As we get closer to the US election, or if there is more #Covid or #H5N1 news, expect to see more bot activity.

You *can* help to shut down the impact by doing the following:

1. Hide troll, but do not block right away. /🧵 2. Next, go to their profile. Very few followers and / or fairly recent account creation means it’s likely inauthentic.

3. Click on their followers, and block their followers. You’ll often find their followers are recent accounts, also with mostly very low numbers. /2

Strictly hypothetically speaking, of course, what do you think this app would look like if there were globally high rates of lead poisoning that affected the prefrontal cortex?

Behavior would show increasing signs of reduced executive function and reasoning skills. 🧵 People would notice a change in others with more significant poisoning, and they would be alarmed at the implications of this going on unabated.

They might try to warn the public and repost mountains of scientific data.

They might try to lobby politicians for action. /2

🚨
The #Chevron decision also paves the way for the realization of a long term fever dream of American fascism:

Full dismantling of the administrative state with all power concentrated in the office of the President and the back rooms of #SCOTUS.

Super brief 🧵 When the judiciary is eventually overwhelmed by cert requests and cases beyond their expertise, agencies will be unable to fulfill their missions to the extent the American public expects while they wait on judicial determinations on their regulations. /2

Brief explainer for overseas friends about what the Supreme Court of the United States did today in overturning what is called the Chevron deference, and why it really matters for issues of climate and global health.

We’ve really mucked it up again for everyone. 🧵 For many years, the precedent was that companies and individuals were subject to regulations imposed by federal agencies. Those agencies are headed by presidential appointees who are then confirmed by Congress. The agencies were free to make regulations specific to their niche /2

Why is it, do you think, that there are still people trying to warn others about Covid?

We’re clearly not government-aligned: they’re the ones trying to bury the data.

It costs us opportunities and connections. It’s not great for clicks or monetizing your social media. 🧵 Posting about #Covid normally sees us trolled with demands to post research (link in bio, btw), rampant credentialism, and partisan talking points.

Sometimes, irrelevant personalities use our posts to rage farm and boost their engagement.

We still post. /2

Covid is airborne and hangs in the air. Unless you have upgraded to the newest ASHRAE standards for air, this approach amounts to throwing on a condom mid-coitus. You may get lucky, have temporary resolvable symptoms, or a lifelong consequence. This rationalization is harmful. /1

https://twitter.com/jonathanconp/status/1789379557079896184

I can appreciate the need to conform and the conflict that is borne out of being an outlier. I’ve studied the Asch experiments.

I cannot in good conscience engage with this premise to say how I would feel because OP is asking me to accept the risk to life and health as a given/2

https://twitter.com/jonathanconp/status/1789380094445650357

So, my daughter’s joints are basically melting, 8 meds in 10 years haven’t worked, and she’s on immunosuppressants and stout pain killers. She also manages to be 2-4 years ahead academically and has finished writing a 100,000 word novel. We’re hoping she’ll go to HS full time. 🧵 She’s been learning online longer than most to try to wait out new meds for Covid treatment and prevention. She’s stayed in touch with a few of her friends but doesn’t see them often. We are all looking forward to her going to high school in person, albeit masked. /2

I think about Semmelweis a lot. He’s the guy who discovered hand washing prior to surgery prevented a lot of patient deaths.

In his lifetime, evidence accrued that he was right, but he was still disbelieved. Discussions of his work often center on his persistence. 🧵 We venerate Semmelweis for following the evidence in the face of overwhelming peer pressure not to.

We seldom shame the people who lacked even the most basic intellectual curiosity and therefore CHOSE, yes CHOSE to kill their patients with their ignorance. /2

Observation:

Some people on the left are so upset by what evangelical Christianity has done to faith and politics that they’ve failed to see their own role in similarly bastardizing science to fit their aims.

That sciencism is every bit as harmful as weaponized faith. 🧵 At the beginning of the pandemic, under a Trump presidency, the clarion call was to “trust the science.”

But, there was just one problem: the science communicated was already verifiably wrong. /2

Today is #LongCovidAwarenessDay.

I’ve never had Covid as far as I know, having had enough privilege to be able to make some sacrifices to keep my immunocompromised kid healthy. I don’t have #LongCovid, so why should I care? 🧵 I was 42 when Covid started. My family members routinely live into their mid to late 80s. Let’s assume I had 45 years left at the beginning of the pandemic.

