Mike Westphal
@mfwestphal.bsky.social
Biologist, writer, father of three, anti-fascist. he/him
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Westphal/publications
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Westphal/publications
Reposted by Mike Westphal
The same people who pushed for states to be open carry are the ones saying having a gun on you (if that's even true) is grounds to be murdered by state agents.
January 24, 2026 at 5:47 PM
The same people who pushed for states to be open carry are the ones saying having a gun on you (if that's even true) is grounds to be murdered by state agents.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
They are soft losers who have no idea what others have sacrificed for freedom.
Yeah tell people who won were enslaved for centuries to just give up hope.
Yeah tell people who won were enslaved for centuries to just give up hope.
I have lost all patience with self-proclaimed cynics desperate to pretend that their quisling cowardice in the face of evil is wisdom.
January 24, 2026 at 8:26 PM
They are soft losers who have no idea what others have sacrificed for freedom.
Yeah tell people who won were enslaved for centuries to just give up hope.
Yeah tell people who won were enslaved for centuries to just give up hope.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
All I see is federal agents getting violent with residents, over and over, while Democratic leaders repeatedly tell those residents to calm down and not do anything in response. This is not sustainable.
January 24, 2026 at 7:09 PM
All I see is federal agents getting violent with residents, over and over, while Democratic leaders repeatedly tell those residents to calm down and not do anything in response. This is not sustainable.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Sinners becomes first film in history to earn 16 Oscar nominations - The Guardian apple.news/AqdIeiHjRR5S...
Sinners becomes first film in history to earn 16 Oscar nominations — Guardian US
Ryan Coogler’s ghost story breaks records as One Battle After Another trails in second with 13 nods and Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value and Frankenstein trail with nine apiece
apple.news
January 22, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Sinners becomes first film in history to earn 16 Oscar nominations - The Guardian apple.news/AqdIeiHjRR5S...
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Delroy Lindo has been Oscars nominated for the first time ever for his performance in 'Sinners'
January 22, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Delroy Lindo has been Oscars nominated for the first time ever for his performance in 'Sinners'
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Shut ICE down, remove the leadership, break DHS apart, and investigate their crimes.
January 20, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Shut ICE down, remove the leadership, break DHS apart, and investigate their crimes.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
1. Fuck off with the groveling "don't make him angry" abuser language.
2. Stop admonishing protesters. Direct it at ICE and CBP, the organizations driving the violence.
3. Violence does not only help Trump. Violence may well be the only way out of this. But if you grew a spine, it might deter him.
2. Stop admonishing protesters. Direct it at ICE and CBP, the organizations driving the violence.
3. Violence does not only help Trump. Violence may well be the only way out of this. But if you grew a spine, it might deter him.
Violence only helps Trump & may provide him an excuse to further trample our rights by invoking the Insurrection Act.
January 22, 2026 at 2:48 AM
1. Fuck off with the groveling "don't make him angry" abuser language.
2. Stop admonishing protesters. Direct it at ICE and CBP, the organizations driving the violence.
3. Violence does not only help Trump. Violence may well be the only way out of this. But if you grew a spine, it might deter him.
2. Stop admonishing protesters. Direct it at ICE and CBP, the organizations driving the violence.
3. Violence does not only help Trump. Violence may well be the only way out of this. But if you grew a spine, it might deter him.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
I’m pleasantly confounded by how many of my favourite things come from 1897, a mere 129 years ago.
January 21, 2026 at 6:18 PM
I’m pleasantly confounded by how many of my favourite things come from 1897, a mere 129 years ago.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Sounds like they were doing just what they were trained to do.
January 21, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Sounds like they were doing just what they were trained to do.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
I just wish that after a decade of this, more major media orgs would acknowledge (and perhaps even actively combat) the fact that MAGAs have 100% figured out how to rhetorically hack and manipulate traditional journalistic conventions to favor them
January 21, 2026 at 6:16 PM
I just wish that after a decade of this, more major media orgs would acknowledge (and perhaps even actively combat) the fact that MAGAs have 100% figured out how to rhetorically hack and manipulate traditional journalistic conventions to favor them
This is about the time that Canada shows the US just how much they can hurt us, if they need to. If I was a US business person, and my business depended on Canada, I’d be scared shitless right now.
