Call me Ishmael
books, words, left politics, learning stuff, long covid (he/him). A citizen of the world.
Views expressed here are my own.
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelHealth Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went hunting for dinosaur bones in the Dakotas with child sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelMaryland's legislature is considering a bill that would support grants and loans for Long COVID research and development, building on an existing state program. Hearings are happening next week! More from me @thesicktimes.org: thesicktimes.org/2026/02/06/m...
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelOnce again, it turns out “fully autonomous” means “a guy in the Philippines.”
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelEvery instance of "AI democratizes the arts, you're classist and ableist and a gatekeeper for trying to stop it" is a slap in the face to the literally centuries of poor, disabled people making art on the margins and a crass lie in service of a machine that strips down and regurgitates dreams
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelI read through hundreds of emails and scoured through years of correspondence and background information to write this 4600 word report. It confirms what we all have been saying about the anti-trans movement from the start. Read it from the top down, I can't even begin to summarize it all properly.
- You’re not crazy. The anti-trans movement is not organic; it was funded by pedophilic billionaires like Jeffrey Epstein who backed a network of conservatives to accuse the same people they were sexually abusing of being the real danger. @madycast.com exposes the truth in our in-depth report.
- Olympic XC skiers know that an infection isn't worth the risk. fasterskier.com/2026/02/in-i...
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelIn Germany, Long COVID affects up to 1 in 10 after infection. Using single-cell multiomics, researchers showed it isn’t one condition, identifying CD14+ monocyte state (LC-Mo) common after mild–moderate COVID, linked to fatigue, breathing symptoms, and raised inflammatory cytokines. #LongCOVID
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelThe result of a powerful research project developed in collaboration with young people. 'Long Covid Lives' - a 3-part graphic series exploring the lived experiences of young people living with #LongCovid. positivenegatives.org/story/long-c... #LongCovidLives #Research #PPI #LongCovidKids
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- The French police have raided the offices of X (The Everything App) as part of an investigation into the platform's complicity in crimes including child porn and holocaust denial. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/...
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelDespite Long COVID's toll on millions of children, there are only a handful of clinical trials that include them. @spichaksimon.bsky.social reported on three upcoming pediatric trials. Co-published with @19thnews.org! thesicktimes.org/2026/02/03/l...
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelSnowstorms are more than just an inconvenience for wheelchair users. Inadequate snow clean-ups means a loss of autonomy for many. New for me at @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelFrom the review: “We review this body of literature and why metformin should now be offered to outpatient adults for treating acute SARS-CoV-2 infection to prevent long COVID.” academic.oup.com/cid/advance-...
- New review highlights growing evidence that diabetes drug metformin can prevent long COVID The low-cost drug may lower the risk of clinician-diagnosed long COVID by 40% to 60%. www.cidrap.umn.edu/c...
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelA fair-minded and comprehensive look at how fanfiction has been shaping contemporary publishing
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelI read thousands of pages of Epstein files this weekend trying to understand what he wanted out of his meeting with 4chan's Christopher Poole. Here's everything we know about Epstein's plans to dismantle the internet and, eventually, democracy. www.garbageday.email/p/here-s-how...
- New UK research is going to look into the links between LC and ME/CFS, hoping to find biomarkers www.bbc.com/news/article...
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelShortest possible version: Most of the worst and loudest assholes of the last twenty years are people who came from, spent time on, or were inspired by the toxic conversations that happened on 4chan's /pol/ board. /Pol/ was an imageboard for "politically incorrect." It wasn't just politics, but /
- Reposted by Call me Ishmaelthere are no mastermind villains. every single one of them is sending 4th grade level emails to World's Most Famous Sex Criminal from their work account
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelMe and @kieraevebutler.bsky.social have even MORE good news and it concerns exotic varieties of pseudoscience you may not have even known exist www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
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- Reposted by Call me Ishmaelwhen they tell you to go back to writing about gadgets www.theverge.com/policy/86857...
- Reposted by Call me Ishmael“There are a group of people who are trying to shake everyone else awake—urgently trying to inform us that COVID-19 is ongoing. That COVID-19 is an existential threat. I want to listen to them.” brennan.day/the-pandemic...
- The Australian dream: to become a landlord propped up by government subsidies. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
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- Reposted by Call me IshmaelRestFest is an artist-run film & video art festival & online gathering space created by/for Disabled, Deaf, Chronically ill, Neurodivergent, &/or Mad community. In dark, isolating times, this is vital work & care. Spread the word! It starts Feb 1! #disability #ChronicIllness #NEISvoid #LongCOVID
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelOne thing I see liberal outlets giving ground on that I feel the need to correct: it’s impossible to “dox” a paid public official By simply reporting their name, institutional role, and political affiliations
- "You can’t spell ‘masculine’ without ‘mask’", but unironically. Wearing an N95/P2 respirator is taking action to protect those in need, standing up for the downtrodden, shouldering the burden for those who cannot.
- Reposted by Call me Ishmaelyou should not share a post that's a screenshot without a link to a news item. you should not share a post that's a video or picture without some kind of sourcing. we're in a new bad era and these are now basic practices. ... also photogs and journos gotta eat so share their work.
- Reposted by Call me Ishmaelthey're executing moms and nurses in the street. they're using preschoolers as bait. they're stealing people's dads and grandmas and children. they're tear gassing babies. they're staking out schools. there is no remedy but abolition. any proposal that doesn't start there is an act of violence.
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelNews story @thesicktimes.org with updates from today's RECOVER-TLC webinar! thesicktimes.org/2026/01/23/n...
- I'm watching today's RECOVER-TLC webinar, where NIH and FNIH staff are sharing updates on the agency's clinical trials initiative. Doing a bit of liveblogging in this thread, and we might have a news story up at @thesicktimes.org later if they announce anything noteworthy.
- Long Covid is long. New study this month in BMJ Open looking at trajectories of recovery from a London LC clinic over up to 4 years. bmjopen.bmj.com/content/16/1...
- Note that "recovered" in this study means returning to 75% or more of their best health - a bit of a low bar for fully recovered in my opinion.
- There have been quite a few studies funded this month out of the Aus Government's Post Acute Sequelae of Covid research fund. 🧵
- Curtin research aims to develop models of care that can prevent Long Covid in culturally and linguistically diverse communities. www.curtin.edu.au/news/media-r...
- Funding for Long Covid research is definitely needed, but I'm pretty wary of where this is going. We need research that helps patients, not that gaslights us. www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/new...
- Americans, you've got to stop those ICE thugs. Hit the streets, harass your reps, whatever you can do.
- Since we are so greatly concerned about learning loss, surely we'll now be cleaning the air so that kids aren't forced to miss school.
- Research ties long #COVID in kids to chronic school absenteeism, learning problems Long COVID was also linked to a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression. www.cidrap.umn.edu/c...
- Reposted by Call me Ishmael"The Australian Government has made a decision to no longer publish data about COVID-19 cases in Australian residential aged care facilities on a weekly basis." @healthgovau.bsky.social @markbutlermp.bsky.social
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelI made a deep dive video into the TESCREAL ideology shaping Silicon Valley’s biggest companies and the AI arms race, and how a shocking number of tech billionaires are pro-human extinction
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- No Other Choice is pretty fun, enjoyed the character work and some fine acting performances. A little blunt, but it wears its theme on its sleeve and there's no shame in that.
- It's so nice to be able to get out a little now and then.
- For Australians: the Trident P2 (in regular size only, with a 2027 expiry date) seems to be heavily discounted to around a buck a mask at a bunch of places online. Great aura-style head strap mask, which for me gives a better fit, at 1/3 the price. www.rapidmedicalsupplies.com.au/products/tri...
- I am, at this point, pretty confident that my LC is actually improving 🙂.
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelThe closing of ~80% of #LongCOVID clinics—which provided services that PCPs couldn’t—due to funding cuts, provider burnout and lack of approved treatments, is leaving ‘millions’ of LC patients to suffer without care. @scienceline.org 🧵 scienceline.org/2026/01/long...
- Do you want civilian airliners to be shot down? Because that's where this ends. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/u...
- First they ignore you, then they say you’re mad, then dangerous, then there’s a pause and then you can’t find anyone who disagrees with you - Tony Benn. www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic...
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- Still masking because being laid up sick in this heat would be grim.
- Who could have a problem with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals - the guys who follow up on the Yugoslav and Rwandan genocide trials? Or the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict? www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
- Shoutout to the humble and versatile bandana for keeping me cool in the heat
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelThis is Renee Nicole Good, the 37 year old woman murdered by ICE in Minneapolis today She was a wife, mother & a fellow writer She was shot point blank in the head as she was attempting to drive away from armed masked thugs Say her name. Share her photo. Do not let ICE & DHS control the narrative
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelThe surprise invasion of Venezuela isn't imperial expansion driven by the dictates of capitalism; it is somehow even sicker. The Trump administration is behaving like gambling addicts chasing clout in an attention economy. Venezuela is a fucking meme stock. www.theverge.com/policy/85807...
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- Reposted by Call me IshmaelRecent piece published w/ @thesicktimes.org arguing that “Long COVID advocacy is inadequate without sex workers, who have a long legacy of catalyzing consent education and facilitating disease prevention,” using the experiences of Black trans disabled Sex Workers. thesicktimes.org/2026/01/06/l...
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelNEW from Important Context: Genocide experts, including two past presidents of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, are speaking out about escalating attacks on transgender Americans in the U.S. www.importantcontext.news/p/experts-wa...
- Reposted by Call me Ishmaelpeople think moby dick is a stern adventure novel heavy on the plot. i can't emphasize how much it's not. it's supergay chaos with 3 plot points. there's an entire chapter that's just a chowder recipe. sometimes it turns into a play. the main character is covered in whale dinension tattoos.
- Ignoring a pandemic doesn't solve it. We need clean air. gizmodo.com/covid-19-is-...
- Reposted by Call me IshmaelExtremely important study, with very concerning implications for the future. The COVID generation: the neurodevelopmental consequences of in-utero COVID-19 exposure. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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- Reposted by Call me IshmaelMy whole life, advocating war has been fed to me as “the adult position,” akin to drinking your coffee black or reading the business section of the newspaper. Let’s be very clear — war is the childish nonsense of impulsive destructive idiots playing baby-brained video games with real human lives.
- The USA is a rogue state and a major threat to all nations.
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- Reposted by Call me IshmaelThis week, so-called progressive media dudes used their huge platforms to mock people who mask. You know what's actually progressive? Documenting the Long COVID crisis without minimizing or gaslighting. Support the serious independent media we all deserve! Help fund @thesicktimes.org into 2026 😷💸⬇️
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- Ended up with 35 books for the year on my Bookshelf Wrapped, with bursts at the start and end and a lull over the colder months. The clear standouts: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and Foucault's Pendulum. #booksky
