That's on a #GarlickBLT (book launch tour)

Huge day for the PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS book launch tour. I'm on the local CBS today discussing why YOUR health care costs are so high and what lobbyists have to do with it. #GarlickBLT

A reminder: the in-state public institution that you or your loved one is admitted to will most likely offer you a quality education at an affordable price.

Us Vermonters love two things: accountability for government officials, and public radio

This Jimmy Kimmel protest proposal couldn't be more Vermont even if it was covered in maple syrup.

If I go a full day in the hospital without talking to any patients about my cats, that’s not high-quality palliative care delivery.

I was also so fortunate to have @garlicksauce.bsky.social present as part of the #GarlickBLT this week in Public Health Nursing!

The thing about using Senate obstruction tools is that it's win-win for liberals. Either you successfully slow down or block action by Trump. Or you get the Republicans in the Senate to weaken or abolish the filibuster. Either thing is an improvement over the status quo.

I guess we can call this the "Performative Military" vs. "Industrial" Complex

This is incorrect: (1) Department of War was just the Army, not the Navy and Marine Corps; and (2) the President does not have the authority, only Congress can make that change in the law. Be better, @npr.org.

It was a pleasure to kick off the #GarlickBLT (book launch tour) for PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS at the UVM Cancer Center's PSCO group this week. The book ships this month, and you can use the 30% promo code AUFLY30 here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

so kawhi has two no show jobs?

Vought is breaking more laws than any other American.

I’ve been wondering how American Dream, one of the biggest malls in the country, got an exemption from county laws preventing it from being open on Sundays. The answer is that it didn’t, and just decided the law didn’t apply to it. eu.northjersey.com/story/news/b...

We can't allow ourselves to become numb to mass shootings. What happened today in Minneapolis is heartbreaking, and Michelle and I are praying for the parents who have lost a child or will be sitting at their hospital bedside after yet another act of unspeakable, unnecessary violence.

Sky-high sin taxes for guns and ammo. Exorbitant license and permitting fees. Require frustrating bureaucratic hurdles. Make it fiscally difficult to own, use, and sell them to limit both the supply and demand of weapons.

My book is available for 30% off. Ideal for public/health policy students and anyone that is suspicious of special interests in America health care.

New academic year, new office decor.

I'm putting together a promotion file, and would appreciate knowing via DM if you've cited my work in your course syllabi, thanks!

Phish has got to be the most under-played artist in Spotify data.

Alligator Alcatraz I miss my pal Juan Diaz Now what else is there to do Unholy moly, me oh my From the city they took my guy Goons, I've never hated like I do you Man, oh man, this must somehow end I scream it to old John Brown's grave There's just one thing that I need

Why is Google Scholar so bad at generating cites for classic books?

On his decision to end $500M worth of research on mRNA vaccines, RFK Jr. said: “The the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu”. These vaccines saved 3.2M lives in the U.S. He is running a disinformation op against Americans.

So you’re telling me the Wizard of Oz presented itself as a towering force of overwhelming technology, only to be unmasked as just some guy, off-screen?

HERO.

Yes! The palace is the Capitol, where the people rule, not the White House.

According to OpenStates, the first year of Trump's second administration (2025) is on track for the most spending on DC lobbying ever ~taking inflation into account~.

Kamala's going to frame the "107 days" of it all as an excuse, in that she didn't have enough time to leave her mark, etc. It's the exact opposite. She had it and fumbled it in the last month of the campaign.

Happy 60th birthday to Medicare and Medicaid! Hang in there, I hear 60 is the new 40

45. Academia doesn't reward building useful tools nearly as much as it should

13. It's crazy how the whole Lacour affair was memory-holed in political science

We need a bigger stadium at UVM. Up the Green!

If Cornell is in, why can't UVM compete with Dartmouth for one of these spots? I propose a soccer match.

This is why abundance for progressive priorities (housing, transit, clean energy) is so important: monied interests (AI) are getting abundance for what they want from the feds!

Yesterday, Wilmer Chavarria, a Vermonter & US Citizen, was held and interrogated for hours in the Houston airport by CBP agents. He's a school superintendent. So don’t try to tell us this is about removing violent criminals. This is how they use psychological terror to intimidate us into silence.

Very cool new resource for work on state law!

This is the first time I've written a paper in the "data descriptor" format, and I'd highly recommend it to authors, or editors looking for a special issue format. Not every paper needs to be shoehorned into the sections designed for hypothesis testing.

Here's a treat for state politics and policy researchers: Ethan Dee and I published a dataset in Nature: Scientific Data with the universe of state legislative bills since ~2009 coded by 28 policy areas. We used a machine learning model built off open source components.

Congressional policymaking in the Trump/Biden era is very reminiscent of how many states make their policies. Most (all?) of the action is in annual budget bills (2017, 2021, 2022, 2025) and not much else.

I just posted a new paper on @ssrn.bsky.social, titled "The Chadha Presidency". Here's the link, and I'll post the abstract in the next post. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The death of the appropriations process is on Senators like Collins. There were moments for her to protect the bipartisan components, but she did not and now they're gone.

what the fuck is this shit

My haiku titled: "The 119th Congress" Trump has gotten his Opponents to fold. We don’t Foresee a problem.

thinking about the dems who said we can't abolish ICE as the Department of Education gets wiped off the map

I for one think it was cool and good that nothing was done in the last four years of Democratic control to rein in the Supreme Court, I'm glad the norm respecters won out and we're all living in a rich norm-filled paradise today.

Trump is illegally withholding $7 billion promised to public schools. That means $26 million for Vermont's schools is at risk. He's already dismantled the Department of Education and wants to devastate public schools as well. Trump: Unfreeze the money for schools.

Pre-ordering immediately

The cover for my book "Pre-Existing Conditions" has arrived, and the book ships in September. It's a ~fun~ read if you're interested in special interests remaking the American health care system. global.oup.com/academic/pro...