Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Not a porpoise but a ...

@silverporpoise.bsky.social

370 followers 960 following 1.1K posts

Biochemist, protein structure function, organizational engineer, futurist. A Schumpeterian who believes that Carlota Perez' model for Techno-economic Revolutions works best to describe today's world. https://amanwithaphd.wordpress.com

amanwithaphd.wordpress.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · Jan 30

I gave this to ChatGPT. Someone should read it from the floor of the House or Senate: "Modernize the Declaration of Independence of July 4 1776 by substituting President Donald Trump's actions for the British government's. Create a list of abuses based on what he has done since January 20, 2025."

Asked of ChatGPT by Richard Gayle @silverporpoise.bsky.social on Jan 28, 2025
Modernize the Declaration of Independence of July 4 1776 by substituting President Donald Trump's actions for the British government's. Create a list of abuses based on what he has done since January 20, 2025.

The Declaration of Independence (Modernized Version)
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, and that the government derives its powers from the consent of the governed. However, the current administration under President Donald Trump has repeatedly violated the trust of the people and undermined the very principles upon which this country was founded. To this end, we list the following abuses that justify our decision to seek a break from his administration.

Grievances Against President Donald Trump:
Manipulation of Electoral Integrity He has engaged in efforts to undermine the democratic process by falsely claiming election fraud, spreading disinformation about the electoral system, and attempting to overturn results through undemocratic means, threatening the integrity of the voting system itself.
Incitement to Violence He has incited insurrection and violence, contributing to a rise in domestic extremism, as seen in the events surrounding the Capitol riots of 2021, and continued to publicly endorse or minimize violent actions that threaten the peace and security of citizens.
Disregard for the Rule of Law He has repeatedly interfered with investigations and law enforcement, using his position to avoid accountability and undermine the independence of the judiciary.
Corruption and Self-Dealing He has used the office of the presidency to enrich himself and his family through conflicts of interest, including the promotion of his business ventures and acceptance of foreign government aid, thereby placing personal gain over the welfare of the nation.
Abuse of Executive Power He has frequently bypassed Congress and ignored constitutional limits on executive power, issuing executive orders that undermine legislative authority and disregard established laws.
Attacks on the Press and Free Speech He has consistently attacked the free press, calling the media “fake news” and labeling journalists as “enemies of the people,” undermining the fundamental freedom of speech and the press guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Discriminatory Policies and Rhetoric He has promoted and enacted policies that discriminate against marginalized groups, including immigrants, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals, while also using divisive language that foments hatred and animosity across communities.

Environmental Negligence He has disregarded scientific consensus and undermined environmental protections, exacerbating climate change, and rolling back regulations intended to protect air, water, and public health, despite overwhelming evidence of their necessity for the long-term well-being of the nation.
Undermining International Alliances and Norms He has consistently alienated traditional allies, weakened the international standing of the U.S., and pulled out of critical international agreements, including those related to climate change and global security, putting American leadership and global stability at risk.
Disrespect for Democracy and the Constitution He has undermined the separation of powers, repeatedly questioning the legitimacy of constitutional institutions and encouraging actions that weaken democratic norms, including attempts to challenge judicial rulings and congressional authority.
Weaponizing National Security He has used national security concerns as a pretext to target political opponents and stifle dissent, suggesting that any opposition to his administration is inherently unpatriotic and deserving of surveillance or legal action.
Erosion of Civil Rights Through numerous executive actions and rhetorical attacks, he has eroded civil rights protections, especially regarding voting rights, the right to peaceful assembly, and the right to protest, thus threatening fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Conclusion
In light of these repeated and sustained abuses, it is the right and duty of the American people to alter or abolish the government that has failed to protect their rights, liberty, and safety. The abuses listed above demonstrate a pattern of governance that violates the very principles upon which this nation was founded: liberty, equality, and justice for all.
We, therefore, declare our intention to separate from the administration of President Donald Trump, seeking the establishment of a new government that will secure the blessings of liberty and justice for ourselves and future generations.

2 2 6

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 3h

So many good people out there.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 4h

People are spontaneously posting up near any laborers or street vendors they spot. Just saw a rapid responder guarding a man working on a building exterior. Many things are terrible today but lord, this stuff matters.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 5h

There are a tremendous number of ICE watchers out in Rogers Park this afternoon after some early morning abductions.

People are guarding churches and patrolling alleyways. Ran into Alderperson Hadden. First timers tell us they're primed and ready to use their whistles.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 1d

We are seeing the rise of new leaders who know how to fight.

Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 1d

This is what it looks like when your community stands up.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 1d

They did not count on the Church and those who actually follow the words of Jesus yo join the fight.

Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 1d

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 1d

My Part D monthly payments are doubling. But so are most every other Part D plan. Cheaper ones in my state seem to be either UnitedHealthcare or AARP plans. I was not going to use either before but now I have even more reasons.

JoeMyGod @joemygod.bsky.social · 1d

AARP Reports $9B In Royalties From UnitedHeathcare - Joe.My.God.

