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Ben Bellows

@benbellows

Cofounder & CBO, Nivi Inc A Michigan farm kid a long time ago. Husband, dad, researcher, neighbor, founder. pubs: orcid.org/0000-0001-9205-6623 #UMich #Econ #PeaceCorps #Ecuador πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡¨ #CDC #UCBerkeley #Epi #PopCouncil #Kenya πŸ‡°πŸ‡ͺ #Zambia πŸ‡ΏπŸ‡² #digitalhealth #AI

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Latest posts by Ben Bellows @benbellows

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States Move to Limit Access to H.I.V. Treatment

What a shame!

By killing USAID and cutting aid, they have already compromised HIV care in the Global South

Now they reducing HIV treatment access to Americans???

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/h...

05.03.2026 22:55 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Trump can’t win a war he can’t sell, can't sell a war he can't win.
Even Wolf Blitzer isn't buying it. A THREAD.

06.03.2026 14:21 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Gonna start a second war to distract people from the first one.

06.03.2026 14:16 πŸ‘ 1271 πŸ” 327 πŸ’¬ 101 πŸ“Œ 21
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Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces, officials say The targeting information has included the locations of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the officials said.

"Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces...

Russia has passed Iran the locations of U.S. military assets, including warships and aircraft...

'It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,'" an official said.

06.03.2026 12:01 πŸ‘ 491 πŸ” 282 πŸ’¬ 55 πŸ“Œ 74
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The Black Death’s counterintuitive effect: as human numbers fell, so did plant diversity New study finds that plant biodiversity collapsed in landscapes where arable production was abandoned during and after the Black Death era.

Here’s the conversation piece Basically, until recently, human propensity to differentiate and innovate seems to have facilitated wider biological innovation as well. Contemporary technology-enabled scales of homogenisation are disrupting that. Via @annecurrie.bsky.social

06.03.2026 09:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Stephen Fry Watches Rare Bird Hump Zoologist
Stephen Fry Watches Rare Bird Hump Zoologist YouTube video by DigitalClassics

youtu.be/6A7uFSbRJ5w

06.03.2026 07:08 πŸ‘ 26 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 2

If you're doomscrolling, guess what? So far there are 51 kākāpō chicks hatched and thriving this season, the same number of birds as we had in TOTAL in the 90s! Only one chick has died and there are still fertile eggs waiting to hatch!

06.03.2026 04:31 πŸ‘ 5178 πŸ” 1389 πŸ’¬ 60 πŸ“Œ 51
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Trump calls on divided GOP to pass SAVE America Act β€˜at the expense of everything else’ Trump suggested the SAVE America Act includes a number of provisions that are not in the proposal.

If you care about free and fair election this November, this is the most important story of the day. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

06.03.2026 02:23 πŸ‘ 1848 πŸ” 927 πŸ’¬ 64 πŸ“Œ 44
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Never forget that this what The Washington Post said when Noem was nominated.

06.03.2026 02:45 πŸ‘ 11590 πŸ” 2537 πŸ’¬ 658 πŸ“Œ 160

Worse than the worst War on Terror drone strikes. By innocents killed, worse than multiple of the worst drone strike errors combined.

06.03.2026 03:03 πŸ‘ 861 πŸ” 246 πŸ’¬ 32 πŸ“Œ 4
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ICE detains reporter Estefany RodrΓ­guez in Nashville - Nashville Banner Reporter Estefany RodrΓ­guez, detained by ICE with no arrest warrant, may face deportation. Her attorneys seek immediate review of the legality of her case.

ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there.

They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.

05.03.2026 23:41 πŸ‘ 11692 πŸ” 7115 πŸ’¬ 281 πŸ“Œ 322

This false piety is disgusting. The worst people.

06.03.2026 00:22 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Our Ambassadors should have a basic understanding of the Constitution. But apparently, that's too much to ask of this Admin.

Trump's pick to be Ambassador to El Salvador (who was also Noem's deputy at DHS) had trouble answering basic questions about our Constitution.

05.03.2026 23:45 πŸ‘ 448 πŸ” 117 πŸ’¬ 15 πŸ“Œ 9

Go solar. Import electrons.

05.03.2026 23:21 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Trump’s Board of Peace?

05.03.2026 23:16 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Stand Up for Science plans second rally on March 7 Public health chaos and research funding cuts are inspiring nationwide pro-science protests against the Trump administration

This weekend, on March 7, @standupforscience.bsky.social is leading protests in 25 locations.

