Author | Lightnews

Reposted by PhD Andy

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 4h

Attacks on trans rights are often framed as efforts to "protect women."

But the reality is that such attacks only protect the patriarchy. Because enforcing a strict sex-based gender binary makes it easier to tilt that binary into a hierarchy where women are subordinate to men.

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 4h

Big tech firms are shutting down programs aimed at supporting women in STEM careers. Signaling once again that the spine of corporate America is as hollow as its pockets are deep.

www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/t...

‘Their history is just erased’: Google drops a key program for boosting women in tech | CNN Business

Google is offloading a key career resource program for supporting women in tech, another sign the search giant is unwinding its diversity programs following political pressure over diversity, equity a...

www.cnn.com

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 1h

Trump / Republicans waste so much time and effort further marginalizing tiny but marginalized communities like Trans people instead of helping everybody. The obsession with punishing Trans people (for no good reason) is absurd.

They want a minority to hate / blame everything on.

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 2d

It's actually probably deeper / worse than just Epstein but we know Epstein is involved and we don't know what else Mellon wants with Trump's favor and US military.

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 2d

Timothy Mellon

$130M to Trump

Epstein Files...

Pardon

I feel like these might all be related somehow ...

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Reposted by PhD Andy

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 2d

Early voting in the NYC mayoral election begins TODAY.

If you're a New Yorker, I urge you to vote for Zohran Mamdani — the only candidate who will stand up to the oligarchy and fight for working people.

Listen to his inspiring words from primary night.

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 2d

I don't have an issue with Bernie - he's a politician. It's his Bernie Bros / Bern or Burn Stans that take his word as Gospel that really concern me. It's like the Trump / MAGA but on the left. People on both sides should learn to think for themselves and not just blindly follow people they idolize.

PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 2d

People like AOC are younger and have less of a record for being inadvertently racist and misogynist. I think Bernie should retire or focus his efforts on specific issues and not keep putting Democratic Socialists in compromising situations.

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 2d

So Bernie Sanders:

- Sinks Clinton so we end up with Trump 1

- Praises Trump over Biden on immigration and border security

- openly praises and endorses Nazis after it comes out that they're Nazis

I like some of his positions but he has a history of being out of touch with non white men.

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Reposted by PhD Andy

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 3d

Medicare for All - "That's socialism!"

Social Security - "That's socialism!"

Debt free education - "That's socialism!"

Universal childcare - "That's socialism!"

Billions for Argentina, ICE, refurbishing Trump's Qatar jet, and tax cuts for the rich...

"That's just how it is."

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 3d

I got DOGEd because "fiscal responsibility" and "national debt" but here we are:

apnews.com/article/trum...

US hits $38 trillion in debt, after the fastest accumulation of $1 trillion outside of the pandemic

The U.S. government's gross national debt has surpassed $38 trillion during the federal shutdown, marking a record high.

apnews.com

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 4d

Shouldn't the EPA be looking at issues like PFAS, ethylene oxide, 6ppd, or even old-school pollutants like ozone and PM 2.5?

I don't always agree with the EPAs research directions but this is something else entirely.

(Air pollution near airports is a real issue though that deserves attention)

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 4d

EPA Commissioner Lee Zeldin announces his agency is launching a major investigation into the right-wing conspiracies about chemtrails and weather manipulation to get to the bottom of it.

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 4d

Wood burning stoves are horrible for both human health and the environment. Lots of the focus is on PM, but the number of carcinogens (volatile and semivolatile) emitted indoors by wood burning stoves is very high. Cancer treatment costs and deaths are underestimated in this study.

PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

Mark Strynar and Andrew Lindstrom are good places to start if you want to dig into EPAs early PFAS and NTA research. It predated public concern by at least a decade and much of it is published.

PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was a leader in NTA, especially for PFAS and similar contaminants in areas like the Cape Fear River. EPA researchers have known about many of these issues for over a decade. Lack of Congressional approval or political will is not the same as lack of knowledge.

The Xylom @thexylom.com · 6d

NEW: Scientists are using non-targeted analysis to detect wide swaths of whatever chemicals are lingering out there, ones that government agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aren’t looking for or don’t even know about.

This story was first published by @knowablemag.bsky.social.

Tracking Down the Hidden Pollutants That Make Wildlife Sick

Since some chemicals become increasingly concentrated in animal tissues as they move up the food chain, long-lived, top predators like alligators — which may spend 50 years or more swimming and eating...

www.thexylom.com

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Reposted by PhD Andy

Elisabeth R. Anker @libankerdc.bsky.social · 5d

UVA damaging much more than its own reputation -- weakening the bulwark for all of academia. Now's the time for solidarity across the academy against these moves. UVA's weak capitulation is damaging for everyone

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

EGU 26 Abstract Submissions open!

www.egu26.eu

EGU26 - Home

www.egu26.eu

PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

A related issue -

If a company owns the data you need, they could exert control over how the data was used.

I've been in several situations where results or conclusions had to be cherry-picked because it had to support the business case of the data owners.

Emily Farris @emayfarris.bsky.social · 5d

Just reading another academic paper using a private company's voter file as a main part of its data and thinking about how we don't talk enough about research costs. As academic research budgets are being slashed, the gap between the have's and the have's nots is going to be interesting to watch.

PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

I'm not sure what the evidence is for PhDs being less employable than non-PhDs. Your lifetime earnings may be less, but not everybody cares about money - there are often other drivers for perusing a PhD.

PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

I believe the PhD unemployment rate is lower than the general unemployment rate. The process of doing research and acquiring a PhD gives one lots of high-valued transferrable skills, even outside of research. Maybe universities should do a better job of preparing PhDs for jobs?

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

If you want to police something, think about smoking or alcohol use, something actually harmful.

Instead people obsess over other people's hormones because they want control over other people's bodies.

Normalize HRT for whatever reason you want it (and provide medical coverage too)

PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

Why shouldn't women be allowed to take Testosterone?

It's helpful for hypermobility (think hEDS).

Hormones are accepted for birth control and menopause - people obsess way too much about other's healthcare choices and whether they are "hormonally correct"

Brady! 🏳️‍⚧️ @like-the-bunch.bsky.social · 5d

when trans people take HRT to feel normal: “look at these depraved sex freaks performing their sick fetish in public, we should bully them out of existence”

when cis ppl take HRT so they can fuck real good:

NYT Magazine headline “‘I'm on Fire': Testosterone Is Giving Women Back Their Sex Drive - and Then Some
There is no F.D.A.-approved testosterone product for women. Insurance won't cover it. Many doctors won't prescribe it. It's become a cultural phenomenon.”

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Reposted by PhD Andy

European Geosciences Union (EGU) @egu.eu · 6d

📰 EGU Press release

MUNICH- In a recent study published today in the #EGU journal Biogeosciences, scientists have confirmed that #mercury pollution from artisanal and small-scale #gold mining (ASGM) is contaminating #food crops directly from the air.

🧵 Read the full study here: egu.eu/6TI58P

Image description: Pieces of gold, text reading: "Press release Invisible poison: Airborne mercury from gold mining is contaminating African food crops, new study warns MUNICH- In a recent study published today in the European Geosciences Union (EGU) journal Biogeosciences, scientists have confirmed that mercury pollution from artisanal
and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is contaminating food crops not through the soil, as previously believed, but directly from the air.
www.egu.eu

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

I also feel like many people commenting don't really understand Maine culture and politics. Maine always felt unique versus other places I've loved. It's a special place.

I'm hoping they make the right decision.

PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

I trust Mainers to make the correct choice - it's their representative.

But if they elect a fucking anti-Trans misogynist Nazi I don't see myself feeling safe visiting Maine.

Collins needs to go, but not to be replaced by something worse.

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PhD Andy @phdandi.bsky.social · 5d

Trump hates both Mills and Collins. Planter is a documented misogynist (like Trump), a Populist (like Trump), and has a fucking Nazi tattoo (and Trump is the most pro-Nazi president we've had in awhile). All the signs are there and yet people ignore them.

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