Thread by @Kristin_Hook

I have tried to read the comments but there are JUST SO MANY! Of those I did catch, I saw some repeated comments/questions come up that I’d like to address:

I wasn’t paid for 60 days because I schedule my own pay, once a month, and I didn’t know the shutdown would affect my pay when it was scheduled for late December. That payment never came.

I *just* scheduled my pay, so we’ll see when it comes in. I’m lucky enough to get back pay, some friends are not so lucky. I’m really sorry for those of you out there in that situation, and I hope that you’ll be okay.

My use of the term ‘illegal alien.’ I’m sorry. That was not meant to be hurtful. Being an academic, I was using the language of the documents I was collecting data from so should have included them in quotes or mentioned that. But now you know, that’s not a term I personally use.

Why does the data only go up to 2016? Because those are the data that have been made publicly available. Side bar: just because we don't have these data points doesn't mean that we as scientists can't make logical predictions for them.

Think about the flu shot. It needs to be developed prior to the year of release, which means guess work for which strain will hit hardest in the coming year. Sometimes they are off, but often they are not. This is the power of prediction in science.

I also feel the need to clarify that these are OUR data, not my data. Your tax dollars have paid for them, so they belong to all of us & should be shared.

That said, this was not meant to be a scientific pub on Twitter, and I welcome anyone to conduct follow-up analyses that are even more robust. We all benefit from being better educated.

So many of you love science and support women in science! THANK YOU!! I highly suggest following/supporting orgs like @AAAS and @500womensci to support these causes and make sure evidence-based decision making is folded into political policy.

Also, support your local teachers and educators. They are doing the work that makes sure each generation comes out smarter than the last, which we all benefit from.

Some of you mentioned that there *is* a crisis at the border – the unethical treatment of kids and families. That is an entirely other post, but I just wanted to say that I strongly feel that too.

So many of you are contacting your reps. KEEP DOING THIS! This is how democracy happens. Thank you *so much* for your efforts! The next time your representative and/or our president makes a baseless claim, simply tell them this: #SHOWMETHEDATA

Last, so many people have said this is great BUT conservatives will never read/believe it. True story: I wrote this for a conservative family member who supported Trump – my mom.

She said she believed news outlets to be biased, so I met her on that level and went straight to the data because they do not lie. Do you know what her response was to my message? “I see your point..."

For the naysayers, I suggest you give it a try. We shouldn’t be so pessimistic we don’t try to reach across the aisle. We all have work to do to fix this.

Now, if you don’t mind, I must get back to work!