#NoKings Montpelier, VT

"Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed — Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above." ~ Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again” #NoKings

"rapidly deteriorating conditions at hospitals and clinics across Cuba were causing deaths that would otherwise be preventable. ...The blockade’s effects are cascading through the system." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/26/w...

Iran’s people were facing a horrible shortage of water before the war began. If we are destroying desalination plants and setting fire to Teheran we are committing unfathomable crimes.

"MAHA, were it a serious movement, would criticize capitalism, or at least the bloated 'health sector' of the American economy. And that would be the right target. But MAHA... diverts profits from one set of businesses to another." snyder.substack.com/p/consumptiv...

"MAHA leadership criticizes the pharmaceutical industry’s profit motives in order to promote the wellness industry, which of course also operates according to the profit motive." Here I situate the American health drama in a history of health care. snyder.substack.com/p/consumptiv...

Failure to seriously critique capitalism and commercial medicine will make us all sicker. MAHA instead criticizes pharma's profit motives in order to promote the wellness industry, with its own profit motive. Here I situate this drama in a history of health care. snyder.substack.com/p/consumptiv...

One way concentration camps become zones where law doesn't apply is by neglecting policies & standards that would protect health & provide healthcare. You deny laws & norms & dehumanize your victim. Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...

“For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick.” Conditions in a San Diego concentration camp, via message hurled out in a bottle.

I feel so sick reading this. She dedicated her life to helping her immigrant trans siblings, finally got the medical care she sought her whole life, and then a year later ICE tricked her, kidnapped her and used her postoperative status as a weapon to destroy her health. CW for basically everything

One way concentration camps become zones where law doesn't apply is by neglecting policies & standards that would protect health & provide healthcare. You deny laws & norms & dehumanize your victim. Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...

"this your mountanish inhumanity" Shakespeare of course had the words to describe attacks on immigrants, writing 400 years ago. (1/7) www.tiktok.com/@colbertlate...

Expectant mothers were left so hungry after the U.S. cut foreign food aid that one woman ate clay and charcoal. Her baby struggled to gain weight after being born prematurely. By @annamaria.bsky.social, photos by @storitellah.com & illustrations by Phoebe Ouma

"Trump officials celebrated with cake after slashing aid. Then people died of cholera."

The Soviet gulag is one important comparison. I also keep thinking of the classic question of World War II history: "Did people know?" Did Germans know about concentration camps? Did people living next to the camps and death facilities know? How could they go about their lives if they knew? We know.

For an excellent study of medicalizing euphemisms please see Golfo Alexopolous’s history of the Gulag, entitled "Illness and Inhumanity."

“We should be just as outraged by the deaths that take place out of sight” @willbunch.bsky.social

Journalists and media: stop bothsidesing attacks on childhood vaccines. We look to you to report what is happening and what the effects will be, not repeat the administration’s rhetoric. The effects will be more sickness and more death. That is not something to bothsides. Hold power accountable.

Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department. One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone. When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?

I’m honored to be part of Ukrainian History Global Initiative’s project. I’m contributing on state forms and statelessness. It’s a privilege to be welcomed into the vibrant community of scholars committed to the humanities and knowledge in the midst of war. I have learned so much from my colleagues.

Journalists and media: stop bothsidesing attacks on childhood vaccines. We look to you to report what is happening and what the effects will be, not repeat the administration’s rhetoric. The effects will be more sickness and more death. That is not something to bothsides. Hold power accountable.

Hugely proud of and happy for Prof David Petruccelli, whose history of Interpol is published by OUP today. It provides a complete revision of a major chapter of the history of international policing & is full of amazing anecdotes from the history of international crime global.oup.com/academic/pro...

They are pro-disease and pro-death — for our children.

Georgian authorities have adopted a series of laws that unjustifiably interfere with the right to peaceful assembly and are being used to suppress dissent. People are being detained or slapped with ruinous fines for exercising their fundamental rights.

This fetid landmark, this historical stain on humanity is primarily due to the stunningly reckless obliteration of America's foreign assistance agency earlier this year. Led by the richest man on earth. In secret, on a weekend. With zero analysis or discussion of its catastrophic impacts.

