Truly appalling stuff.

I gave a talk at ISR yesterday on declining response rates in surveys, and why we should not automatically assume that this means our survey estimates will be subject to nonresponse bias. Here is the recording for anyone interested! Thanks again to ISR Insights. 🙏 www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSmD...

Pretty clear illustration of "you may as well stand up for what you believe in, they're coming for you anyway."

New podcast @irpwisc.bsky.social w/ Jane Waldfogel @columbiauniversity.bsky.social on importance of US safety net benefits for kids, and how a universal child $$ benefit would be investment in the future. US is among only high-income countries without this benefit: www.irp.wisc.edu/resource/irp...

Today, the UN officially designated Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide. As a party to the Genocide Convention, the U.S. has a legal obligation to obey our own laws, stop weapons sales to Israel, and demand a permanent ceasefire. End the genocide. Ceasefire now.

Memphis is 63% Black, but not one Black person was with Trump today when he signed his presidential memorandum to send the National Guard to the largest Black city in America. The Black mayor of Memphis, the Black mayor of Shelby County, and the Black police chief, were not involved.

public health:

1. In the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk's shooting, the WSJ laundered claims that "transgender symbols" were found with the shooter's gun. Now, a press conference reveals that NO such symbols were found. WSJ owes a full retraction and apology. Subscribe to support our journalism.

Consulting for Statistics Computing and Analytics Research (CSCAR) has been an invaluable resource for UM students, faculty, and staff for decades. Closing CSCAR because of "funding challenges" is incredibly short-sighted. Some colleagues and I discuss why in a new op-ed. #statistics

Remember, if you encounter what seems like an implausible survey finding, ask: 1. Were survey respondents selected randomly or was this an opt-in poll? 2. Could the results, especially for young adults, be driven by bogus respondents? Keep this post in mind: www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/... 🧪

RFK pressured her to *pre approve* panel recommendations for a panel that had not actually met! "Once trusted experts are removed and advisory bodies are stacked, the results are predetermined. That isn’t reform. It is sabotage."

Enough is enough. The health of the country is in danger. Read our resignation letters: insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...

My alma mater, living up to it's new title of Quislings At Best

Data the public relies on is vanishing. In a new article, ISR researchers @maggielevenstein.bsky.social and @johnkubale.bsky.social explain what’s happening, how it affects public trust, and what can be done to preserve critical data. Read more: myumi.ch/D8XdE #DataPreservation #ProtectScience

People who know me IRL, or know my career, know the degree to which I know the CDC (first/only reporter to embed with their disease detectives, wrote a book about it, etc.). That's a bias if you want to interpret it as so. Still it's just astonishing to me that this attack hasn't been bigger news.

NEW 🚨 The violence is the point. Elected Dems must call for widespread resignations (RFK, Bhattacharya, Prasad) in response to the CDC shooting. Public health must demand this of them, and the public must demand that of us. With @publichealthguy1.bsky.social in STAT: www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...

Really bummed to hear that @umich.edu CSCAR is being shut down. Such an amazing resource for students, staff, and faculty. #statsky #episky

Dr. Sunghee Lee (@sungheelee.bsky.social‬) featured in this NYT article examining the consequences of deep NIH cuts on health disparities research. Her work on dementia in underrepresented populations was defunded despite its critical value. Read more: myumi.ch/W6dZb #HealthEquity #SocialResearch

Does anyone know of any resources that discuss how R projects work in distributed computing environments, high performance computing clusters, etc.? #Rstats #databs #statsky #episky

It is important that people understand that only building engineering prevented this being a wholesale slaughter of dedicated public servants.

100%. Seeing the pictures of bullet-riddled buildings on the campus where I worked, knowing the fear and trauma inflicted on the dedicated people working inside has me livid. RFK jr., his allies, and his enablers all own this.

Really cool work from @colincarlson.bsky.social and his group to collect and provide open access to wildlife disease surveillance data! #episky #statsky #rstats #databs

Well, this is a huge Executive Order power grab... www.whitehouse.gov/presidential... 1/3

{renv} users, can anyone tell me why there aren't hash codes for the packages I'm using in the lock file even after running renv::snapshot()? The packages show up, they just don't have hash values which seems problematic. #rstats #databs #statsky

Though, to be clear, they’ve already canceled a diverse assemblage of other awards & contracts related to the subject, and this is just one more funding mechanism getting cut to a field in really dire shape, hemorrhaging qualified scientists & a next generation of professionals left and right.

This delightful news is slowly filtering down to program staff inside NIH. Notices of Special Interest are going to be a thing of the past...

For six months, I've said that threats to economic data have been more collateral damage than intentional harm. No longer. Firing the head of the BLS is five-alarm intentional harm to the integrity of US economic data and the entire statistical system.

Way to go MDHSS (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services! COVID-19 vaccine recommendations remain unchanged.

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. "Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die" Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

This site is gold: mamdanitimes.com

the president does not actually have the power to fire a university president or a museum director, but if elites simply roll over under pressure, then effectively he does

The left better start figuring out how to weaponize today's decision rather than just (rightfully) criticizing it. - Go back into Judge Kaczmaryk's court to dissolve all of his nationwide orders. - Pass gun bans and insist any order applies only to plaintiffs.

OK, @societyforepi.bsky.social, you are next. Time for epidemiologists to speak up. If AMA can do it, so can you!

Yup. This!

As I just flagged, this has been replaced with something which is arguably worse; requiring that basically every plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction against the federal government pay millions or billions of dollars in "security" to pay for "costs" to the federal government if they later win.

Just appalling. #academicsky

UM has one last gift to Ono, in the shape of the faculty evaluation of administrators survey

Congratulations to Grace Noppert!! She has been awarded with a Research Faculty Recognition Award from the UM Office of the Vice President for Research.

Kudos to the Board of Governors of the Florida university system for achieving the rare feat of pleasing the left and the right in equal measure.

Unbelievably horrified by this attack in Boulder. We don’t know the full story of the attacker, but no matter what it is, let me be clear: Senseless, antisemitic attacks do not help Palestinians, Jews, or Israelis. Committing terror attacks against people standing for hostages is disgusting.

This article in the NEJM announcing new FDA policy on Covid Boosters has attracted a lot of attention. I just wanted to share a few things I noticed about it www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

“I propose an alternate strategy: I shall fight Secretary of Education Linda E. McMahon in a televised cage match, the winner of which gets $2.7 billion in federal grants and the power to uphold or destroy America’s continued technological and economic success.” www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

I just, what? It’s all so dumb

3 guys, none with infectious disease or pedatric expertise, just ran roughshod over normal procedures to block COVID shots for kids, pregnant people. This is so awful & insane & we should treat it as such. Reporters, you're on notice. Both sides this at your peril & watch your credibitlity evaporate

We're having a "scientific conferences need to become more accessible" conversation again, this time in terms of the Trump administration making it unsafe for some international colleagues to join us in the US. I'm on the Board of multiple orgs that plan conferences. Here are some thoughts. 🧵🧪🦑🌎

Getting to hear from students and postdocs about the cool work they’re doing at the annual meeting is one of my favorite parts of being SBE CCC’s MPI. Congratulations Alex!

Hey scientific journals 👋 Would you consider waiving publication fees for work partially funded by NIH awards that have since been terminated?

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOUR COMMS STRATEGY IS??

”As the program officer who oversees this research, I will tell you my studies have been terminated,” an individual interrupted. Bhattacharya clarified that studies into the effects of structural racism would be cut, to which the individual responded, “What do you think redlining is?” Amazing.