January 21, 2026 at 4:44 PM
This is about the time that Canada shows the US just how much they can hurt us, if they need to. If I was a US business person, and my business depended on Canada, I’d be scared shitless right now.
Zoologists reading this, having not heard of that phrase before, are all squinting in a funny way because baculum is the technical term for a bone that many mammals have in their penises. But man doesn’t it fit the situation well.
January 21, 2026 at 3:28 PM
Zoologists reading this, having not heard of that phrase before, are all squinting in a funny way because baculum is the technical term for a bone that many mammals have in their penises. But man doesn’t it fit the situation well.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen J Gould was published in 1981 but is nonetheless still a serviceable introduction to the ways in which IQ testing is and has always been racist as fuck.
I know this is far from the point, and please understand I'm simply adding context.
Actually, Somali refugees and any immigrant community in the U.S. will score low on IQ tests intended to uphold white domination and supremacy.
(cont)
Actually, Somali refugees and any immigrant community in the U.S. will score low on IQ tests intended to uphold white domination and supremacy.
(cont)
So far, I am only seeing TPM, Mediaite, and Daily Beast focusing on this.
We live in a world where the president calling an ethnic group "very low IQ" and "bad for our country" while insisting they "ought to get the hell out of here" barely makes headlines. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-m...
We live in a world where the president calling an ethnic group "very low IQ" and "bad for our country" while insisting they "ought to get the hell out of here" barely makes headlines. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-m...
January 21, 2026 at 2:15 PM
The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen J Gould was published in 1981 but is nonetheless still a serviceable introduction to the ways in which IQ testing is and has always been racist as fuck.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
“The shark retinas the researchers studied were healthy, with no signs of degeneration, even at ages over 100 years”
“Greenland sharks are exceptionally well adapted for permanent night vision in the dark depths of the ocean where they live.”
#scicomm
www.sciencealert.com/worlds-longe...
🧪
“Greenland sharks are exceptionally well adapted for permanent night vision in the dark depths of the ocean where they live.”
#scicomm
www.sciencealert.com/worlds-longe...
🧪
World's Longest-Living Sharks May Hold Clues to Preserving Vision For Life
A new analysis of the eyes of some of the longest-lived animals on Earth could provide molecular clues about long-lasting vision.
www.sciencealert.com
January 21, 2026 at 1:39 AM
“The shark retinas the researchers studied were healthy, with no signs of degeneration, even at ages over 100 years”
“Greenland sharks are exceptionally well adapted for permanent night vision in the dark depths of the ocean where they live.”
#scicomm
www.sciencealert.com/worlds-longe...
🧪
“Greenland sharks are exceptionally well adapted for permanent night vision in the dark depths of the ocean where they live.”
#scicomm
www.sciencealert.com/worlds-longe...
🧪
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Maybe make it easier for some of them by declaring you will vote NO on funding DHS/ICE, and tell @schumer.senate.gov to urge all Ds to do the same.
The longer you let the Twin Cities crisis go on, the greater the chances of more disaster.
You said Trump is nuts. Act on that. Please.
The longer you let the Twin Cities crisis go on, the greater the chances of more disaster.
You said Trump is nuts. Act on that. Please.
One year into the Senate, I heard the same thing over and over: it has been a hard year for our country and our community.
But everywhere I go, I still see good people who love their families, love this country, and want to do the right thing. That goodness is worth fighting for.
But everywhere I go, I still see good people who love their families, love this country, and want to do the right thing. That goodness is worth fighting for.
January 21, 2026 at 2:40 AM
Maybe make it easier for some of them by declaring you will vote NO on funding DHS/ICE, and tell @schumer.senate.gov to urge all Ds to do the same.
The longer you let the Twin Cities crisis go on, the greater the chances of more disaster.
You said Trump is nuts. Act on that. Please.
The longer you let the Twin Cities crisis go on, the greater the chances of more disaster.
You said Trump is nuts. Act on that. Please.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
The new leader of the free world is Canada. Mark Carney's speech at Davos:
globalnews.ca/news/1162087...
globalnews.ca/news/1162087...
Read the full transcript of Carney’s speech to World Economic Forum - National | Globalnews.ca
Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a forceful speech in Davos, Switzerland, on the 'new world order' and how middle powers like Canada can benefit by working together.
globalnews.ca
January 21, 2026 at 3:54 AM
The new leader of the free world is Canada. Mark Carney's speech at Davos:
globalnews.ca/news/1162087...
globalnews.ca/news/1162087...
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Jeffrey Catherine Jones. One of our most gifted, and oddly distinctive creators.
IDYL is a masterpiece, from the pages of National Lampoon in the 1970s.
She painted hundreds of sci-fi & fantasy book covers in the same decade, mostly D-list authors.
Only 67 when she died.
IDYL is a masterpiece, from the pages of National Lampoon in the 1970s.
She painted hundreds of sci-fi & fantasy book covers in the same decade, mostly D-list authors.
Only 67 when she died.
January 20, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Jeffrey Catherine Jones. One of our most gifted, and oddly distinctive creators.
IDYL is a masterpiece, from the pages of National Lampoon in the 1970s.
She painted hundreds of sci-fi & fantasy book covers in the same decade, mostly D-list authors.
Only 67 when she died.
IDYL is a masterpiece, from the pages of National Lampoon in the 1970s.
She painted hundreds of sci-fi & fantasy book covers in the same decade, mostly D-list authors.
Only 67 when she died.
I’m on a clutter reduction kick & spent a long night reshelving my Richard Powers collection & was thinking about how people get snarky about how prolific & ubiquitous he was, yeah, I get that, but man, if all of his books (over 600) go past your face in a few hours time, you will be *blown away*
January 20, 2026 at 5:16 PM
I’m on a clutter reduction kick & spent a long night reshelving my Richard Powers collection & was thinking about how people get snarky about how prolific & ubiquitous he was, yeah, I get that, but man, if all of his books (over 600) go past your face in a few hours time, you will be *blown away*
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away
thezebra.org
January 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Happy birthday to the author with the most-misspelled name in the so-called Western canon!
January 19, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Happy birthday to the author with the most-misspelled name in the so-called Western canon!
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Reposted by Mike Westphal
Thinking, Whatever's in the Epstein files is even worse than we all imagined, and plenty of us have revoltingly lewd imaginations.
This is I'll-start-a-war-to-make-you-forget-for-10-minutes horrific. It's gotta be.
This is I'll-start-a-war-to-make-you-forget-for-10-minutes horrific. It's gotta be.
thinking about how, in the Russian history elective I took in HS, every time a tsar was facing domestic weakness the teacher would turn to the assembled students and ask "so what is it time for?" and we would chant "stunning territorial annexation!" and she would respond "well, DUH, girls"
January 19, 2026 at 8:55 PM
Thinking, Whatever's in the Epstein files is even worse than we all imagined, and plenty of us have revoltingly lewd imaginations.
This is I'll-start-a-war-to-make-you-forget-for-10-minutes horrific. It's gotta be.
This is I'll-start-a-war-to-make-you-forget-for-10-minutes horrific. It's gotta be.
Reposted by Mike Westphal
i do think even a lot of otherwise well-informed Americans really do not understand just how much Trump has already mutilated our global reputation and global trust.
it will take a long time and many acts of extreme contrition on our part to rebuild this.
it will take a long time and many acts of extreme contrition on our part to rebuild this.
I swear everything I see out of the US is "wait until the midterms. We'll get a majority back and everything will return to normal"
I don't think they're aware of the damage that's been done
I don't think they're aware of the damage that's been done
January 19, 2026 at 7:25 PM
i do think even a lot of otherwise well-informed Americans really do not understand just how much Trump has already mutilated our global reputation and global trust.
it will take a long time and many acts of extreme contrition on our part to rebuild this.
it will take a long time and many acts of extreme contrition on our part to rebuild this.