Jesspooka Kant 🎃
@jessdkant.bsky.social
Researcher, therapist, heavily caffeinated. Frequently described as a bit of a handful. 🖤 (She/her) 🏳️⚧️ jessk.org/blog
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The myth of an apolitical science — Jessica Kant
What we might call the modern anti-science movement, starting with efforts to hide the obvious linkage between tobacco and cancer, and the rise of “climate skepticism”, has grown in scale enormously i...
jessk.org
In sorting my own thoughts about the moment, I began writing about the way science is being used by bad actors under the guise of "evidence-based medicine". I also talk about the limits of our ability to fully boil down evidence into axioms that make subjectivity irrelevant.
After two infants died, the Louisiana Dept of Health under the leadership of the new incoming deputy director of the CDC, delayed notifying the public for months of a whooping cough outbreak. Instead, he ordered DOH to stop promoting vaccines. Pertussis is currently a national health crisis.
Louisiana officials waited months to warn public of whooping cough outbreak
After a whooping cough outbreak killed two infants, Louisiana health officials waited months to officially alert physicians or do public outreach. That's not the typical public health response.
www.npr.org
November 25, 2025 at 9:45 PM
After two infants died, the Louisiana Dept of Health under the leadership of the new incoming deputy director of the CDC, delayed notifying the public for months of a whooping cough outbreak. Instead, he ordered DOH to stop promoting vaccines. Pertussis is currently a national health crisis.
It’s darkly funny how a decade of attacking “safe spaces” in favor of some sort of social Darwinist fantasy where the strong devour the weak has consistently progressed to the vigorous defense of special enclaves for masculinity.
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
November 25, 2025 at 1:35 PM
It’s darkly funny how a decade of attacking “safe spaces” in favor of some sort of social Darwinist fantasy where the strong devour the weak has consistently progressed to the vigorous defense of special enclaves for masculinity.
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/25/n...
“Two of the U.S. officials said covert operations would likely be the first part of the new action against Maduro. All four officials quoted in this article spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of impending action by the United States.”
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
Every time I read of another boat strike, aside from the horrendous disregard for human life and thinking of the families who’ve lost loved ones, it’s impossible not to think of the Gulf of Tonkin. We are again one boat strike away from war.
November 24, 2025 at 1:42 AM
“Two of the U.S. officials said covert operations would likely be the first part of the new action against Maduro. All four officials quoted in this article spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of impending action by the United States.”
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
www.reuters.com/world/americ...
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
seen on WT Harris in E Charlotte
November 23, 2025 at 3:35 AM
seen on WT Harris in E Charlotte
“Meta stalled internal efforts to prevent child predators from contacting minors for years due to growth concerns, and pressured safety staff to circulate arguments justifying its decision not to act.”
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
November 23, 2025 at 6:58 PM
“Meta stalled internal efforts to prevent child predators from contacting minors for years due to growth concerns, and pressured safety staff to circulate arguments justifying its decision not to act.”
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
This has always been the case. Back in the 2000s, Dr. Bob Sears suggested in his book on vaccines that parents who don’t vaccinate have their kids “hide in the herd.”
Vaccines themselves are such a metaphor for how the anti-vax demographic views society. If the rest of us didn’t do our part, most of them would be doing a very different risk assessment before declining immunization. They depend on the rest of us getting vaccinated so we stay above herd immunity.
November 23, 2025 at 12:31 PM
This has always been the case. Back in the 2000s, Dr. Bob Sears suggested in his book on vaccines that parents who don’t vaccinate have their kids “hide in the herd.”
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
I remember so many people on Facebook and Twitter in 2020 saying "I don't need to get the vaccine if everyone else does"
November 23, 2025 at 1:07 PM
I remember so many people on Facebook and Twitter in 2020 saying "I don't need to get the vaccine if everyone else does"
Vaccines themselves are such a metaphor for how the anti-vax demographic views society. If the rest of us didn’t do our part, most of them would be doing a very different risk assessment before declining immunization. They depend on the rest of us getting vaccinated so we stay above herd immunity.
November 23, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Vaccines themselves are such a metaphor for how the anti-vax demographic views society. If the rest of us didn’t do our part, most of them would be doing a very different risk assessment before declining immunization. They depend on the rest of us getting vaccinated so we stay above herd immunity.
Every single time I read something like this, which is getting to be twice a week minimum, I think of Bill Cassidy changing his vote to “yes” because RFK jr told Cassidy they would have special biweekly phone calls.
RFK Jr. says he personally directed CDC’s new guidance on vaccines and autism | CNN
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally directed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update its website to contradict its longtime guidance that vaccines don’t cause autis...
www.cnn.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Every single time I read something like this, which is getting to be twice a week minimum, I think of Bill Cassidy changing his vote to “yes” because RFK jr told Cassidy they would have special biweekly phone calls.
Thinking about this today.
“It also means more than simply living. It means our lives are made so much better now that they actually feel worth living— that the change that gender-affirming care makes possible isn't just about life or death, it's about a vibrant life instead of the absence of one.”
“It also means more than simply living. It means our lives are made so much better now that they actually feel worth living— that the change that gender-affirming care makes possible isn't just about life or death, it's about a vibrant life instead of the absence of one.”
In defense of trans quality of life — Jessica Kant
Today trans people exist in an atmosphere where it has become normal for strangers to demand of us that we extemporaneously provide inarguable, indisputable proof that without very safe medical care w...
jessk.org
November 23, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Thinking about this today.
“It also means more than simply living. It means our lives are made so much better now that they actually feel worth living— that the change that gender-affirming care makes possible isn't just about life or death, it's about a vibrant life instead of the absence of one.”
“It also means more than simply living. It means our lives are made so much better now that they actually feel worth living— that the change that gender-affirming care makes possible isn't just about life or death, it's about a vibrant life instead of the absence of one.”
The entire US economy is propped up by a product so toxic and insidious that everyone has to go on a weekly scavenger hunt just to remove it from products they're already using.
heads up, gmail has a new setting automatically on that allows their a*i to be trained on your emails so make sure to turn off the 'Smart Feature' checkbox in your settings
November 22, 2025 at 8:17 PM
The entire US economy is propped up by a product so toxic and insidious that everyone has to go on a weekly scavenger hunt just to remove it from products they're already using.
Arkansas debating the contract of the company that oversees the state child abuse reporting system because they support trans kids:
“The work … includes screening calls to the state Child Abuse Hotline, calibrating the hotline’s structured decision-making tool”
arkansasadvocate.com/2025/11/21/a...
“The work … includes screening calls to the state Child Abuse Hotline, calibrating the hotline’s structured decision-making tool”
arkansasadvocate.com/2025/11/21/a...
November 22, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Arkansas debating the contract of the company that oversees the state child abuse reporting system because they support trans kids:
“The work … includes screening calls to the state Child Abuse Hotline, calibrating the hotline’s structured decision-making tool”
arkansasadvocate.com/2025/11/21/a...
“The work … includes screening calls to the state Child Abuse Hotline, calibrating the hotline’s structured decision-making tool”
arkansasadvocate.com/2025/11/21/a...
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
In sorting my own thoughts about the moment, I began writing about the way science is being used by bad actors under the guise of "evidence-based medicine". I also talk about the limits of our ability to fully boil down evidence into axioms that make subjectivity irrelevant.
The myth of an apolitical science — Jessica Kant
What we might call the modern anti-science movement, starting with efforts to hide the obvious linkage between tobacco and cancer, and the rise of “climate skepticism”, has grown in scale enormously i...
jessk.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
In sorting my own thoughts about the moment, I began writing about the way science is being used by bad actors under the guise of "evidence-based medicine". I also talk about the limits of our ability to fully boil down evidence into axioms that make subjectivity irrelevant.
Is this “doing politics the right way” Ezra?
November 20, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Is this “doing politics the right way” Ezra?
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
I really hate it when scientists keep saying that “we need to rebuild trust in science,” because it implies that scientists are to blame for the mistrust rather than the millions of dollars of dark money that have funded political attacks on science in order to advance a far right agenda.
November 19, 2025 at 9:48 PM
I really hate it when scientists keep saying that “we need to rebuild trust in science,” because it implies that scientists are to blame for the mistrust rather than the millions of dollars of dark money that have funded political attacks on science in order to advance a far right agenda.
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
“While the EBM movement has indeed contributed greatly to the push for better evidence and ever more rigorous standards for research, it has also created a plausible mechanism for opponents of scientific progress to discount enormous volumes of data using scientific language and ritual as costume.”🎯
In sorting my own thoughts about the moment, I began writing about the way science is being used by bad actors under the guise of "evidence-based medicine". I also talk about the limits of our ability to fully boil down evidence into axioms that make subjectivity irrelevant.
The myth of an apolitical science — Jessica Kant
What we might call the modern anti-science movement, starting with efforts to hide the obvious linkage between tobacco and cancer, and the rise of “climate skepticism”, has grown in scale enormously i...
jessk.org
November 19, 2025 at 8:13 AM
“While the EBM movement has indeed contributed greatly to the push for better evidence and ever more rigorous standards for research, it has also created a plausible mechanism for opponents of scientific progress to discount enormous volumes of data using scientific language and ritual as costume.”🎯
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
The American Psychiatric Association did review it and it was so scathing that no reputable journal would ever have published this report with such glaring conflicts of interest, methodological flaws, and a refusal to even name the authors. The Endocrine Society and AAP declined to engage w/ it.
November 19, 2025 at 8:45 PM
The American Psychiatric Association did review it and it was so scathing that no reputable journal would ever have published this report with such glaring conflicts of interest, methodological flaws, and a refusal to even name the authors. The Endocrine Society and AAP declined to engage w/ it.
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
Can I get an amen?
Ritual as costume is a beautiful descriptor.
The rating scale assignment is immensely subjective and arbitrary by the researcher. It could be done well but can also introduce a scientific biases.
Case in point: declaring all mechanistic respirator studies low quality
Ritual as costume is a beautiful descriptor.