While we're reacting to Prasad's anti-vax proclamations, it's helpful to read of responses to shared challenges in other places. Romania's anti-vax is tied up in memories of authoritarianism, an underfunded health system, & disinformation. Rebuilding trust in politics and public health go together.

This is the most important op-ed you'll read this week. The Trump administration is about to get rid of the birth-dose of hepatitis B vaccine. That is a deadly choice for many families. @helenouyang.bsky.social tells her story. Now call your member of Congress. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/o...

While we're reacting to Prasad's anti-vax proclamations, it's helpful to read of responses to shared challenges in other places. Romania's anti-vax is tied up in memories of authoritarianism, an underfunded health system, & disinformation. Rebuilding trust in politics and public health go together.

A year of protests for democracy and the rule of law in Georgia.

In his racist screed, Trump threatens to strip people of their American citizenship for disrupting his regime’s “domestic tranquility.” Violating the rights, safety, and dignity of any migrant makes all Americans vulnerable.

"WHO to lose nearly a quarter of its workforce – 2,000 jobs – due to US withdrawing funding" www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Their essay is one way of explaining that only the “fit” will survive and we should not be investing money in protecting the “unfit.” #eugenics

Under new administration guidance, if you’re overweight or diabetic, you can be denied a visa to live in the U.S. all in the name of “protecting the taxpayer.” Newsflash: immigrants are not the problem. They’re the ones helping to build our economy and communities. 🇺🇸 www.npr.org/2025/11/12/n...

Academics who have advised a graduate student from China over the past years would be banned from federal funding. This would give the federal government one more lever to attack scientists. And how long before they expand the list of "hostile foreign" countries?

They’re erasing the history because this administration doesn’t want evidence of public health successes or memory of a functioning CDC.

Politically motivated removals and political appointments are reminiscent of “science” under Soviet and other authoritarian regimes.

🚨🚨 @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social is a force. Her voice carries power, truth, and courage—threats to the regime. The only thing authoritarians fear more than a voice they cannot control is a chorus. So let’s give them one: speak up, speak loudly, and don’t stop. Stand with Jenna. ✊🇺🇸

According to a source, Jenna Norton, who led a letter criticizing Trump's decimation of the NIH (see below), has been placed on administrative leave. She's the first at NIH to be put on leave, joining EPA officials who criticized Trump policies. www.pbs.org/newshour/nat...

They’re erasing the history because this administration doesn’t want evidence of public health successes or memory of a functioning CDC.

Happy news: My new book -- Humanitarianism: A Very Short Introduction -- now has a cover and is available for preorder! The book is a concise history of humanitarianism in an international and global perspective, from the 18th century to the present. More info here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Last night, eight Dems in the Senate broke ranks and acquiesced to Republicans in the shutdown fight.

Last month, El Fasher, in Sudan’s Darfur region, fell to rebel forces. “The world hasn’t caught up to what a big deal El Fasher is,” a humanitarian researcher at Yale said. “We are talking tens upon tens of thousands of potential dead in five days.” https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/ePchw0

Yesterday, hundreds of scientists, physicians, health workers, patients, leaders, and advocates spoke together with one voice, RFK Jr. is not fit to lead HHS and has got to go. Thanks to @apha.org @standupforscience.bsky.social, and others for organizing.

it is darkly humorous that after all these years, the Republican health insurance plan ends up being to end health insurance

This is murder. It is social engineering by oligarchs and politicians doing the will of oligarchs. It is cruel and brutal and results in death as surely as other forms of violence.

I’m very pleased to have written the chapter on health and to be in fantastic company in this volume.

This is murder. It is social engineering by oligarchs and politicians doing the will of oligarchs. It is cruel and brutal and results in death as surely as other forms of violence.

Thread. Strongly recommend reading the whole thread.

I'm delighted to give a pre-launch book talk at Dartmouth on 11/10. Why is eastern Europe necessary for understanding global health and health as a right? Come hear my talk and look for my book in the spring! "For Your Health and Ours" history.dartmouth.edu/events/event...