Axios reports: AARP received $9 billion in royalties from UnitedHealthcare last year as part of an agreement to continue selling AARP-branded Medicare products, according to updated financial statemen...

www.joemygod.com

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 1d

Also pepper balls tend to bounce off of them.

Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 1d

One great aspect of iconic inflatable costumes (aside from how they instantly undermine propaganda about war zones) is that it's useless to arrest the person wearing one. Cuffing a frog would make law enforcement look pathetic. And carting one off just guarantees that more will show up the next day.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 1d

All illegal but the law is not a concern.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 2d

We need more raccoons 😀

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 2d

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 2d

You can’t negotiate with liars. They will again pull the football away as soon as they get what they want.

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3d

An up or down vote on extending the ACA subsidies, and I would add a separate up or down vote the same day to release the Epstein files.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 2d

We need even more inflatable frogs and raccoons. It appears pepper balls bounce off of them.

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 3d

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

1 1

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 3d

Corruption of comedy. So many privileged people. Now I know who not to support.

Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 3d

"To paraphrase TS Eliot: and was it worth it after all?" writes Guardian columnist Hannah Jane Parkinson.

"A question to ponder for the comedians who have taken the coin of a government once described unequivocally as 'the worst of the worst' by a human rights advocacy organization."

‘Amoral, evil’: vitriolic backlash builds against comics who played Riyadh festival

www.theguardian.com

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 3d

As Feynman said, “Nature cannot be fooled”. This always ends in disaster.

Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 3d

This is called policy-based evidence making (the antipode of evidence-based policymaking, a thing we should all want)

A.J. Bauer @ajbauer.bsky.social · 3d

This perfectly encapsulates how right-wing politics works and why it is so dangerous.

Rather than observing the world as it is and proposing changes, right-wing politics start with an idealized conception of the world and go about reshaping reality to confirm to that vision.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 3d

One of the first. I expect the leaders of the coming decades will rise from the front lines of today’s fight against fascism

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 4d

If you come for my people, you come through me.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 4d

If a man had reacted like she did in that interview, he would be supported and congratulated. Provacative reporter trying to make a female look bad. I'm shocked /s

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 4d

Get your shingles vaccine

Elisa Rosati Scalchi @elisarosix.bsky.social · 4d

Statistics on 100 million people
- I repeat - 100 million people‼️‼️⚠️
Says #shingles vaccine reduces risk of #dementia of 20-30%.

This is mind blowing 🤯

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Varicella-zoster virus reactivation and the risk of dementia - Nature Medicine

Large-scale longitudinal health records reveal consistent association of varicella-zoster virus reactivation with dementia.

www.nature.com

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 5d

www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/spee...

Abraham Lincoln's Cooper Union Address

www.abrahamlincolnonline.org

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 5d

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Shooting metaphors hold true 165 years apart. In 1860, the Dems were the conservatives. Now it is the GOP. Conservatives seem to act the same way. Lincoln, in his speech at Cooper Union, the speech that likely made him the Republican candidate, said this:

Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events.

Under all these circumstances, do you really feel yourselves justified to break up this Government unless such a court decision as yours is, shall be at once submitted to as a conclusive and final rule of political action? But you will not abide the election of a Republican president! In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, "Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!"

1 1 1

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 6d

This made me smile. Just a great image seeing them back away from a frog. They tried to pepper spray the breathing tube in the back. Did not work and made them look silly. If all the protesters wore similar costumes it would be epic.

Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 7d

I’m telling you: ridicule works. These guys are supposed to intimidate the citizenry and it’s very hard to do that when a guy in a frog suit is just staring you down and daring you to do something that makes it look like you’re afraid of a cartoon

dan sinker @dansinker.com · 7d

Portland never stops being Portland.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 7d

The thugs obviously have zero training. Mostly cosplaying it seems.

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 7d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 12d

Destroying women's lives seems to be the point. Good for Dallas.

ProPublica @propublica.org · 12d

The rate of sepsis in Houston surged 63% after Texas banned abortion.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where hospital leaders empowered doctors to intervene before patients’ conditions worsened, it rose 29%.

(Published May)

Why Hospital Policies Matter in States That Ban Abortion

Our first-of-its-kind data analysis found that a seismic split emerged in how medical institutions in Texas' two largest metro areas, Houston and Dallas, treated miscarrying patients — and in their ou...

www.propublica.org

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 13d

Only in America will we see miscarriages, fetal death rates and maternal deaths go up. The eugenicists are at the top of YS healthcare.

Chise @sailorrooscout.bsky.social · 14d

In short, acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy is not linked to the risk of developing autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability.

The study has been published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). YES, it is PEER-REVIEWED.
• jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

🧪🧵⬇️

Key Points
Question
Does acetaminophen use during pregnancy increase children's risk of neurodevelopmental disorders?
Findings
In this population-based study, models without sibling controls identified marginally increased risks of autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with acetaminophen use during pregnancy.
However, analyses of matched full sibling pairs found no evidence of increased risk of autism (hazard ratio, 0.98), ADHD (hazard ratio, 0.98), or intellectual disability (hazard ratio, 1.01) associated with acetaminophen use.
Meaning
Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with children's risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in sibling control analyses. This suggests that associations observed in other models may have been attributable to confounding.
Abstract
Importance
Several studies suggest that acetaminophen (paracetamol) use during pregnancy may increase risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children. If true, this would have substantial implications for management of pain and fever during pregnancy.
Objective
To examine the associations of acetaminophen use during pregnancy with children's risk of autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and intellectual disability.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This nationwide cohort study with sibling control analysis included a population-based sample of 2,480,797 children born in 1995 to 2019 in Sweden, with follow-up through December 31, 2021.
exposure
Use of acetaminophen during pregnancy prospectively recorded from antenatal and prescription records.
Main Outcomes and Measures
Autism, ADHD, and intellectual disability based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision and International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes in health registers.
Results
In total, 185909 children (7.49%) were exposed to acetaminophen during pregnancy. Crude absolute risks at 10 years of age for those not exposed vs those exposed to acetaminophen were 1.33% vs 1.53% for autism, 2.46% vs 2.87% for ADHD, and 0.70% vs 0.82% for intellectual disability. In models without sibling control, ever-use vs no use of acetaminophen during pregnancy was associated with marginally increased risk of autism (hazard ratio [HR], 1.05 [95% CI, 1.02-1.08]; risk difference [RD] at 10 years of age, 0.09% [95% Cl,
-0.01% to 0.20%l), ADHD (HR, 1.07 [95% Cl, 1.05-1.10];
RD, 0.21% [95% Cl, 0.08%-0.34%]), and intellectual disability (HR, 1.05 [95% CI, 1.00-1.10]; RD, 0.04% [95% Cl, -0.04% to 0.12%]).
To address unobserved confounding, matched full sibling pairs were also analyzed. Sibling control analyses found no evidence that acetaminophen use during pregnancy was associated with autism (HR, 0.98 [95% Cl, 0.93-1.04]; RD, 0.02% [95% Cl, -0.14% to 0.18%l), ADHD (HR, 0.98 |95% Cl, 0.94-1.02]; RD, -0.02% [95% Cl, -0.21% to 0.15%l), or intellectual disability (HR, 1.01 195% Cl, 0.92-1.10]; RD, 0% [95% Cl, -0.10% to 0.13%1).

Similarly, there was no evidence of a dose-response pattern in sibling control analyses. For example, for autism, compared with no use of acetaminophen, persons with low (<25th percentile), medium (25th-75th percentile), and high (>75th percentile) mean daily acetaminophen use had HRs of 0.85, 0.96, and 0.88, respectively.
Conclusions and Relevance
Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with children's risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in sibling control analysis. This suggests that associations observed in other models may have been attributable to familial confounding.
The study was supported by National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke 1R01NS107607.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 13d

Lysenko and Stalin would be proud. Will we have gulags up in Alaska?

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 14d

MAGA version of discrimination. Research universities now " have the opportunity to show compliance" to a political ideology in order to increase chances of getting funding. It is no longer about scientific merit. First Amendment violation?

Which is the 1000th papercut?

🧪 archive.today/ZdJkI

White House considers funding advantage for colleges that align with Trump policies

The proposal has the potential to transform the government’s vast research funding operation, which has long awarded university grants based on scientific merit.

www.washingtonpost.com

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 13d

Many hospitals will not be able to cover those now without insurance. So they will likely close. Many in rural areas.

Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 13d

WA state had an uninsured rate of 15% before the Affordable Care Act. Now it's 5%.

When Trump cuts Medicaid & sabotages the ACA, that means people go uninsured, people put off care, get sick, and even die.

This is just reality. That's why I'm fighting to save health care.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 14d

That's because they're owned by the same people propping up Trump. As long as the billionaires keep seeing their money going up, they'll make sure few report on his decline. When it hurts them, they will invoke the 25th (because Congressional GOP are minions) and install Vance. They think.

Charles Johnson @charles.littlegreenfootballs.com · 14d

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it *incredibly* disturbing that the president of the US is very clearly losing his goddamned mind, but most of the media steadfastly refuse to even mention it.

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 15d

Countdown to visa revocation -- 3, 2, 1

Liberty View @libertyview.bsky.social · 15d

Sure, right. They're NOT revoking Petro's diplomatic visa because of THIS:
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Colombia’s Petro urges ‘criminal trial’ against Trump for Venezuelan strikes

At UN, Gustavo Petro says ‘poor young people’ died in US strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats off Caribbean coast

www.theguardian.com

Not a porpoise but a ... @silverporpoise.bsky.social · 15d

Using AI – efficiency ≠ resiliency

AI may not be so wonderful because it often reduces complex problems to the same solutions, while having many minds involved often finds new problems and successes. Like a forest, creativity works best with systemic approaches not with single points of focus. Why…

Using AI – efficiency ≠ resiliency

AI may not be so wonderful because it often reduces complex problems to the same solutions, while having many minds involved often finds new problems and successes. Like a forest, creativity works best with systemic approaches not with single points of focus. Why AI Efficiency May Be Making Your Organization More Fragile The productivity gains from AI tools are undeniable. Development teams are shipping faster, marketing campaigns are launching quicker, and deliverables are more polished than ever.

amanwithaphd.wordpress.com