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annfinkbeiner.bsky.social
Freelance science writer, mostly astro, some natsec sci, some women-in-astro, some grief psych, otherwise whatever I can get paid to write about. I love Baltimore, I do.
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Becky lives on Cheyenne Mountain. So do a bunch of mule deer. They eat her rose bushes, almost certainly carry ticks, laugh in her face, and welcome her home. She's named every one of them. www.lastwordonnothing.com/2025/03/05/d...

you’re fired. wait you’re rehired. email us a list of things you’ve done today wait forget it you’re fired again. come back your job was important. you’re fired. or hired. come in to the office. wait the office has no computers go home. we are the department of government efficiency.

“Laboratories will be closed, graduate students will be fired, clinical trials will be stopped,” a lawyer for the plaintiffs warned at the hearing. www.wsj.com/health/healt...

NEW: former Putin adviser Illarionov says he learned of the Trump administration decision to cut off all military support to Ukraine on February 25th, before Zelenskyy's White House meeting on February 28t Zelenskyy's visit was then blamed retroactively in the March 4th announcement of the decision

From Mckenzie Ferrari : Our standard candles aren’t quite as standard as we thought. Learn how a particular type of supernova is making a name for itself. 🔭✨ astrobites.org/2025/03/05/1...

Nathalie Korhonen Cuestas reports for @astrobites.bsky.social on the star-forming histories of early galaxies and galaxies that form their stars in bursts interspersed with lulls. aasnova.org/2025/03/05/b... 🔭

Alina Habbard posted: NOTHING CAN STOP THIS MAN FROM FIGHTING FOR HIS COUNTRY. David Simon had a succinct 2-word response: “Bone spurs.”

“Hamilton” is canceling plans to perform next year at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, citing President Trump’s moves to impose his values on the venue. “We’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center,” said its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda.

One source told the Guardian that the US had “completely stopped” providing intelligence, including to Ukraine’s military and domestic security agencies. They said this would have a “very bad impact” on the fight against Russia. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

At last! Finished page: how a star forms, what fuels it, & how it forges new forms into being! A star is a momentary reversal - a wellspring of possibilities that makes life possible. This took me some time to figure out to say the least - but geeked to be done & move onward! #Nostos #Unflattening 2

Think we’ve forgotten about the time that Elon was booed so badly by fans of Dave Chapelle (of all people) that he locked himself in his office and Twitter employees considered calling the cops to do a wellness check. What I’m saying is we can go harder.

I sat down w/ Gov. Wes Moore and talked about the Trump administration, and his role in the Democratic response. "I don’t think it’s my job to tell the Democratic Party how to find itself," he told me. He wants to focus instead on protecting Marylanders. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...

#DontAbandonUkraine: The Complete Thread bsky.app/profile/benj...

I’m sitting in a karaoke bar watching an ad for WFIRST? And @dalcantonjd.bsky.social ‘s data popped up on the screen and she shouted, ‘That’s my data!!’ 😂🤣😂 🧪🔭

They are realizing that bar discipline and disbarment are real possibilities for abusing the legal process, so they are subverting these enforcement mechanisms also

Fifty years after ‘Asilomar,’ scientists meet again to debate biotech’s modern-day threats | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

I sure would like to know who has been buying the dips right before Trump announces he has changed his mind and reverses a tariff. Seems like valuable information in the markets to know when he announces a tariff and when he’s going to rescind it.

Fewer Maryland children are dying from abuse or neglect than originally reported

CNN reporting that Senate Democrats are “disappointed” in House members for violating “decorum” at Trump’s speech last night. Just utterly clueless. And worth remembering next time those senators wax reverently about John Lewis.

This new complaint against DOGE is truly cranked up to 11 from start to finish. What a way to start a lawsuit storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... h/t @mikesacks.bsky.social

I swear, their last words before the firing squad will be "I'm going to draft an EXTREMELY stern letter about this..."

I contacted the Republican delegates who got the Baltimore Co library to cancel a Black woman Democrat's fundraiser. No response. But one of them did make time to go on Fox local and praise her defeat of a bill allowing condoms in school vending machines. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...

Now more than ever, it is vital for federal workers to know their rights. Learn more using our federal science resource guide here:

One potential good outcome after Trump's address to Congress: Lawyers challenging #DOGE have seized on Trump’s Tuesday shout-out to Elon Musk in his congressional address as evidence the administration is misleading judges about the tech mogul’s authority. (my gift link) www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

There is now evidence that postpartum depression, which affects about one in every seven women who give birth, is associated with changes in the brain during pregnancy, a study reported.

