
November 10, 2025 at 12:36 AM
agreeing to make a terrible deal while your main opponent is quite literally being boo'd on live tv by an entire stadium of people is the kind of political instinct you'd normally only find in a 3 week old dead goldfish
Reposted by Helen Sonner
Please don’t think this beltway game of having retiring Dem senators vote yes while everyone else votes no is going to shield leadership from the end result. We see what is happening and can’t be fooled by those games.
November 10, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Please don’t think this beltway game of having retiring Dem senators vote yes while everyone else votes no is going to shield leadership from the end result. We see what is happening and can’t be fooled by those games.
In my whole adult life, I don't think I have ever been as angry about a Congressional vote as I am about reports that @kaine.senate.gov and @markwarner.bsky.social are planning to cave to Trump and the Republicans on ACA funding. It will be a catastrophe if they do, and an unforgettable betrayal.
November 10, 2025 at 1:05 AM
In my whole adult life, I don't think I have ever been as angry about a Congressional vote as I am about reports that @kaine.senate.gov and @markwarner.bsky.social are planning to cave to Trump and the Republicans on ACA funding. It will be a catastrophe if they do, and an unforgettable betrayal.
Reposted by Helen Sonner
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
If the Dems blink after all of this, for a deal that all but ensures no ACA subsidies in 2026 anyway, then what was the purpose of letting the shutdown go for 40 days in the first place?
November 10, 2025 at 12:56 AM
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
Reposted by Helen Sonner
I think Senate folders are significantly underestimating how fucking angry Democratic voters are at them
November 10, 2025 at 12:40 AM
I think Senate folders are significantly underestimating how fucking angry Democratic voters are at them