lesleighford.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

"Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage." -- @govpritzker.illinois.gov

submitted 3 days ago • 536 comments

I won’t stop posting this.

submitted 10 days ago • 67 comments

98% of NIH grants that should have gone out this month, didn't. Despite court orders 'unfreezing' the funds, they are frozen. Biomedical research will grind to a halt. Clinical trials will end. All for no reason: the total impact on the US budget is miniscule

submitted 10 days ago • 52 comments

BREAKING On Monday, Popular Information broke the news that the NIH had frozen virtually all grant funding in violation of 2 federal court orders On Wednesday, NIH leadership distributed a memo, acknowledging that its funding freeze was illegal and directing staff to resume issuing grants.

submitted 10 days ago • 373 comments

JUST IN: Federal judges orders HHS, CDC, and FDA to restore “by no later than 11:59 pm” today their websites and datasets to pre-January 30th status. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

submitted 11 days ago • 1573 comments

ATLANTA (AP) — US public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately.

submitted 26 days ago • 166 comments

some good news during an otherwise terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Stand firm.

submitted 31 days ago • 30 comments

Drives me crazy. If you don’t want to fight say so. Stop trying to discourage others from doing the work you’re too jaded to do. You try 50 times and win the 51st. That’s how it works. Progress happens when you find ways to make it matter. And sometimes it’s just your persistence.

submitted 31 days ago • 91 comments

Each time I have sat down to write something since the election, I am bothered by this recurring phrase that I simply cannot get out of my head. So, this time I am going to just say it out loud: we are on our own. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/we-a...

submitted 31 days ago • 520 comments

Today brings another reminder that the guy who owns the other place is really no better than the guy who owns the other, other place.

submitted 46 days ago • 221 comments

Woke up NFC North Champs

submitted 47 days ago • 128 comments

Massive snowball fight happening in DC right now:

submitted 47 days ago • 136 comments

Yesterday, President Biden signed our Social Security Fairness Act into law to boost social security benefits for over 3 MILLION American workers. This is the largest investment in social security in decades - YOUR money, going back to YOUR wallet to help you afford retirement.

submitted 47 days ago • 41 comments

The leader we should have had

submitted 47 days ago • 1777 comments

A group of retired Black women in Philly gather weekly to sew period pads for girls in Africa. Along the way, they've also built a community here "We believe in each other and have faith in ourselves, and we have faith others are going to support us”

submitted 55 days ago • 74 comments

Please remember that President Carter appointed more minorities and women to the bench than all previous presidents combined. He was the first President to embrace the concept of bringing racial diversity to the federal bench. A key aspect of his legacy. www.washingtonpost.com/archive/poli...

submitted 55 days ago • 187 comments

Recently took a peek at Twitter and the disinformation is getting substantially more dangerous. Someone could get killed. The tactics of constantly repeating outright lies, targeting specific people, repurposing years-old footage and presenting them as new is getting to another level. It’s scary.

submitted 61 days ago • 3674 comments

Please don't over look the single most important story of the last few days. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

submitted 63 days ago • 118 comments

An important must read. "Alongside neo-Nazis staging marches, militia groups on the border have promised to lend their support over to sheriffs. It’s hard to tell the vigilantes from the law enforcement. But then again, in Trump’s America, isn’t that the point?"

submitted 65 days ago • 207 comments

well...we're waiting!!!

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

Manchin and Sinema consistently acted on behalf of their corporate donors during their time in the Senate. They stood in the way of protecting labor rights, voting rights, child welfare, Medicare expansion, and more. They represent everything Democrats ought not to represent.

submitted 72 days ago • 190 comments

How might young people spend a baby bond? This is an outstanding question for researchers and policymakers interested in reducing wealth disparities. In first-of-its-kind work, my @urbaninstitute.bsky.social colleagues and I talked to young adults across the country: www.urban.org/research/pub...

submitted 78 days ago • 0 comments

BREAKING via The New York Times FBI Director Chris Wray told bureau staff he intends to resign in January, 2.5 years before his 10-year term ends Wray is accepting the reality that Trump, who says he intends to nominate Kash Patel to serve as FBI Director, is going to fire him if he doesn’t resign

submitted 73 days ago • 73 comments

A must-read: Patrick Chandler Brown — named after the PCB chemicals dumped in his community — purchased the plantation where his great-grandfather was enslaved and is in the process of transforming it to serve farmers like him

submitted 79 days ago • 104 comments

Follow my @urbaninstitute.bsky.social colleagues! bsky.app/starter-pack...

submitted 82 days ago • 0 comments

Illinois has put an end to the injustice of cash bail. And it’s working better than anyone expected.

submitted 82 days ago • 101 comments

It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine. 💙💛 #fourinarow

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments