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Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 1h

Doctors and clinics in Chicago were able to finally place their order for Vaccines for Children doses Oct. 8, following a delay from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As some kids got COVID-19 vaccines this fall, one group of children were left out

Doses of the COVID-19 vaccine purchased through the federally-funded Vaccines for Children program only started arriving this week, a month after other kids could access the shot.

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Joseph P. Hillenburg @cobaltjacket.com · 2h

I like how their new icons are a break from the general look they had for 30 years.

Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 7h

“.. As far as anyone knows, no security breach by any Pentagon journalists brought about the new restrictions. Indeed, the biggest violation of national-security norms since Hegseth entered the building 10 months ago was by Hegseth himself ..”

@theatlantic.com
www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 9h

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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 3h

In all, it's estimated that the CDC has now lost 33 percent of its workforce since the start of the Trump administration.

CDC tormented: HR workers summoned from furlough to lay off themselves, others

Traumatized CDC has lost 33% of its workforce this year, union says.

arstechnica.com

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Joseph P. Hillenburg @cobaltjacket.com · 3h

Please do not use this service for your children.

Joseph P. Hillenburg @cobaltjacket.com · 16h

Where are the burning buildings?

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 18h

Chicagoans and tourists are flocking to the Loop in record numbers with arts, culture and dining as the main attractions, as the area recovers post-pandemic. Several new housing developments indicate the Loop is becoming more of a neighborhood.

Driven by arts and culture, pedestrian traffic in Downtown Chicago exceeds pre-pandemic levels, report finds

Chicagoans and tourists are flocking to the Loop in record numbers with arts, culture and dining as the main attractions, as the area recovers post-pandemic. Several new housing developments indicate the Loop is becoming more of a neighborhood.

trib.al

Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 19h

“The Defense Department has confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America,” the Pentagon Press Association said

Oct. 15, 2025
PENTAGON PRESS ASSOCIATION
STATEMENT
Today, the Defense Department confiscated the badges of the Pentagon reporters from virtually every major media organization in America. It did this because reporters would not sign onto a new media policy over its implicit threat of criminalizing national security reporting and exposing those who sign it to potential prosecution.
The Pentagon Press Association's members are still committed to reporting on the U.S. military. But make no mistake, today, Oct. 15, 2025 is a dark day for press freedom that raises concerns about a weakening U.S. commitment to transparency in governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon and to free speech for all.
PPA

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Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Kara Swisher @karaswisher.bsky.social · 16h

Make it stop

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 21h

UPDATE: Following the firing of the director of the student newspaper, Indiana University has now cut the print edition of the newspaper entirely.

www.idsnews.com/article/2025...

Indiana University cuts IDS print entirely, hours after firing student media director
By IDS staff
Oct 15, 2025 1:23 pm · Updated Oct 15, 2025 1:23 pm

IU previously directed the Indiana Daily Student to stop printing news coverage in our newspaper. Upon pushback, the university fully cut print, including our special editions. The IDS was not involved in the decision.

Media School Dean David Tolchinsky sent the order to IDS leadership in an email responding to its appeal that the school not censor the newspaper. And the dean attributed the decision to “the campus.” He has not yet responded to a message for clarification.

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Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 1d

Gov. JB Pritzker has joined a public health coalition of Democratic governors to counter the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Gov. JB Pritzker joins Democratic governors' health coalition to combat Trump's 'war on science'

The Governors Public Health Initiative is an effort to protect Democratic states from massive public health changes being enacted by the Trump administration.

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Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 1d

It's worth noting that Trump and Republicans repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for pressuring social media companies into removing content in the past.

Trump admin pressured Facebook into removing ICE-tracking group

Pam Bondi claims Facebook group was used to “dox and target” ICE agents.

arstechnica.com

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Joseph P. Hillenburg @cobaltjacket.com · 1d

I got the first donation. PedsCOP is in the lead for a hot minute!

Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Dan Gillmor @dangillmor.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 1d

Some of the most prominent "Young Republicans" are fascists and overt racists, with violent plans for people they despise.

And they're really unhappy that their group chat just leaked.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/private-chat-among-young-gop-club-members-00592146

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Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 1d

O’Hare and Midway international airports are refusing to play a video from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that accuses Democrats of causing the ongoing government shutdown.and its impacts on flight operations.

