This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

Acting with all the precision of a dull ax dissecting an earthworm...🙄 And what will the consequence be? My prediction: poorer outbreak response, poorer support for local health departments, poorer public health for Americans. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h... www.wired.com/story/cdc-te...

The Trump administration on Saturday scrambled to rescind layoffs of hundreds of CDC scientists who were mistakenly fired on Friday night in what appeared to be a substantial procedural lapse. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

Worth remembering in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's murder (when many of my *Catholic* HS classmates were eager to suspend the legal rights of "leftists"), that we've covered this ground before...& St. Thomas More was pretty clear about the illogic ~500 years ago... www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDBi...

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

What’s that about waste,fraud, and abuse? THIS IS ABUSE

Part III: There's still something missing; the *value* of truth-seeking motivates *how* we do good science...but what about *why*? There's a cultural *rot* prizing selfishness & control over other people, mixed with ignorance & pride, that we have to reckon with, too. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/o...

Part II: more to be said about how academics often miss the point, following Bloom's piece... {https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-arent-professors-braver} But I think there's a lot more going on than what another academic (a sociologist) notes here: *values*... www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/o...

Part I: *All* academics should read this & reflect, as I will. What's the role of academic culture in stifling healthy & necessary confrontation...and how do we shift it? #AcademicSky #MedSky www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

What is Pam Bondi actually doing in today’s “ending political violence against ICE” memo? I take you through it, tonight at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com/p/a-rather-b...

If they can do it under far worse conditions than we have here, so can you. apnews.com/article/mold...  Moldova’s pro-EU party wins clear parliamentary majority, defeating pro-Russian groups

WATCH: “They’re not strong. If you’re strong you don’t feel the need to do this level of suppression of dissent. When you’re confident in what you’re presenting you don’t need to do this stuff.” Hasan & @timheidecker.bsky.social on the Trump regime’s authoritarian crackdown

Icymi the first time this ran, here’s a refresher: Vaccines today are more efficient and contain far fewer stimulants to the immune system than some used decades ago www.nytimes.com/2024/12/14/h...

There's a lot to say about the scientific illiteracy, hucksterism, & plain ol' predatory populism here...but before we can better educate the ill-informed, we have to have people who *want* to understand the science (& then, who are *capable* of understanding it). 🤷🏾‍♂️🙁 www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

Withdrawing from the War on Cancer: an extraordinarily successful scientific research system that took decades to build, saved millions of lives and generated billions of dollars in profits is being dismantled in short order. @jonathanmahler.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...

Kinda hilarious anyone wants to pretend these people are motivated by anything other than barbarous cruelty & violence. It's *grotesque*. America empowered the worst of its own in electing Trump, and in turn, he has empowered the worst of America. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

He should never have been confirmed by the Senate in the first place...& he's unlikely to resign or be fired...but that doesn't mean scientists shouldn't continue stating the facts & calling out this cult of disinformation & death. Thank you, @idsainfo.bsky.social www.idsociety.org/news--public...

Whether Americans find the warnings persuasive or not, it doesn't change the terrible *reality* that we all face, or the knowledge, expertise, & credibility of these authors. It's important for scientists to keep speaking truth to power, if only to avoid complicity. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

The newly ousted director of the CDC refused to fire top agency leaders or approve changes to vaccines from RFK Jr.’s hand-picked panel of advisers.

Gupta: Here’s why this matters: 1. Because the FDA indications have changed, if I prescribe it to you, I’m opening myself up to a lawsuit. He directly signals that… 2. A pharmacist is no longer able to prescribe and administer a COVID-19 booster that doesn’t meet indications.

New, from me: America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism. This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...

This interview, which is also available to listen to as a podcast, provides a useful overview of some of the dangerous trends we’ve been seeing in recent months regarding federalization and militarization of state and local police functions.

To get a sense of how scientists/public health officials feel, think about what you felt when you saw Notre Dame burn. The collective history, heritage, & culture- the work of *generations*- being destroyed in the blink of an eye. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/h... www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...

Even if many of us are still relatively insulated from the chaos...do we realize how far gone our society is? Whether you've noticed, the continued degradation of the rule of law here is no trivial thing... www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...

Larry Summers: "This is way beyond anything Nixon ever did ... this is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism. Firing statisticians goes with threatening the heads of newspapers, launching assaults on universities, launching assaults on law firms. This is really scary stuff."

