Top recent posts by Health Communicators on Bluesky

A lot of people, including me, were wondering how an IRB could ever approve this study. The answer is that no IRB did. The person who “signed off” on approval from the only ethics board that reviewed it had resigned three years earlier. His signature was used without his knowledge.

You can become disabled or chronically ill at any time. You can become homeless at any time. They aren’t moral failings. They are minority groups that anyone can join. When you lose your health, your finances often follow. Very few people are the “exception”

Too many people will refuse vaccines because they “don’t trust the science”… but run to the hospital when they get sick from the disease they chose not to prevent. They trust the science when their life is on the line. It’s stunning hypocrisy and when it’s done to children? It’s child abuse

James Van Der Beek had to auction off Dawson’s Creek memorabilia to pay his medical bills. Eric Dane’s family had to fight the insurance company to get him nursing care in his last month’s of life. This is the for profit US “healthcare” system. Even the privileged struggle.

Drunken O’Leary: “It's not a great day for me. 👍💯🖕🤣 I got phone calls from our customers, from our lenders, and from our shareholders… They all want their money back now… what am I supposed to do?” “My head is getting squeezed.” #cdnpoli Go bankrupt prick!

Kevin O’Leary credits acting chops to years of convincing people he wasn’t driving the boat

Protection of human subjects in research is paramount. Before I retired I used to spend a great deal of time doing everything in my power to protect study volunteers. These are people who selflessly made the decision to try to improve the health of others. RFK Jr. has made a mockery of it.

Oh, did the “MAHA moms” think The Regime actually cares about anything other than making money? Did they *really* think that Trump gives a shit about their children’s health? Did they *really* believe that RFK Jr. is smarter than every scientist and healthcare professional combined? Womp womp.

"Which country poses the greatest threat to Canada's security right now?" USA: 55% China: 15% Russia: 14% India: 4% Iran: 2% Nanos / Feb 4, 2026

A Cambodian man -- old enough to have survived Pol Pot genocide but too young to die -- is the 7th person to die in ICE custody this year. A Cuban man died of asphyxia in Jan, with witnesses saying guards killed him. A Palestinian woman was shackled after a seizure. www.reuters.com/world/us/cam...

Our pace is picking up. Momentum is building. Thank you to everyone who is fueling this people powered movement to retire Lindsey Graham. 🇺🇸

The Tumbler Ridge shooter had used OpenAI to discuss scenarios involving gun violence. It was bad enough to get flagged and reviewed by employees, who warned the company & suggested alerting law enforcement. The company said No. This tragedy could have been prevented. Gut wrenching.

No. And do you know why? Because COVID-19 hasn’t disappeared either. It’s chewing us slowly like gum until we run out of flavour. And yet I see meeting after meeting with no masks being worn, except the entirely transparent mask of “normality”.

Lol. The MAGA crew are trying to get right with hockey fans. First it was Wayne Gretzky now the Quisling Queen. I wonder who lent Donbas Danielle our flag for the photo op.

My latest video on Ford's "basket weaving" OSAP comment has reached the "Study whatever you want but don't expect the gov to pay you for it" crowd, and I don't think they grasp how desolate their lives would be if there was no art, no culture, no history. We can't have a society of only STEM majors.

Dear Young People. This post is written for you… Our generation of doctors decided to let you all get infected with a novel virus without even protection from vaccines in many cases, and we already knew that some of you would be killed or disabled for life when we made that decision.

Newly surfaced Epstein files reportedly include claims that Donald Trump told associates during his first term that he was having a sexual relationship with then–personal secretary Madeline Westerhout, including while the first family was at Mar-a-Lago. #cdnpoli

Hockey Canada ordered to pay nation’s therapy bills

oh no Canada is poorer than Alabama so Canada better do things to become more like Alabama instead of questioning whether or not the way they are measuring this is meaningful or useful

The Tumbler Ridge shooter used Sam Altman’s OpenAI to discuss violence & mass killings. The conversations were flagged & reviewed by employees who wanted to contact law enforcement. The company refused. The same company who blamed a teen’s suicide on “misuse of the platform” when his parents sue

Canada's Rachel Homan beats U.S. to win bronze in Olympic women's curling 🥉 Marks 1st medal win for skip in her 3 Winter Games appearances www.cbc.ca/sports/olymp...

To @adamliptak.bsky.social from your readers. For over a year the Roberts court has aided & abetted this administration. To call this most recent decision a “declaration of independence” is farcical & dishonest given the history of the past 13 months. Do you truly think this court has changed?

