Mark Abraham
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markabraham.bsky.social
Mark Abraham
@markabraham.bsky.social
Collecting and sharing data on community-level health and well-being. Personal account: Posts here do not represent the views of my employer. #NHV resident.
Reposted by Mark Abraham
Wanna see a visual on the result of the Republican attack on public health?

I’ve got you covered. This is from Pew Research Center’s most recent survey, showing a 27% drop in Republican support for school vaccine requirements from 2016-2025.
November 20, 2025 at 8:34 PM
From today's @ctmirror.org: " #Connecticut residents are struggling more with mental health issues and some basic needs than they were in 2018, according to a survey released this month by @datahaven.bsky.social, a nonprofit organization producing data for the state." ctmirror.org/2025/11/20/c...
November 20, 2025 at 4:25 PM
It was a 4% spread before. Maybe doubling people’s health insurance premiums, bragging about starving 20,000,000 US children, and imposing a 107% tariff on pasta isn’t popular?
November 19, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
Yale Budget Lab has estimated the cost of the Trump tariff checks "is about twice as large as the total revenue that will be raised by the administration's tariff hikes."

Point is, it's not a dividend, it's borrowing from the future.
budgetlab.yale.edu/research/est...
November 19, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
One of the best articles I've seen on the subject. There are a lot of ongoing discussions about AI in education (some constructive; others dangerous), and I think most of those discussions are pretty bad, on balance. Glad to see some good stuff.
New feature article from TNJ (nation's best student magazine): Inside Yale’s Quiet Reckoning with AI thenewjournalatyale.com/2025/10/insi...
November 16, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
“Leaving consumers the choice to engage intimately with A.I. sounds good in theory. But companies w/vast troves of data know far more than the public about what induces powerful delusional thinking. A.I. companions that burrow into our deepest vulnerabilities will wreak havoc on our mental health”
November 17, 2025 at 1:04 PM
"32 outstanding students will commence their studies at Oxford in October 2026, selected from a pool of 965 candidates who had been nominated by their colleges. Harvard, Yale, MIT and the U.S. Military Academy led the way with three U.S. Scholars each." www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/office-of-th...
American Rhodes Scholarships Winners 2026
On Saturday, November 15, 2025, the American Rhodes Scholar Class of 2026 was elected. These 32 outstanding students will commence their studies at Oxford in October 2026. They were selected from a ...
www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk
November 16, 2025 at 6:53 PM
New feature article from TNJ (nation's best student magazine): Inside Yale’s Quiet Reckoning with AI thenewjournalatyale.com/2025/10/insi...
November 16, 2025 at 4:43 PM
“People have left, expertise is gone, networks and collaborations have been dissolved entirely — research is rotting.”
November 14, 2025 at 7:36 PM
“It is a pattern she plans to continue: Spend SNAP funds early, when she gets them, and invest in foods that can be frozen or shelved for the long haul.

“I’m not quite out of the woods, mentally,” Ms. Mayne said, adding, “I think I’m still in the mentality of starvation.”
November 14, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
Although some #SNAP benefits will be restored as the government reopens, 58,000 families in #Connecticut are still projected to lose SNAP benefits (losing an average of $194/month per household) due to H.R.1. Learn more about how these changes impact each CT and legislative district on our site.
November 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
“With the penny’s demise, coin enthusiasts’ worried eyes now turn toward its longtime associate, the nickel. Its purchasing power has also shrunk to nearly nothing, and it costs more than a dime to make.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/b...
The Penny Dies at 232
www.nytimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Even if the shutdown ends, "5.3 million American families, including 58,000 Connecticut families, will lose at least $25/month in #SNAP benefits due to policy changes in H.R.1. These 58,000 Connecticut families will lose an average of $194 in benefits each month." www.ctdatahaven.org/reports/food...
Food Assistance and Local Economies at Risk: Projected Federal SNAP Cuts by Connecticut Town and District | DataHaven
www.ctdatahaven.org
November 11, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
Some states got full benefits out after the courts ordered them to. The White House is saying that was illegal. But it would also be illegal to claw back those benefits. The net result is that some SNAP users got full benefits, and some did not depending on how aggressively their state acted.
November 9, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
Low-income households denied SNAP due to administrative barriers suffer downstream consequences. Process-related denials increase debt, delinquencies, and decrease credit scores, from Tatiana Homonoff, Min S. Lee, and Katherine Meckel www.nber.org/papers/w34434
November 8, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
Dem gains in this week's elections erased the inroads Trump made with non-white, young, and low-income voters in 2024. In fact, the R-to-D shift from 24 to 25 is double Trump's gains from 20-24. Claims of a GOP political realignment have been highly exaggerated
www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trumps-win...
Trump's winning 2024 coalition has evaporated
Claims of a conservative realignment of non-whites, the working class, and young voters have been highly exaggerated
www.gelliottmorris.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:02 PM
New data from @datahaven.bsky.social ’s large annual survey in #Connecticut collected from August through October 2025, including on SNAP, healthcare, housing, evictions, immigration, and quality of life www.ctdatahaven.org/blog/2025-da...
2025 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey Highlights Trust, Resilience, and Economic Challenges Across Connecticut | DataHaven
www.ctdatahaven.org
November 7, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
SNAP surveys SNAP users. Already half of them are saying they are skipping meals.
November 6, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
By this time next week, the estimated deaths due to the illegal destruction of USAID and the shuttering of its aid efforts will breach 400,000.

More than 260,000 will be children.

Source: www.bu.edu/sph/news/art...
Tracking Anticipated Deaths from USAID Funding Cuts
Brooke Nichols has launched online tracking tools that capture estimated increases in mortality and disease spread for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases as a result of the near-total...
www.bu.edu
November 5, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
The One Big Beautiful Bill dedicates $170 billion to immigration enforcement, or $12,142 per unauthorized immigrant. By comparison, the federal government spends $8,990 per child each year.

Money talks; Congress is saying kids aren't as important.

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
That Extra ICE Funding Could Buy a Lot of School Meals
Whatever their views on America’s immigration laws, most Americans probably have no idea how much the US is spending to enforce them. That’s in part because congressional Republicans and President Don...
www.bloomberg.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon/RTX, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman spent $89 billion on stock buybacks and dividends over the last four years.

Two-thirds of that came from US taxpayers:
November 4, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
Well, this story is a dystopian sci-fi scenario made real www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/m...
A Harrowing Escape From the Drone-Infested Hellscape of Ukraine’s Front Lines
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
Universal swing in action: "What we saw last night was a directional shift toward Democrats in 99.8% of counties that held partisan elections." www.gelliottmorris.com/p/seven-data...
November 5, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Mark Abraham
In light of the stunning size of the blue wave, I’m also thinking of all the important races that Dems left on the table by not running a candidate:
Now 8 days to go before the deadline fully passes for local candidates to run in Virginia — and there still only are Republican candidates running for sheriff in the state's two biggest cities, as sheriffs ramp up their cooperation with ICE and federal immigration authorities.

Background:
“It Blows My Mind That There’s No Opposition”: When ICE Allies Run Unchallenged - Bolts
In a populous city in southeast Virginia, a Republican sheriff who calls himself “Detain ’Em Dave” faces a race to the right against a GOP challenger who wants more immigration enforcement. No Democra...
boltsmag.org
November 5, 2025 at 1:28 PM