A #DailyShow interview worth a watch & reflection: www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5kX... Reputable organizations if you wish to donate: donate.wck.org/give/525879/... www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/our-r... Call your Representative/Senators & tell them what you think: www.congress.gov/contact-us

This is also why those who say *science* mustn't be "political" miss the point. Science itself isn't political. But its *implications* & the actions it informs or indicts *are*...because politics are how free societies act (or don't). www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/o...

Please remember, among the most destructive consequences of ripping public goods away & undermining institutional scientific integrity is the damage to our #publichealth. www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1... www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

🗨️ “Vaccines have done more to improve public health than any other medical intervention.” A Viewpoint focuses on cancer vaccines & the future of immunotherapy—analysing trials & how the next generation of cancer vaccines can help improve patient outcomes & quality of life. tinyurl.com/n94jsbju

I can't overstate how successful #USAID has been... & how *catastrophic* its discontinuation will be. *Tens of MILLIONS* of lives saved over 20 years...& MILLIONS of lives imperiled in the next few. Ending USAID is pure evil. 😔 www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/o...

If gutting healthcare for poor people & ensuring the uberwealthy don't see a tax increase reflects your values- well, you're not a good person. There's no point in sugarcoating it. 🤷🏾‍♂️ #OBBB If you don't approve, call your Representative: www.house.gov/representati... www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Whether you understand the science of how scores of vaccines have been rigorously evaluated for safety, efficacy, & effectiveness, they *have* been. Everyone indulging RFKJ's outright *lies* has blood on their hands. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h... www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h...

NEW: This Virginia city has seen years of heated debate over criminal justice reform. Progressive officials moved to stop adult charges for kids, weed cases, mandatory minimums; it's all run into fierce opposition from other leaders. Then, the reform prosecutor won last week. I wrote about it:

Progress...but so much damage has already been done. Still, it's important to speak the truth aloud, again and again, as often as we can. The fact that the message comes from a Reagan-appointed federal judge this time helps a bit, too. www.nature.com/articles/d41... www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/u...

In case you wondered what actual infectious diseases / #vaccinology experts think about DHHS's adventures in trying to erase sound science. #VaccinesWork www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/o... www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/u... jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

“The fundamental civic unit in this nation is neighbor.” - @jelaniya.bsky.social 🇺🇸

“A U.S. citizen!” And now he’s missing. Adrian Martinez tried to defend a man ICE was harassing. Video shows six agents swarming him. He struggles but doesn’t lay hands on them. They take him to the ground & shove him into a CBP vehicle. Abuse of power. Keep recording. Don’t stop. (1 of 2)

My point is NOT that mass protests are meaningless. I believe they are critical and have participated in them for half a century. However, control of the military and the decisions of its leaders are also critical. And there is no magic 3.5% number, as the author of that research has said herself:

At midday Eastern Time, we have a crowdsourced, unofficial estimate of just over 32,000 people attending No Kings Day protests around the U.S. so far. Please join us and add more data as more events get going. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

What to do after attending a conference with colleagues whose life’s work with vulnerable populations is under attack? Go to the NYC #NoKings rally.

We are just getting started. “American Spring? How nonviolent protest in the US is accelerating…” wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer...

Have a look and get ‘em done.

Democrats should introduce articles of impeachment for RFK jr Even if it doesn’t work, which it probably won’t, democrats need to make clear that he’s not gonna get away with it

Where do I put on my CV that the NRA Institute for Legislative Action called our JAMA Pediatrics paper “political propaganda masquerading as scientific research?” I’m thinking Honors and Awards. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/h...

The US has been the scientific & academic envy of the *world* for decades now. Thanks to reckless ideologues, we're surrendering that position. Our brethren at the #NIH are speaking out & we must rise to their defense. The eyes of the world are upon us. www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

This substitution of demagoguery for scientific evidence will harm us all- but *especially* the medically vulnerable: children and the elderly. As morbidity/mortality from #vaccine-preventable diseases likely rise in the coming months, remember the root causes. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/h...

It's hard to overstate how destructive the reflexive "this is a distraction!" stuff that politicians and commentators and people are always peddling. Everything is happening all at once. That's how authoritarianism works. If you can't navigate and synthesize this, you're not meeting the moment.

What's next for @who.int without US engagement? In a new podcast episode, Lancet editors reflect on developments at #WHA78, including the pandemic agreement and shifting dynamics in global health leadership. Listen now 👉 tinyurl.com/7xrhu3rm #LancetVoice

Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪 www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...

I don't think the intent matters much. The fact is this: an American President is using the military to police US civilians in a US city. It's open authoritarian bullshit...and if you can't call it out & see how destructive it is, then you really are lost. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/u...