In desperation to generate support for changing the US vaccine schedule, CDC appointees allied with Kennedy circumvented scientific & ethical safeguards to 'experiment' with Hep B vaccination in West Africa. The Crimes Against Humanity administration. 🧪 www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Andrews, the pediatrician running for the U.S. Senate, said she’s experienced the “chilling effect” the GOP’s “anti-science movements” have had on health care systems and individual physicians. 1/2 www.propublica.org/article/sout...

I hope OpenAI gets sued into the sun

Even now, too many people simply refuse to admit what is happening. Whitewashing continues from the media and key institutions among civil society. We are in deep trouble. Time to say it together, out loud.

If the registration for the Institutional Review Board (IRB or ethics board) in Guinea-Bissau expired in 2018, as this article in Rolling Stone says, then all previous studies published with data from the research program there must be scrutinized.

I don’t think this should be controversial. Stancil is doing something important by letting the press in. He has helped generate significant positive coverage for anti-ICE activism in a way that we didn’t see with Occupy.

ICE enforcement is a disability justice issue. This woman was born in the US and relies on SSI. She’s a cancer patient and kidney transplant recipient who’s had her income cut off because they’re accusing her of being “unlawfully present in the US”. Racism, ableism & bigotry.

This month’s meeting of RFK Jr.’s ACIP has been postponed “amid legal challenges the panel is facing over its validity”. I am thrilled that with the leadership of @doritreiss.bsky.social and @weparmet.bsky.social, we at @defendpublichealth.bsky.social have been supporting these legal challenges.

Superb reporting from @katherineeban.bsky.social for @rollingstone.com on the scandal around the RFK-fueled, unethical HBV vaccine study in Guinea Bissau that horrified CDC staff, scientists and ethicists around the world. www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

During my career, I worked on studies with tens of thousands of volunteers. They got colonoscopies and blood draws, completed endless questionnaires, wore fitbits, and answered their phones when we called. They did this to help others. You bet your ass I took their protection seriously.

Anyway, if the poison continues to spread, and Canada is indeed about 5 years behind the US on the 'embrace far right anti-liberal democracy lunacy', we can rely on the Canadian fourth estate to do just as good a job as America's: by gaslighting us into thinking everything is normal.

1. Outstanding article from Tess Finch Lees: 'Meanwhile, when asked why she’s masking during chemo, Meg now says, “I’m training for the Olympics” '. Please click on the paywalled link first, archived link in next post. Also consider sharing. m.independent.ie/opinion/comm...

Samantha Crausman, 28, has had ongoing symptoms since a COVID infection 4 years ago. She and her parents were fully vaccinated when they got COVID in 2022, but only she didn’t recover. At risk of worsening with reinfection, her family still lives with strict pandemic-level protections. #LongCOVID

Craig Scott Valdez is Republican State Senator George Rauscher's chief of staff in Sutton, Alaska. He’s been charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking children. A mother saved her child by tracking her phone, showing up at Craig’s house and punching him until he fled. She’s a hero.

Happy birthday to my sister Kathleen. She was the great summer storm that blew through our lives. Kathleen said there was always time for one more song, one more drink before closing time. Until there wasn't. On her last birthday we sang out our hearts. No sadness allowed. Love you sis.

An Alaskan state senator’s Chief of Staff and member of the Young Republican Party has been charged with child sex trafficking. The mother of one of his victims saved her daughter by tracking her phone, going to his house and punching him in the face. She’s a hero. He’s a monster:

Support For Allowing More Chinese Electric Vehicles Into The Canadian Market: Support: 61% Oppose: 23% Leger / Feb 2, 2026

Thank you to @joshuasweitz.bsky.social. The origin of the current assault on science and public health has a direct tie to COVID contrarianism. But Bhattacharya, Prasad and the rest couldn’t rise without help and patronage. 1/ joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/grievance-...

The latest threat from the Facebook world of trolls, bots, intimidation. Introducing Milford the keyboard warrior. I make it a point to share these threats so people can see the nature of the right wing mob attempting to frighten people who stand up for Canada. It ain't going to work Milford.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has blocked a request from US President Donald Trump to allow US forces to use UK air bases during any preemptive attack on Iran, saying it could break international law 🤣 #FAFO www.cnn.com/2026/02/20/e...

Yes, the U.S. is struggling to contain the measles outbreak. And that is because Republicans in Congress voted to confirm a man as HHS Secretary who both leads and profits from the anti-vaccination movement. Well done, shitbirds.

comments are good again

I haven’t seen this in the U.S. mainstream press. I wonder why. Hahaha j/k no I don’t.

ICE agents are paid a bonus for anyone they seize and that includes tourists- read this account from a retired tourist held for 6wks despite a valid visa and seriously think do you need to go to the States? World Cup and Olympics are huge issues imo

Her husband was sexually abusing children at her day care. She shot him twice in an attempt to stop him. He survived and she went to prison. When he was finally arrested, she testified against him at trial. She divorced him from prison. Now she’s advocating for change.