I’ve avoided Covid so far, but it’s likely I’ll get it at some point. Following extreme caution, once every 5 years. /2

Nothing adds up about the latest Covid news. Apologies to those who think this may be overly conspiratorial, but here’s what we know:

1. Covid is not “milder,” though fewer people are dying in the acute stage due to vaccines. It still causes long term harm. /🧵 2. We know Covid damages the immune system, shows viral persistence, can cross the blood brain barrier and damage brain function, and can cause a range of other autoimmune diseases and leave people susceptible to rare fungal infections and cancers. That hasn’t changed, either. /2

I’m not sure how much I buy into the predictive power of dreams, but given the Friday news dump at the CDC, this one feels eerily relevant. 🧵 15 years ago, I was teaching music at a Christian school. Loved the kids, but the admin was rarely transparent or consistent, and often reactive to parents demanding concierge service rather than supportive of teachers’ efforts. There were two who were particularly toxic. /2

With regards to the, “Why did #TracyChapman make us cry,” dialog:
of course it was nostalgia, but deeper than that was the honesty. It’s what we have been craving and didn’t realize how much we missed it. 🧵 We live in a post truth society where we no longer acknowledge a pandemic that is one of the largest new drivers of poverty and disability.

Instead, political leaders tell us how great the economy is. But, whose economy? Theirs is the #FastCar we wish we had. /2

If you missed the Senate #HELPLongCovid hearing today, I have a few takeaways. 🧵 .@SenSanders opened the hearing with appropriate acknowledgment of the seriousness of #LongCovid, including the potential numbers of Americans affected. It was a good start, and he seems reasonably well informed compared to some of his colleagues. /2

I smell smoke in my house. It’s not immediately obvious anything is burning. My husband tells me we should leave as a precaution, but I am comfortable in my chair, and besides, it will be time for bed soon.

He quickly grabs a few things and important papers. I open a beer. 🧵 Over the next few hours, the smell intensifies, but I still can’t locate the source. I’m getting increasingly panicked entreaties from my husband, asking me to pack and prepare to go, sending research about the amount of time a person has to safely evacuate. I can’t see a fire /2

After four years of reading peer reviewed research to try to get a handle on facts instead of propaganda, I really have too much to say about the #PodSaveJon situation for a single thread.

So, I want to talk about dads. 🧵 When our daughter was little, she was in too much pain to sleep well.

My husband sacrificed many nights to stay up and cradle her.

She didn’t sleep even three hours on her own until she had a diagnosis and some strong meds, at age 2 and a half.

Hubs didn’t complain. /2

I get responses like this a lot, and I’m never mad at it. People understandably blame the vaccine when the @CDCDirector and @WHCOS push the idea that “Covid is mild, like a cold.”

The only people who know the truth are folks who have read the peer reviewed data from 2020 on 🧵 First of all, let’s deal with the *very real* claim of vaccine injuries. They DO happen, with every vaccine that exists in a tiny number of people. However, for the vast majority, vaccines have for example, prevented polio, keeping them from disability and / or an iron lung. /2

Every doctor is overstretched, and rather than considering the whole patient, they only examine the symptoms with familiar causes and refer out the rest. They don’t have the time to read journal articles across multiple disciplines to do the CDC’s job for them #MedTwitter 🧵 So it’s not that people without medical degrees think they know more than doctors in all ways, but for information specific to #Covid, there is a subset of folks who have diligently read peer reviewed research and followed data from the outset. /2

I’ve often wondered if Covid, a.k.a. SARS-CoV-2 has its own marketing firm.

Over the years, we’ve seen annual “campaigns,” if you will. 🧵 2020: Hide your elderly and disabled!

*Covid still kills and disables children, athletes, and working age adults. /2

So that I understand:

I am to remove my mask in order to appear “normal,” so that I can get sick 2-3 times per year, which…is not normal.

Then, if I die or become disabled, it must be because I am somehow “defective” and disposable. /1 I am supposed to risk a 1:10 chance per Covid infection of long term symptoms, many of which can be disabling, and I am also supposed to apply for and be denied disability at least 3 times before I receive far less than I need to meet basic living expenses. All totally normal /2

My presidential candidate platform partial wishlist:

1. Stand behind a renewed VRA. Hand marked paper ballots for all federal elections with money to states to support the same at the local level. No excuse needed vote by mail. Support for disabled voters. 🧵 2. Support small businesses by allowing their employees more affordable, portable healthcare options, including the choice to buy into Medicare early.

I still support Medicare for All, but giving people a full range of choices that includes early Medicare is the minimum. /2