#mentalhealth #socialjustice #socialwork Views are my own.
Buffalo, New York
Joined November 2010
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laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
In a little-noticed webpage update, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced a plan to decommission its online web archive at the end of the year, a move that would wipe tens of thousands of publicly available environmental resources from the web. motherjones.com/environment/…
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
This is America. The great part of America. Repost
A perpetual risk for those in the helping professions.
Self-neglect is often camouflaged by hard work and helping others, and it can lead to a host of physical and emotional issues. Here’s what can happen when you prioritize yourself instead. psychologytoday.com/us/blog/…
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
BREAKING: OpenAI might have stolen another major proof.
In a detailed Mastodon post, which I report in full in the comments, Andreas Thom presents several pieces of evidence suggesting that OpenAI may have trained Astra on conversations in which he and Gábor Kun were working on Gromov’s soficity conjecture, one of the ten problems OpenAI later announced Astra had solved.
I know Andreas. We met several times early in our careers. He is an exceptional mathematician, a leading expert on sofic and hyperlinear groups, and one of the most respected scholars in the field. He has spent two decades working on this problem.
If his account is correct, this is not a minor dispute over attribution. It would mean that unpublished human work was absorbed into a model and then presented to the world as a breakthrough by the model itself.
And if the allegations raised by Levent Alpöge, Tristan Buckmaster, and now Andreas Thom are all substantiated, we are no longer looking at isolated incidents.
We may be looking at one of the greatest intellectual scandals in the history of science.
AI is not discovering new mathematics.
AI is stealing human discovery.
the cruelty is the point
Thanks to @JimSwiftDC for joining Dayton-area reporters in covering this terrible news from Springfield.
"The Cruelty Comes to Springfield"
thebulwark.com/p/the-cruelty…
I wrote about the fascist backdrop here:
"Ethnic Cleansing in Ohio"
snyder.substack.com/p/ethnic…
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
Scotland is aiming to be the world's first rewilded country. It's looking to rewild 30% of the country by 2030.
We have the solutions. Replenishing and protecting nature is one of them. #ActOnClimate
#climate #biodiversity #GreenNewDeal
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
National Guard members are speaking out about their feelings of humiliation and frustration being involved in Trump's yearlong federal takeover of D.C.
"I will say very frankly that the bad taste that this mission left in my mouth, it actually embarrasses me to be involved in any way."
"I don't want to think about the National Guard. I don't want to necessarily discuss my affiliation with the National Guard. I don't want to fulfill my normal National Guard duties just because of the abuses of the National Guard in this D.C. Mission."
npr.org/2026/08/24/nx-s1-593…
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
Despite progress, gender equality at work remains a challenge — from unequal paychecks and gaps in social protection to disparities in employment rates.
@ilo works to close gender gaps in the labour force for a better future for all.
Why science matters. Also read Brown U’s new report on climate superfunds
For years, the oil and gas industry has argued that you can’t prove which company caused which disaster. A new study says otherwise.
For the first time, a study has drawn a straight line from single corporate emitters like Exxon or Chevron, or even whole countries like the US, to specific heatwaves and areas of extreme rainfall. motherjones.com/environment/…
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
🚨BREAKING 🦠
On Friday, the US CDC arbitrarily shifted higher COVlD levels into lower categories depicted with cooler colors.
Much of what was Very High is now "High." What was High is now "Moderate" or "Low." Low is "Very Low."
🔹2 states/territories artificially shifted from High to Moderate (MS, GU)
🔹5 shifted from Moderate to Low (CA, TX, AK, WA, NV)
🔹4 shifted from Low to Very Low (AZ, AR, LA, NC)
During intense surges, states will rarely get classified as Very High anymore. Presently, transmission is rising across the US, with a 75% chance of a wave, but states will be depicted in blue (Very Low) much longer, making communities less prepared. #Bluewashing
Normally, when the CDC makes a methodology change, they flag it prominently on each of their COVlD monitoring pages. This time, there was no alert and no explanation. Major changes were confined to COVlD, not Influenza A, and not RSV. The questionable change was made in the middle of rising transmission across most of the country; 15 states already have COVlD outbreaks, and others may soon join the ranks. These are serious ethics concerns that warrant investigative journalism.
These issues are aggravated by delayed reporting at High/Very High monitoring sites. Sites with 1-week reporting delays get excluded when the CDC calculates current levels. For example, only 16% of the sites online in Texas (3 of 19) report High/Very High levels, but 90% of those with a 1-week reporting delay (18 of 20) have High/Very High levels, leading the state to get classified as "Low" when really High. These issues snowball and can easily push a state down 1-2 categories when experiencing significant COVlD outbreaks.
The good news is that the individual wastewater monitoring site data are still valid. The bad news is that the CDC maps and level descriptions will now mislead the casual user. Think: "Good data, bad use of data." At PMC, we told you that if there was any funny business at the CDC, we would warn you right away. We diagnosed the issue immediately and will still report accurate COVlD information.
Expect further national news coverage this week. Journalists are welcome to reach out.
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
Every parent wants to keep their children safe, and vaccines are among the most powerful tools for doing that, making deadly diseases preventable.
@WHO is concerned that recent changes to US immunization policy are not aligned with decades of evidence that show when children are most vulnerable to disease, when vaccines provide the strongest protection, how many doses are needed, and which vaccines can be given together safely.
That evidence is reviewed continuously as new data emerge from across the globe. The current evidence is unequivocal: vaccines - including the MMR vaccine - are safe and do not cause autism.
Delaying vaccines or separating doses unnecessarily does not make vaccination safer and can leave children unprotected.
Global evidence and recommendations, including from @WHO, inform national experts, who consider local disease patterns, health systems and population needs, to determine which vaccines and schedules are best for their country.
Vaccination policy should be guided by rigorous, independent and transparent review of the best available science, not by political influence.
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
“We are urging our elected representatives in Congress to stop these witch-hunts and support good public health and scientific practices so that America's leadership in innovation remains secure," they wrote.
Fauci has testified numerous times in front of Congress regarding the COVID pandemic, including several times during its acute phase, and at least twice in 2024 before the House Oversight and Accountability Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic; one of which was a closed-door session.
Now, Fauci is being hauled back once again for further questioning. In advance of that testimony, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released several dossiers of Fauci's email
-- including some he calls Fauci's "diary."
The letter states that there's no evidence to support the "absurd" charges being levied against Fauci, including that he covered up the origins of COVID, that his institution funded research that sparked the pandemic, that he holds patents on the virus, and that he's working with intelligence agencies to suppress the true story of the pandemic.
Over the years, the accusations have led to harassment and threats of violence against Fauci and his family, it states.
While Fauci has been the "most prominent target" of such attacks, other colleagues -- including former NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD; pediatrician Peter Hotez, MD, PhD; and epidemiologist Ralph Baric, PhD -- have also been harassed and threatened due to such accusations” @PeterHotez
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
A new report details the impact of cuts to USAID and, specifically, to a program credited with saving more than 26 million lives.
In 2003, then-President George W. Bush established PEPFAR — the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
The study from the HIV/AIDS non-profit amfAR found that more than 1,700 treatment sites have closed in the wake of funding cuts to the program and the larger dismantling of USAID.
William Brangham (@WmBrangham) discussed more with Dr. Atul Gawande, who served as assistant administrator of USAID during the Biden administration.
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
NBC News is looking to speak with patients, medical providers and healthcare advocates about the changes they are experiencing due to a new Medicaid work mandate. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/med…
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
Heather Cox Richardson on democratic socialism: "People like Zohran Mamdani and some of the other people who describe themselves as democratic socialists are literally to the right of the Republicans in 1956, who supported an upper tax bracket of 92%, who wanted to expand social security."
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
“Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.”
The above sentence actually means something and is grammatically correct.
Come with us on this journey where the buffalo roam.
🧵⬇️
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
Shapiro: My kid's entire frame of reference about politics over the last decade has been Donald Trump, has been cruelty, has been personal attacks, has been attacks on social media, attacks in speeches, attacks in person. I think they have seen negative behavior reinforced by the most powerful person in our country.
Making fun of people with disabilities is just one example. And for them, they grew up at a time where the president of the United States, that's all he does, put down people with disabilities, attack them.
It's going to take us some real time in this country to help the generation of my kids and those around that generation to overcome the negativity that they really experienced for this last decade.
And if Donald Trump has his way, this type of politics will continue with JD Vance or Marco Rubio. And so I don't think we're sort of out of the woods yet on this. And I think it has certainly had a negative impact on my kid's generation, your kid's generation, and many others.
laura lewis,phd,lcsw retweeted
On July 1, Trump will increase student loan payments up to $4,000 a year.
1 in 4 borrowers will soon be in default.
9 million borrowers could have their wages garnished.
Hundreds of thousands of seniors could have their Social Security checks garnished.
CONGRESS MUST ACT NOW.