For the 457th time, I find myself asking WTF is wrong with The NY Times headline writers.

A team of volunteer archivists has recreated the Centers for Disease Control website exactly as it was the day Donald Trump was inaugurated. The site, called RestoredCDC.org, went live Tuesday and is currently being hosted in Europe. Read more: www.404media.co/archivists-r...

Great story from @kieraevebutler.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The Trump administration has effectively shut down a global air quality monitoring program, ending more than a decade of public data-collection and reporting from 80 embassies and consulates worldwide. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/c...

As Measles Spreads, Kennedy Embraces Remedies Like Cod Liver Oil. Story by @teddyrosenbluth.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/4ir9cJc

In February, one nonprofit got waivers for its programs supporting refugees in war-torn regions. On Wednesday, the waivers were terminated. In Somalia alone, its clinics served 1,200 patients/day. On Thursday, all those clinics closed. @propublica.org by @annamaria.bsky.social & Brett Murphy

NEW: The National Cancer Institute will be a no-show this year at the the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Reearch, per internal NIH/NCI guidance dated March 4th, 2025.

The Florida Keys are dying. NOAA spent 13 years developing a new recovery plan for the sanctuary. It wasn’t even some big radical proposal. It was watered down, keeping 95% of the park open to fishing, yet still a big step forward. DeSantis vetoed it anyway. www.wusf.org/environment/...

Reading an internal NIH guidance memo which basically says since we’re probably going to be shutting down labs with little or no notice just be sure to remember about the whole disposing of biohazard materials the right way thing. ☣️ 😬🤡

JUST IN: The Census Bureau's #2030Census Advisory Committee has been terminated by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who oversees the bureau, Arturo Vargas, the committee's chair, confirms to @npr.org. I've reached out to the press offices of the bureau and the Commerce Department for comment...

Schumer on his plan to oppose our Trump: "The plan is to organize ... on the issues that so affect Americans -- the cuts to Medicaid, Social Security, the tariffs -- we're gonna focus on the 6 Republican congress members in New York State."

I suppose it's inevitable that at least some Democrats and many pundits will support censuring Al Green too. It reminds me of the old Yiddish joke, in which two men are standing before the firing squad and when one of them demands a cigarette his fellow shushes him, saying "don't make trouble."

At the 50th anniversary of the Asilomar meeting--what Marcia Barinaga once dubbed the "Woodstock of molecular biology"--a diverse collection of thinkers gathered at the same California site to discuss the risks and benefits of cutting-edge biotech advances today. www.science.org/content/arti...

i don't like warner and i'd like to see him primaried out, but i think it's interesting that we're starting to see federal level dems openly admit to being wrong on national television (murphy did this recently, so did blumenthal). your calls are working.

What he said about Social Security payments has been repeatedly debunked - so the question isn’t whether he’s lying about this, the question is why. What is this a pretext for? He and the GOP have long shown interest in going after Social Security. What are they going to try?

A Greggs pigeon, believing I am holding out on him, attempts to intimidate me into giving him food by untying my shoelace. True story.

Turns out, Canada had a playbook all along—like their hockey strategy, it’s built on skill, speed, and scoring ability. • Step 1: Stay calm. • Step 2: Stand firm. • Step 3: Be the adult in the room while everyone in the White House argues over who gets the last juice box. #Canada #Tariffs #Hockey

Let's just assume the day is going to be the kind of day where we all need one (1) bird, so here is your bird; feel free to stop here throughout your day and regard this bird okay good photo by me

If you haven't yet watched Justin Trudeau address Americans, Trump, and Canadians about the stupidity of launching a trade war against your closest ally and neighbor—and how baseless any of Trump's claims are—you really should watch it: youtu.be/wz_42pckM7w

Three months ago.

So don't want to be the bearer of bad tidings: but DOGE canceled the lease on the facility that processes and stores all the nuclear waste created by the US military. Sorry. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/doge-...

NEW: Internal CFPB emails show staff caught between legal obligations and stop-work demands by Trump-appointed leaders — and a chaotic attempt to restart that work as a lawsuit against the shutdown advanced. w/ Katy O’Donnell www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

auctioning off this pre-tariff avocado as an arbitrage play

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has *upheld* a lower court's order forcing USAID/State to immediately pay ~$2 billion owed to contractors for work they've alreayd performed. Alito/Thomas/Gorsuch/Kavanaugh dissent. t.co/k86ttz6Wdt

Claims spread online that a U.S. government agency found $2.7 trillion worth of Medicare and Medicaid payments were improperly sent overseas. Here's what we know: