Boston Tom Levenson
@tomlevenson.bsky.social
Writer. (A Pox on Fools, a polemical history of vaccine rejection, out May 2026) Quondam documentarian (credits at PBS, BBC, etc.) Professing science writing at MIT. Lucky spouse & father. Servant to two feline overlords.. He/him. ALL OPINIONS MINE ALONE.
Reposted by Boston Tom Levenson
If only we had previous knowledge of his propensity to do this before re-electing the dumbsh*t.
apnews.com/article/viru...
apnews.com/article/viru...
Trump suggests US slow virus testing to avoid bad statistics
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday he's asked his administration to slow down coronavirus testing because robust testing turns up too many cases of COVID-19.
apnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:43 PM
If only we had previous knowledge of his propensity to do this before re-electing the dumbsh*t.
apnews.com/article/viru...
apnews.com/article/viru...
Reposted by Boston Tom Levenson
If a politician:
-Has never cared at all about whales before;
-Is in the pocket of big oil, an industry which has a financial incentive to oppose alternative energy;
and
-is a well-documented liar,
You don't have to take their "we have to stop offshore wind to save whales" claims seriously.
-Has never cared at all about whales before;
-Is in the pocket of big oil, an industry which has a financial incentive to oppose alternative energy;
and
-is a well-documented liar,
You don't have to take their "we have to stop offshore wind to save whales" claims seriously.
November 26, 2025 at 2:50 PM
If a politician:
-Has never cared at all about whales before;
-Is in the pocket of big oil, an industry which has a financial incentive to oppose alternative energy;
and
-is a well-documented liar,
You don't have to take their "we have to stop offshore wind to save whales" claims seriously.
-Has never cared at all about whales before;
-Is in the pocket of big oil, an industry which has a financial incentive to oppose alternative energy;
and
-is a well-documented liar,
You don't have to take their "we have to stop offshore wind to save whales" claims seriously.
Reposted by Boston Tom Levenson
Love this. Cities are not just the police force and mass transit. They should also support and promote the arts.
New York City helped my mother become the artist she is today. The next generation deserves a City Hall that lifts up tomorrow's artists as well.
November 26, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Love this. Cities are not just the police force and mass transit. They should also support and promote the arts.
Reposted by Boston Tom Levenson
This is the scandal. Trump isn’t targeting dangerous people. He’s targeting peaceful immigrants. Almost exclusively.
November 26, 2025 at 2:10 PM
This is the scandal. Trump isn’t targeting dangerous people. He’s targeting peaceful immigrants. Almost exclusively.
Reposted by Boston Tom Levenson
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
But, but, but...RFK Jr. "shredded" Sen. Cantwell's chart showing how vaccines saved untold numbers of lives.
Unbelievable.
Very few things piss me off more than anti-vax morons killing their children.
Very few things piss me off more than anti-vax morons killing their children.
November 26, 2025 at 12:10 AM
But, but, but...RFK Jr. "shredded" Sen. Cantwell's chart showing how vaccines saved untold numbers of lives.
If Trump wants to look for treason by American officials, he need look no further.
EXCLUSIVE: US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff advised Russia on how to pitch Ukraine plans to Trump, in audio files reviewed by Bloomberg
Witkoff Advised Russia on How to Pitch Ukraine Plan to Trump
US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, fresh from the triumph of the Gaza peace deal, held a phone call last month with a senior Kremlin official to suggest they work together on a similar plan for Ukraine — and that Vladimir Putin should raise it with Donald Trump.
bloom.bg
November 25, 2025 at 11:46 PM
If Trump wants to look for treason by American officials, he need look no further.
RFK Jr., and hence Trump, and hence the entire elected federal GOP, are in on this conspiracy to kill American children.
pass it on.
pass it on.
Louisiana surgeon general who stopped promoting vaccination will be second in command at CDC
www.cnn.com/2025/11/25/h...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/25/h...
Louisiana surgeon general who stopped promoting vaccination will be second in command at CDC | CNN
Dr. Ralph Abraham, who as a state surgeon general ordered health officials to stop promoting mass vaccination, will serve as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s principal deputy direct...
www.cnn.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:24 PM
RFK Jr., and hence Trump, and hence the entire elected federal GOP, are in on this conspiracy to kill American children.
pass it on.
pass it on.
Yes. This.
Especially if you're interested in one of my books....;-)
Especially if you're interested in one of my books....;-)
Folks, if your library doesn’t have a book you want to read, ask them to buy a copy. Most have a convenient form and will let you know when it comes in. If your library offers ILL, they can even borrow books from other libraries.
November 25, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Yes. This.
Especially if you're interested in one of my books....;-)
Especially if you're interested in one of my books....;-)
Hive mind bleg:
I want an e-reader that liberates me from Kindle's walled garden, but that lets me read my current Kindle library.
The Boox Go 7 checks most of the boxes, but...
I'm worried about the distraction potential of its full Android ecosystem. Anyone out there have relevant experience?
I want an e-reader that liberates me from Kindle's walled garden, but that lets me read my current Kindle library.
The Boox Go 7 checks most of the boxes, but...
I'm worried about the distraction potential of its full Android ecosystem. Anyone out there have relevant experience?
November 25, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Hive mind bleg:
I want an e-reader that liberates me from Kindle's walled garden, but that lets me read my current Kindle library.
The Boox Go 7 checks most of the boxes, but...
I'm worried about the distraction potential of its full Android ecosystem. Anyone out there have relevant experience?
I want an e-reader that liberates me from Kindle's walled garden, but that lets me read my current Kindle library.
The Boox Go 7 checks most of the boxes, but...
I'm worried about the distraction potential of its full Android ecosystem. Anyone out there have relevant experience?
Reposted by Boston Tom Levenson
This is called “chain refoulment” and it’s illegal under both U.S. and international law. And the State Department and ICE know very well what Ghana is doing and simply don’t care.
ICE deported a woman who owned a home in the US for 30 years. A judge banned ICE from deporting her to Sierra Leone where she had been tortured, so it deported her to Ghana, which kidnapped her and sent her back Sierra Leone anyway. ICE is part of this illegal conspiracy.
November 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
This is called “chain refoulment” and it’s illegal under both U.S. and international law. And the State Department and ICE know very well what Ghana is doing and simply don’t care.
Reposted by Boston Tom Levenson
The moves come after a $60 million lobbying blitz from the chemical industry.
This is why you always follow the money.
www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2025/09/17/a...
This is why you always follow the money.
www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2025/09/17/a...
The EPA has approved two new pesticides with "forever chemicals" that will be used on food.
The agency has also announced plans for four additional approvals.
The approved pesticides will be used on vegetables such as romaine lettuce, broccoli and potatoes.
The agency has also announced plans for four additional approvals.
The approved pesticides will be used on vegetables such as romaine lettuce, broccoli and potatoes.
November 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
The moves come after a $60 million lobbying blitz from the chemical industry.
This is why you always follow the money.
www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2025/09/17/a...
This is why you always follow the money.
www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2025/09/17/a...
This. Political reporters as a group (honorable exceptions, etc.) know nothing about science—how it's done and especially, how to read such results.
They are thus patsies for RFK Jr. & anti-vax grifters more generally.
Used to treating quotes as facts, they become conduits for unexamined bullshit.
They are thus patsies for RFK Jr. & anti-vax grifters more generally.
Used to treating quotes as facts, they become conduits for unexamined bullshit.
I need people who are profiling RFK Jr to not recite, uncritically, the number of studies the man says he has read.
One he lies
Two even if he has read them doesn't mean he understands them
Three it's more useful to take one and explain its problems.
One he lies
Two even if he has read them doesn't mean he understands them
Three it's more useful to take one and explain its problems.
November 25, 2025 at 10:53 PM
This. Political reporters as a group (honorable exceptions, etc.) know nothing about science—how it's done and especially, how to read such results.
They are thus patsies for RFK Jr. & anti-vax grifters more generally.
Used to treating quotes as facts, they become conduits for unexamined bullshit.
They are thus patsies for RFK Jr. & anti-vax grifters more generally.
Used to treating quotes as facts, they become conduits for unexamined bullshit.
Reposted by Boston Tom Levenson
Sen. Mark Kelly on MS NOW: "I've had a missile blow up next to my airplane. I've been nearly shot down multiple times … My wife, Gabby Giffords, meeting with her constituents, shot in the head, six people killed around her … We know what political violence is. And we know what causes it, too."
November 25, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Sen. Mark Kelly on MS NOW: "I've had a missile blow up next to my airplane. I've been nearly shot down multiple times … My wife, Gabby Giffords, meeting with her constituents, shot in the head, six people killed around her … We know what political violence is. And we know what causes it, too."
Reposted by Boston Tom Levenson
🚨BREAKING: Wisconsin Supreme Court APPOINTS three-judge panel to hear lawsuit brought by my law firm on behalf of voters seeking new congressional boundaries in time for the 2026 election. www.democracydocket.com/cases/wiscon...
🚨 Bothfeld v. Wisconsin Elections Commission
Learn more.
www.democracydocket.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:21 PM
🚨BREAKING: Wisconsin Supreme Court APPOINTS three-judge panel to hear lawsuit brought by my law firm on behalf of voters seeking new congressional boundaries in time for the 2026 election. www.democracydocket.com/cases/wiscon...
Lord love a duck, but this song just came up on my Youtube rota and you know...
I'm liking it.
I'm not sure I did in the 80s, but somehow the hook plus nostalgia are working now.
I'm liking it.
I'm not sure I did in the 80s, but somehow the hook plus nostalgia are working now.
Journey - Don't Stop Believin' (Escape Tour 1981: Live In Houston)
YouTube video by journeyVEVO
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Lord love a duck, but this song just came up on my Youtube rota and you know...
I'm liking it.
I'm not sure I did in the 80s, but somehow the hook plus nostalgia are working now.
I'm liking it.
I'm not sure I did in the 80s, but somehow the hook plus nostalgia are working now.
My essay posted yesterday on how Kennedy appears to be making progress in a stealth campaign to end vaccination in the US is looking more and more likely to be right.
My history-based polemic on the evolution and poverty of the anti-vax argument is due out in May. It feels necessary sooner.
My history-based polemic on the evolution and poverty of the anti-vax argument is due out in May. It feels necessary sooner.
November 25, 2025 at 7:54 PM
My essay posted yesterday on how Kennedy appears to be making progress in a stealth campaign to end vaccination in the US is looking more and more likely to be right.
My history-based polemic on the evolution and poverty of the anti-vax argument is due out in May. It feels necessary sooner.
My history-based polemic on the evolution and poverty of the anti-vax argument is due out in May. It feels necessary sooner.
MAPA: Make America Poisoned Again.
The EPA is starting to allow the use of pesticides containing PFAS on food. The move is part of an effort to roll back the regulation of PFAS — also known as "forever chemicals" because they don't break down easily in the environment.
November 25, 2025 at 5:43 PM
MAPA: Make America Poisoned Again.
Hey folks...late to pushing this, but I wrote yesterday at all my venues about what very much looks to me like a major step towards RFK Jr.'s goal...a stealth ban on vaccines in the US. Check it out in one of its slight variations:
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
balloon-juice.com/2025/11/24/4...
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
balloon-juice.com/2025/11/24/4...
A Stealth Ban on Vaccines?
Following up the post below--speculation on what might follow RFK Jr.'s sleight of hand on vaccine-autism causation
tomlevenson.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Hey folks...late to pushing this, but I wrote yesterday at all my venues about what very much looks to me like a major step towards RFK Jr.'s goal...a stealth ban on vaccines in the US. Check it out in one of its slight variations:
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
balloon-juice.com/2025/11/24/4...
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
balloon-juice.com/2025/11/24/4...
Just read @carlzimmer.com's excellent piece (published today) on interoception.
My students are working on short news features; this piece provides a bunch of fine lessons.
So I've upended my lesson plan for the day and we're going to spend a lot of time chewing on this.
Thanks, Carl!
Gift link:
My students are working on short news features; this piece provides a bunch of fine lessons.
So I've upended my lesson plan for the day and we're going to spend a lot of time chewing on this.
Thanks, Carl!
Gift link:
Mapping the Sense of What’s Going On Inside
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Just read @carlzimmer.com's excellent piece (published today) on interoception.
My students are working on short news features; this piece provides a bunch of fine lessons.
So I've upended my lesson plan for the day and we're going to spend a lot of time chewing on this.
Thanks, Carl!
Gift link:
My students are working on short news features; this piece provides a bunch of fine lessons.
So I've upended my lesson plan for the day and we're going to spend a lot of time chewing on this.
Thanks, Carl!
Gift link:
Forget the gold, the concrete desert that used to be the Rose Garden, and the missing East Wing.
The biggest change Trump has wrought on the White House is that giant For Sale sign he's got flashing up front.
The biggest change Trump has wrought on the White House is that giant For Sale sign he's got flashing up front.
November 25, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Forget the gold, the concrete desert that used to be the Rose Garden, and the missing East Wing.
The biggest change Trump has wrought on the White House is that giant For Sale sign he's got flashing up front.
The biggest change Trump has wrought on the White House is that giant For Sale sign he's got flashing up front.
The rules of late-empire American journalism:
1: do not attract Isaac Chotiner's attention.
2: If you draw Chotiner's gaze, look away and remain silent.
3: Refer to rule 1.
Most practitioners of what used to be the craft of journalism are much less than all that. Chotiner is their kryptonite.
1: do not attract Isaac Chotiner's attention.
2: If you draw Chotiner's gaze, look away and remain silent.
3: Refer to rule 1.
Most practitioners of what used to be the craft of journalism are much less than all that. Chotiner is their kryptonite.
A new kind of rapid Chotining. Please appreciate the alt-text.
November 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
The rules of late-empire American journalism:
1: do not attract Isaac Chotiner's attention.
2: If you draw Chotiner's gaze, look away and remain silent.
3: Refer to rule 1.
Most practitioners of what used to be the craft of journalism are much less than all that. Chotiner is their kryptonite.
1: do not attract Isaac Chotiner's attention.
2: If you draw Chotiner's gaze, look away and remain silent.
3: Refer to rule 1.
Most practitioners of what used to be the craft of journalism are much less than all that. Chotiner is their kryptonite.
I am thinking that Mr. Hegseth is a threat to good order and discipline in the military.
His marshmallow-tough-guy eructations on Senator/Captain Kelly's uniform are exactly what career soldiers love to hear from civilian command.
His marshmallow-tough-guy eructations on Senator/Captain Kelly's uniform are exactly what career soldiers love to hear from civilian command.
November 25, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I am thinking that Mr. Hegseth is a threat to good order and discipline in the military.
His marshmallow-tough-guy eructations on Senator/Captain Kelly's uniform are exactly what career soldiers love to hear from civilian command.
His marshmallow-tough-guy eructations on Senator/Captain Kelly's uniform are exactly what career soldiers love to hear from civilian command.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...
November 25, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...