Scientists had warned about the replacement of evidence over ideology and the damage it would cause. Everything that I was worried about came true.

πŸ§ͺ www.scientificamerican.com/article/stan...

05.03.2026 20:39 πŸ‘ 173 πŸ” 93 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 4

the profound calm which only apparently precedes and prophesies of the storm, is perhaps more awful than the storm itself

05.03.2026 11:47 πŸ‘ 140 πŸ” 35 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 10

The more time I spend with AI tools, the more I feel they will decimate the current version of the tech labor market. Meaning ~10% of roles significantly disrupted.

A lot of tech skills considered valuable in 2021 are now just what computers do today.

05.03.2026 11:48 πŸ‘ 53 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 2
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FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

05.03.2026 07:15 πŸ‘ 17023 πŸ” 5938 πŸ’¬ 509 πŸ“Œ 493

I’d ask what country we are in that a sitting US Senator would break the arm of a veteran in uniform over his exercise of free speech.

But I remember the grannies and disabled people being bodily dragged out of the halls of Congress during a peaceful protest during the last Trump Admin.

05.03.2026 01:31 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I took my eight year old daughter to a protest on Saturday and my heart could hardly take it.

"The children are always ours, all over the globe, every single one of them. And I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this is incapable of morality." -James Baldwin

05.03.2026 03:37 πŸ‘ 144 πŸ” 31 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0
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Close to 650 federal agents remain in Minnesota weeks after border czar announced end of operation There are still more than quadruple the 150 agents Tom Homan said there would be in the state by the end of last week.

They’re still lying to us.

www.startribune.com/close-to-650...

05.03.2026 02:05 πŸ‘ 2019 πŸ” 882 πŸ’¬ 16 πŸ“Œ 28

Trust has been a recurrent theme over last 10 days. Last year it was in short supply. Not sugarcoating it. And yet, support continues to flow - haltingly, on 90 day cycles - into many programs. Many IPs continue to operate. New mechanisms for accountability & buy-in are in the works. We'll see.

05.03.2026 07:33 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

A question you might be asking: How does amplifying an authoritarian smear campaign against private entities that won't capitulate to Trump advance your goals or reflect your values? Does it seem likely to make things better or worse?

05.03.2026 07:16 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Look Anthropic isn't exactly saintly, but if you don't understand recent "scoops" about how Anthropic is being used by DoD are actually strategic and intentional leaks designed by the U.S. government to punish Anthropic for not folding to the Trump administration maybe punditry is not your skill?

05.03.2026 07:08 πŸ‘ 65 πŸ” 12 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 1
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Jigar Shah's investment banker called him after the Iran strikes.

The message? Every solar company just doubled in value.

The best energy security isn't protecting supply chains across the world β€” it's not needing them.

@jigarshahdc.bsky.social

04.03.2026 19:06 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3
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Brad Karp to step down as Paul Weiss chair after Epstein revelations Files released by US justice department detailed relationship with child sex offender

Back at the start of the Trump II administration, it was disorienting to watch powerful law firms preemptively surrender and genuflect before the King

Turns out it was because the people in charge were close friends with Epstein and were worried about getting outed

www.ft.com/content/7001...

06.02.2026 21:09 πŸ‘ 1073 πŸ” 365 πŸ’¬ 26 πŸ“Œ 12
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Remember when Trump led the Republican ticket as the β€œanti-war”candidate?

So much for that grift. Today 52 of 53 Republican Senators opposed limiting Trump’s ability to wage this illegal war.

Trump isn’t waging this war for Iranians or Americans. He’s doing it for himself.

05.03.2026 07:19 πŸ‘ 55 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2

I did not realize being an adult was just watching people be murdered over and over and over and over

bsky.app/profile/beij...

05.03.2026 06:29 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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RFK Jr has 'unreviewable' authority to reshape vaccine policy, DOJ lawyer tells judge A lawyer for the Trump administration told a judge on Wednesday that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has such broad authority over vaccine policy that he could even ​scrap re...

A DOJ lawyer argued in court today that RFK Jr. has the absolute authority to recommend (hypothetically) that people get a shot *of* measles instead of *against* measles during a hearing for the lawsuit filed against RFK Jr. by the AAP and APHA.

The good side is seeking a preliminary injunction…

04.03.2026 22:01 πŸ‘ 325 πŸ” 143 πŸ’¬ 32 πŸ“Œ 18