I hope to see folks at the Mary Street centre in Parry Sound this evening for a @meidascanada.ca townhall. Doors open at 6pm. They are raising funds for the food bank. @meidastouch.com

Canadians want closer ties with Europe and less reliance on the United States. 🇨🇦🇪🇺

American professors, who wants to come to Oxford for a year or two? Get in quick - deadline soon. www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/vacancy-geor...

In South Carolina you can be arrested for pregnancy loss. The right claims that abortion is “murder”. But doing this to your child is fine? This 7 year old is fighting for his life from a completely preventable illness. His mother says she still won’t give him vaccines.

I’m not sure this skill is directly relevant to serving in the Senate but if swaddling a crying baby and getting them to smile at me before the end of rounds was a sport I would be an all-star and Lindsey Graham could literally never.

Credit to marcofoodtv #Canada Yep, everywhere there was a tv today, Canadians were watching 🤣🇨🇦🍁🥅🏒

“Tackling health misinformation + rebuilding public trust are top priorities for Canada's incoming chief public health officer Dr. Joss Reimer.” Stopping infectious diseases requires an assault on antivaxxer misinformation. Hope Dr. Reimer will do that. #CPHO ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/cp-news...

Still have a few of these stickers left. No extra tariffs on them, just some whimsy and rage. www.feistywaters.com/merch/p/tari...

The students at Valparaiso University rejected TPUSA’s application for a chapter. Republicans threw a fit and it appears the Uni’s administration is caving. The student who filed the application said he “wanted to create a protected space to talk about conservative values and other issues”.

This story is such a gut punch and adds another layer of tragedy to the shooting. Canada’s proposed Online Harms Bill died on the order paper with the prorogation of Parliament in 2025. It needs to be brought back and strengthened immediately.

America’s democracy isn’t safe until the conservative movement is dismantled and ripped up down to the studs. The entire dark money and media ecosystem need to be destroyed.

“A man has appeared in court accused of drugging and raping his wife over the course of 20 years, along with 12 other men.” 20 years. A man was drugging and raping his wife for two decades. We told you Gisele Pelicot’s case wasn’t the exception. The exception was the husband got caught:

James Van Der Beek had to auction off Dawson’s Creek memorabilia to pay his medical bills. Eric Dane’s family had to fight the insurance company to get him nursing care in his last month’s of life. This is the for profit US “healthcare” system. Even the privileged struggle.

I think it’s fair to say that I’ve long been a vocal & public critic of RFK Jr, the most dangerous & extreme anti-vaxx activist & conspiracy theorist in the world I loathe him But I hate it when pundits call him a “drug addict” His past substance use has NOTHING to do with him being vile & evil

I did not expect good faith in this effort at a second Tuskegee, but this exceeded even my expectations. This is the sort of thing I'm referring to when I use the term "policy-based evidence-making."

Millennial woman horrified to learn she just wakes up early now

This man left TWO women on a mountain to freeze to death. The first woman miraculously survived. He then took his girlfriend Kerstin Gurtner up the same mountain. Gave her inadequate supplies. Left her without a blanket. She frozen to death. This is femicide:

On the big, loaded questions that referendums will pose to Albertans. By me. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Within days of the Trump election I spoke up in Parliament warning that we had entered the age of monsters. I felt it essential to speak to the urgency of the moment. In this piece I share the words I gave back then. They ring true today. substack.com/home/post/p-...

"This is not who we are" is the retort to some of the most egregious actions of this administration. But ordinary Americans are collaborating eagerly with Trump and his ilk. This is EXACTLY who we are. Accountability demands we recognize this, write it down, keep the receipts.

Okay, I love everything about this.

I really don’t see a worse red flag for how things are going to go with the concentration camps than a very recent issue where people insisted, loudly and publicly, that their need for coffee shops and concerts superseded vulnerable people’s right to life.

I thought censorship was bad. Wait wait wait that’s right. Censorship of things that make the right wing uncomfortable is valid and encouraged. I am very lucky that I was able to retire from professoring. My heart goes out to my friends and colleagues navigating this. 💜

🚨 HISTORIC BREAKTHROUGH: Japan Becomes First Nation to Approve Revolutionary iPS Stem Cell Therapies for Heart Failure and Parkinson’s

Forget everything you thought you knew about Elvis. The new film EPIC is one of the greatest concert films ever made. Up there with Stop Making Sense and Last Waltz. It captures Elvis at the top of his game. This is an out of control freight train of energy. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s_d...