O'Hare, Midway refuse to play video of Kristi Noem accusing Democrats of government shutdown

They join a growing list of airports refusing to play a video from Department of Homeland Security Secretary due to its partisan messaging.

trib.al

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Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Boowellyn 👻 @llewellynrose.bsky.social · 1d

I also do editorial illustration and have been the primary cover artist for the American Journal of Transplantation for eight years

cover of the September 2025 issue of the American Journal of Transplantation "Nuances of donor derived cell-free DNA as a biomarker in thoracic transplantation", blue strands of DNA float in the foreground in front of a panel showing a histology view of red blood cells in a capillary, and the background of a teal and yellow drawing of a heart and lungs

cover of the May 2025 issue of the American Journal of Transplantation "LIFT and OPTIMAL: A two-part harmony of immunosuppression withdrawal trials" an illustration of a violinist and a cellist playing a duet

cover of the October 2024 issue of the American Journal of Transplantation "Big changes and big gains in US DCD organ procurement" an illustration of an organ donor's open chest and abdomen showing the heart on bypass and liver exposed

cover of the May 2024 issue of the American Journal of Transplantation "Acute-on-chronic liver failure: From immunopathogenesis to transplantation" illustration of a cirrhotic liver and surrounding organs

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Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Boowellyn 👻 @llewellynrose.bsky.social · 1d

Hi #portfolioday!

I'm Llewellyn and I'm a medical illustrator, comic, and horror artist! I'm going to be available for work in December.

You can view more examples of my work at meganllewellyn.com

✉️[email protected]

black and white illustration showing the surgical view of an anomalous origin carotid artery repair

black and white illustration from Emmet Nahil's From the Belly, a man in pain with an amputated arm and barnacles growing out of his skin

black and white illustration of a clam shell thoracotomy to expose the heart and aortic aneurysm

black and white comic page of a close up of a turkey vulture, a woman aiming a hunting rifle, the vulture falling, the woman looking up to the sky holding a rifle

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Rob DenBleyker @robdenbleyker.com · 1d

we're about to enter a Golden Age of emotionally cheating on your spouse with jar jar binks

Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 2d

Oh good, ChatGPT is getting "erotica for verified adults" later this year

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.

In a few weeks, we plan to put out a new version of ChatGPT that allows people to have a personality that behaves more like what people liked about 4o (we hope it will be better!). If you want your ChatGPT to respond in a very human-like way, or use a ton of emoji, or act like a friend, ChatGPT should do it (but only if you want it, not because we are usage-maxxing).

In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our “treat adult users like adults” principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults.

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Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

The Onion @theonion.com · 1d

Political Profile: Russell Vought https://theonion.com/political-profile-russell-vought/

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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 2d

🤦‍♀️

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Joseph P. Hillenburg @cobaltjacket.com · 2d

Look up "imperfect vessel."

Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 2d

Possibly the funniest thing in here is Jones’ lawyers describing The Onion as his “ideological nemesis.”

Meet the Press @meetthepress.com · 2d

The conspiracy theorist had asked the justices to immediately intervene, warning that the ownership of his Infowars website could be transferred to the satirical news site The Onion.

Supreme Court turns away Alex Jones' attempt to block $1.5B defamation judgment

The conspiracy theorist had asked the justices to immediately intervene, warning that the ownership of his Infowars website could be transferred to the satirical news site The Onion.

nbcnews.to

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Reposted by Joseph P. Hillenburg

Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 2d

I'm sorry, is the Trump Administration talking to a tech platform?

Is it...requesting content moderation?

Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago.
The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.

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Alex Wenzel @alexwenzel.bsky.social · 2d

It’s important to understand what someone like Russel Vought is saying when he terminates the entire CDC IRB. It’s a statement that there should be no limits on the ways a marginalized person’s bodily integrity can be violated, and he knows that.

Formal review procedures for institutional human subject studies were originally developed in direct response to research abuses in the 20th century.
Among the most notorious of these abuses were the experiments of Nazi physicians, which became a focus of the post-World War II Doctors' Trial, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a long-term project conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S.
Public Health Service, and numerous human radiation experiments conducted during the Cold War. Other controversial U.S. projects undertaken during this era include the Milgram obedience experiment, the Stanford prison experiment, and Project MKULTRA, a series of classified mind control studies organized by the CIA.
The result of these abuses was the National Research Act of 1974 and the development of the Belmont Report, which outlined the primary ethical principles in human subjects review; these include
"respect for persons", "beneficence", and "justice".
An IRB may approve only research for which the risks to subjects are balanced by potential benefits to society, and for which the selection of subjects presents a fair or just distribution of risks and benefits to eligible participants. A bona fide process for obtaining informed consent from participants is also generally needed. However, this requirement may be waived in certain circumstances - for example, when the risk of harm to participants is clearlv minimal.

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Joseph P. Hillenburg @cobaltjacket.com · 2d

The rule itself seems appropriate. The application does not. I agree with those call for banning of all flights that transit Russian airspace.