Karen Benjamin Guzzo
@karenguzzo.bsky.social
4.1K followers 1.2K following 2.3K posts
Demographer and Sociologist. Director of the Carolina Population Center. LEGO Karen
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Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
donmoyn.bsky.social
The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
devex.com
Devex @devex.com · 18h
Former USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore highlights the strategic value of U.S. foreign assistance, asserting that it is essential soft power, not just charity.

Watch the full conversation⬇️
www.devex.com/news/early-pr...
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
gidlukens.bsky.social
Idaho’s 2026 ACA marketplace open enrollment begins Oct 15. People are already window shopping, seeing next year’s premiums spike due to expiring tax credit enhancements. A typical 60-year-old couple making $85,000 in Idaho will face a $17,900 increase in annual premiums. (1/4)
karenguzzo.bsky.social
The mad scientist is hard at work! He’s successfully managed to turn living beings inside out…which maybe isn’t that much of a success. #legokaren
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
drjenndowd.bsky.social
The acting CDC director has now approved ACIP recs allowing anyone 6 months+ to receive an updated Covid-19 shot after discussing w/ their provider. If you are on the fence about getting an updated shot, read my in-depth take on the evidence we've accumulated on these vaccines. #publichealth
Do additional COVID vaccines really help?
We've accumulated a lot of scientific evidence in the last few years.
open.substack.com
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
wrigleyfield.bsky.social
New podcast episode where I talk about what's going on with mortality in the US

A wide-ranging discussion of what happened before the pandemic & what's happened since then; racial disparities and how to get our heads around their scope; why things might be going so badly for Millennials & Gen Zers
Prof. Elizabeth Wrigley-Field Discusses Excess Deaths
Because the US death rate has exceeded that of 21 other high income countries for over four decades, an estimated 14.7 million US lives have been lost since1980.
www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
karenguzzo.bsky.social
“You’re a vampire??? Really? And you sparkle in the sun. Huh. Sparkle, not combust. That’s a new one.” #legokaren
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
karenguzzo.bsky.social
The real trick of billionaires isn't how they get wealthy - it's what they do to maintain & growth their wealth by engaging w/ the "wealth defense industry," buying political influence to protect against systemic changes, & using private equity funds to buy out businesses to extract more wealth.
Boom time for US billionaires: why the system perpetuates wealth inequality
As the super rich grow even richer, inequality expert Chuck Collins says the system is broken – but it can be fixed
www.theguardian.com
karenguzzo.bsky.social
Museum Monday! What interesting little trinkets might the tour guide introduce LEGO Karen to?
karenguzzo.bsky.social
“For some military spouses, a part-time job is the best route for I.V.F. coverage when the government is unwilling to cover the procedure. One option is to turn to Starbucks… [because it] covers up to $25,000 in fertility care for employees who work 20 hours a week or more.”
Push for Military Coverage of I.V.F. Faces Challenge in Congress
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
itsafronomics.bsky.social
lol society hates moms and then gets mad and surprised when women are like "nah, motherhood ain't for me". 🤷🏿‍♀️
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
newrepublic.com
All 45 staffers at the "Department of Government Efficiency" were apparently too valuable to lose, as the agency was completely unscathed by the temporary employment suspension. trib.al/xPElaZu

Meanwhile, he furloughed 89% of the EPA, 87% Dept. of Ed, and 71% of HUD.
Trump Sure Picked Some Interesting People Not to Furlough for Shutdown
A key team will stay up and running during the shutdown.
trib.al
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
conradhackett.bsky.social
93 million U.S. residents are immigrants or are U.S. born and have at least one immigrant parent.
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
pamherd.bsky.social
Vought is leveraging every technical change he can—legal and not—to dismantle government. Age is part of disability eligibility determination b/c the interaction between disability and age ⬆️ job loss. The law dictates eligibility is based on how disability affects employment—not disability itself
washingtonpost.com
Exclusive: The Trump administration is preparing a plan that will make it harder for older Americans to qualify for Social Security disability payments, part of an overhaul that could result in hundreds of thousands of people losing benefits.
Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans
Trump administration officials are considering eliminating age as a factor in deciding whether someone is capable of working.
wapo.st
karenguzzo.bsky.social
Adulthood, to me, is seeing some issue (big or small), thinking “someone should do something about that,” and realizing that *you’re* that someone. And then having to figure it out even when you have no clue bc no one will do it for you.
karenguzzo.bsky.social
Watch out behind you, LEGO Karen!!!
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
propublica.org
In the spring, the Trump administration abruptly cut $500 million from an emergency food assistance program that delivered meat, dairy, eggs and produce to food banks across the country.

Thousands of planned deliveries were canceled without warning.
Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.
ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...
projects.propublica.org
Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo
conradhackett.bsky.social
You can find all @pewresearch.org openings here pewtrusts.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Center...

We currently have searches for term-limited LLM analytics lead & assistant audience editor positions.

Salary info is included in all our job ads.

Please share this with anyone who might be interested!
The LLM Analytics Lead is a member of Pew Research Center’s digital team. One of the main goals of this position will be to assess the visibility of Pew Research Center’s brand and content across tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, as well as Google’s AI Overviews/AI Mode. For example, when users ask LLMs questions about public opinion on climate change, how often is our data cited in the results? Another key goal is to explore ways to evaluate and quantify the accuracy and tone with which our work is summarized by these platforms. Based on those learnings, the analytics lead will develop best practices, suggest content experiments and recommend new publishing techniques for the team to improve the visibility and accuracy of our content on external LLMs. 

This is a term-limited, grant-funded position expected to extend 15 months.   This is a term-limited, grant-funded position expected to extend 15 months. 

The Assistant Audience Editor will help connect Pew Research Center’s work with the public by supporting content creation, community engagement, and the day-to-day execution of our audience strategy. This junior role will focus on producing and adapting research content to text, graphics and short-form video for a variety of digital platforms and ensuring that the Center’s findings reach and resonate with broad and diverse audiences. The position will also play a key role in moderating conversations, fostering respectful engagement, and spotting opportunities to bring the Center’s research into discussions of current events. This position reports to the associate director, digital outreach. 

The ideal candidate is an adaptable, curious, and detail-oriented collaborator with strong communication and task management skills, driven by a passion for providing nonpartisan information to the public.
karenguzzo.bsky.social
I missed this earlier this week, but the Directors of NIAID, NICHD, NIMHD, & NINR were all fired. The NIAID Director, Mazzaro, was likely fired in retaliation for speaking out against the anti-vaccine moves made by the administration.
Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint
www.nytimes.com
karenguzzo.bsky.social
How about we stop covering the White House in gold foil?

Could we *not* build a White House ballroom?

Maybe we shouldn’t have flown hundreds of military brass to Quantico for a pep rally?

Stopping the National Guard deployment to Democrat cities to score political points?
npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 4d
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the Trump administration has to look at ways to "save money in a responsible way that respects the American taxpayer's money" during shutdown.
Karoline Leavitt says White House must cut spending due to shutdown
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the Trump administration has to look at ways to "save money in a responsible way that respects the American taxpayer's money" during shutdown.
n.pr