I can state with confidence that if me or you or a dog named Boo did this, we’d most likely be permanently blacklisted from HHS funding and fired. RFK Jr. will probably get a raise and an award.

“The more people know about what RFK Jr. is up to, the less they trust the services he oversees. People who have heard about the vaccine schedule changes are about twice as likely to say they will have a negative impact on kids rather than a positive impact.”

FINALLY, finally, the University of Southern Denmark says it will investigate the proposed RFK Jr-funded trial that its researchers want to conduct in Guinea Bissau—a deeply unethical trial that lacks equipoise and puts babies at risk Took them forever to get there

Her son may never walk again and possibly have brain damage, because they don’t vaccinate their children! ⤵️ Mom of 7-year-old hospitalized with brain swelling from measles: ‘I still wouldn’t have given my son the vaccine’ #SouthCarolina This is child abuse IMO www.independent.co.uk/news/health/...

If this administration doesn’t have $175B between them I think everyone could settle for time served

In every way, women are not heard at the same level still today. The fact that the victims of the female Epstein files have been dismissed (we need to see the files before we believe them??) speaks volumes.

I went on @rachelgilmore.bsky.social's podcast to talk about Canadian right-wing alternative media outlets and conservative social media influencers yesterday Join us on our journey into the Upside Down 👇

The sacrifice of innocents www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-ge...

Adriana Smith was 9 weeks pregnant when declared brain dead. Due to Georgia’s abortion ban, the hospital turned her body into an incubator without the family’s consent. Baby Chance has never left the NICU and Adriana’s family must fundraise to cover the medical bills

In schools, kids were also watching #TeamCanada CAN VS FIN #Canada Feb 20, 2026 - Gold medal game Sunday 🏒🥅🍁🇨🇦

The tradition of the Fourth Estate is rooted in the idea that journalism serves as a check-and-balance on power in a democracy We need to move away from the idea of "The Journalist" as an impartial observer eternally bearing witness without ever taking a position on anything they actually witness

Few know that the Communists once invented a woke nonbinary computer

Randall Monroe has made a highly successful career from drawing literal stick figures.

I needed a laugh and I happened upon this 🤭🤪🤣⤵️😏 Credit to meeowmazing

A reminder that Covid is a part of the weaponry the right is using toward immigrants, and continuing to ignore it helps them.

Trump: "I am allowed to cut off any and all trade…I can destroy the trade, I can destroy the country, I'm even allowed to impose a foreign country destroying embargo…I can do anything I want to do to them…I'm allowed to destroy the country, but I can't charge a little fee." #cdnpoli

Sean Orr is all but certain to run for council instead of mayor, but him getting thousands more views for his announcement than Azaroff’s ultimatum post is an affirmation to COPE supporters that they have their own leverage in these conversations

Local woman wakes up, holds a referendum on whether the United Conservative Party should be yeeted into the sun or sent to Florida, makes oatmeal.

"Mental health over medals. Independence over expectations. People over talent. Celebratin’ instead of hatin’ & joy instead of jealousy. And family — biological, adopted, chosen — over everything" A Californian AND UCLA Bruin! I love it! www.nytimes.com/athletic/706...

I didn’t think my jaw could drop any lower. I was wrong.

CBC News fact-checked references to “Harper & Associates” in the Epstein Files, suggests it could be a different US company, but ultimately confirms nothing I contacted Harper & Associates twice last week asking if they could clarify but they never replied (CBC had no comment from Harper either)

“There are a lot of reasons people need to vaccinate, but then there are things you’re not being exposed to. You don’t need to vaccinate for those things,” said Hannah. DAMMIT HANNAH, KEEP FOLLOWING THAT THOUGHT TRAIN TO ITS CABOOSE. Thanks to @amarten.bsky.social for the heads up.

I haven't read this. I do not wish to read this. It was written an older white man, and we know remote work benefits women and minorities more. He's also a National Post columnist and former Ontario progressive conservative candidate in Ottawa lol ottawacitizen.com/opinion/retu...

It’s striking that the self-defined “MAHA Moms” (their preferred term) support MAGA—they’re OK with the kidnapping, tear-gassing, zip tying, & torture of kids, the poisoning of the environment, & pushing people off food stamps & health insurance—all to get rid of Fruit Loops….which won’t even happen

#MedSky If you don’t like using antibiotics “unnecessarily”… then you should also not like spreading viral diseases that cause secondary bacterial infections unnecessarily. And it is unnecessary to live in dirty air and force people to work when sick.

“Four years later, the sirens still scream, and the Russian attacks have become even deadlier. What’s changed is the world has become accustomed to the war raging in Europe. We’ve come to accept that things are never going back to the way they were before.” My essay on four years of war in Ukraine