The rating scale assignment is immensely subjective and arbitrary by the researcher. It could be done well but can also introduce a scientific biases.
Case in point: declaring all mechanistic respirator studies low quality
“While the EBM movement has indeed contributed greatly to the push for better evidence and ever more rigorous standards for research, it has also created a plausible mechanism for opponents of scientific progress to discount enormous volumes of data using scientific language and ritual as costume.”
November 19, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Can I get an amen?
Ritual as costume is a beautiful descriptor.
The rating scale assignment is immensely subjective and arbitrary by the researcher. It could be done well but can also introduce a scientific biases.
Case in point: declaring all mechanistic respirator studies low quality
Ritual as costume is a beautiful descriptor.
The rating scale assignment is immensely subjective and arbitrary by the researcher. It could be done well but can also introduce a scientific biases.
Case in point: declaring all mechanistic respirator studies low quality
I end my latest piece with a point about the recent McMaster disavowal of SEGM: that they always had their bigotry on display and not seeing it is only possible for the willfully ignorant. Today we now know that the president of SEGM was a co-author of the HHS report. How fitting.
I hope you like it. It’s been a project of many months, and with Guyatt’s announcement to break ranks with SEGM we come back to where we always land: patient autonomy.
November 19, 2025 at 5:07 PM
I end my latest piece with a point about the recent McMaster disavowal of SEGM: that they always had their bigotry on display and not seeing it is only possible for the willfully ignorant. Today we now know that the president of SEGM was a co-author of the HHS report. How fitting.
I made it a minute and a half through the updated HHS report on gender dysphoria before finding a blood-boiling history section where they deadname, insult and misgender Christine Jorgensen. They only use the right pronouns in the last sentence, where they describe her as a chain smoking alcoholic.
November 19, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I made it a minute and a half through the updated HHS report on gender dysphoria before finding a blood-boiling history section where they deadname, insult and misgender Christine Jorgensen. They only use the right pronouns in the last sentence, where they describe her as a chain smoking alcoholic.
I stumbled upon a panic thread on reddit last night about doing homework after Cloudflare took out ChatGPT. One person asked how they could “read a book for class” without it and the thread actually went downhill from there.
November 19, 2025 at 1:35 PM
I stumbled upon a panic thread on reddit last night about doing homework after Cloudflare took out ChatGPT. One person asked how they could “read a book for class” without it and the thread actually went downhill from there.
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
Today there was an attempted ICE raid in Bensonhurst & community members showed up. Even though NYPD collaborated with ICE by trying to disburse the crowd; community members stood their ground & ICE left without kidnapping a single person per the rapid response groups I'm on. We protect us!
November 19, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Today there was an attempted ICE raid in Bensonhurst & community members showed up. Even though NYPD collaborated with ICE by trying to disburse the crowd; community members stood their ground & ICE left without kidnapping a single person per the rapid response groups I'm on. We protect us!
In sorting my own thoughts about the moment, I began writing about the way science is being used by bad actors under the guise of "evidence-based medicine". I also talk about the limits of our ability to fully boil down evidence into axioms that make subjectivity irrelevant.
The myth of an apolitical science — Jessica Kant
What we might call the modern anti-science movement, starting with efforts to hide the obvious linkage between tobacco and cancer, and the rise of “climate skepticism”, has grown in scale enormously i...
jessk.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
In sorting my own thoughts about the moment, I began writing about the way science is being used by bad actors under the guise of "evidence-based medicine". I also talk about the limits of our ability to fully boil down evidence into axioms that make subjectivity irrelevant.
This is a very big deal. The distinction opens up a range of surveillance options for the regime that are technically lawful under the right circumstances.
Scheduling mifepristone largely invalidates the point of the schedule.
Ostensibly, the schedule is meant to monitor drugs *which have the ability to form physical dependence*.
This step makes the schedule a list of drugs that lawmakers dislike for feelings reasons.
www.pbs.org/news-hour/sh...
Ostensibly, the schedule is meant to monitor drugs *which have the ability to form physical dependence*.
This step makes the schedule a list of drugs that lawmakers dislike for feelings reasons.
www.pbs.org/news-hour/sh...
Louisiana restricts access to abortion pills by classifying them as a controlled substance
A bill that would restrict access to abortion pills has been signed into law in Louisiana. The law reclassifies the drugs as a controlled substance, grouping them with Xanax and Valium. Possession wit...
www.pbs.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:24 AM
This is a very big deal. The distinction opens up a range of surveillance options for the regime that are technically lawful under the right circumstances.
Reposted by Jesspooka Kant 🎃
THIS IS BIG
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
Per CNN, Elizabeth Warren is calling on Harvard to cut ties with Larry Summers after Jeffrey Epstein's emails released last week by House Dems featured Summers making sexist comments + asking for Epstein’s romantic advice.
November 18, 2025 at 12:43 AM
THIS IS BIG
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.
For non-academics who might not understand why:
1. Sen. Warren is still a Harvard professor so this is a call coming from inside the house
2. As a tenured law prof, Warren knows it is a VERY big deal from a labor standpoint to call on Harvard to ignore tenure. The bar for this is HIGH.