In light of a “top” CDC vaccine advisor questioning the need for a polio vaccination, I’m re-upping my grandfather’s polio survival story. Brutal is an understatement. His mother would have given *anything* for a vaccine.

In light of a “top” CDC vaccine advisor questioning the need for a polio vaccination, I’m re-upping my grandfather’s polio survival story. Brutal is an understatement. His mother would have given *anything* for a vaccine.

Y’all, when I tell you I idolize Dr. West, it’s not hyperbole. This brilliant Black woman fought her way through OCEANS of misogynoir to give the world the foundations of GPS. W/o her work, many of us would be lost most of the time! And then, age 70, she got a PhD in public administration (VA Tech)!

“The HIV epidemic can end. The science is already there. What remains is the harder part, the moral obligation to ensure that the most marginalized have the same access to that science as everyone else.” apple.news/A2pxLDWjXS5y...

This is not The Onion. apple.news/A4OARpVr8Q3e...

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

As a reminder, in addition to not commemorating World AIDS day, this administration also gutted PEPFAR. Here’s KFF’s most recent analysis of PEPFAR’s status: www.kff.org/global-healt...

Jim Clyburn's new book, The First Eight, restores the lives of South Carolina's early Black congressmen and shows how their battles during Reconstruction offer lessons, and warnings, for politics today. n.pr/4ohnG12

Y’all know what to do. apple.news/Am9IoJ9xKQ1W...

AARP has historically had considerable political influence (relative, of course) in the US context. Do advocacy orgs for older adults have similar pull elsewhere? Age UK? BAGSO in Germany? National Seniors Australia?

Here Vox's explainer for just what is going on at the Department of Education which includes me saying I don't have faith in financial aid disbursement next year and, oh yea, I think we're in a constitutional crisis www.vox.com/policy/40233...

I googled so you don’t have to: Nix v. Hedden. (A tariff case.)

A recent Lancet article calls PEPFAR “one of the most successful global health initiatives ever undertaken.” It had to be a huge success to have ANY hope of redressing the many injustices done to the Global South wrt HIV/AIDS. And now PEPFAR is being abandoned b/c of racism & xenophobia.

A recent Lancet article calls PEPFAR “one of the most successful global health initiatives ever undertaken.” It had to be a huge success to have ANY hope of redressing the many injustices done to the Global South wrt HIV/AIDS. And now PEPFAR is being abandoned b/c of racism & xenophobia.

Folks look at you like you’re crazy when you say we’re in the midst of the worst, most unprecedented constitutional crisis in 🇺🇸 history, & then, well, here it is, all in one post:

This is Faye. She wanted to bring a little sunshine into your life. Heard it can help with the happiness. 14/10 thank you so much Faye

This is a lie. We all saw the video. The Senator clearly identified himself, and he did not "lunge" toward anyone.   If these miserable propagandists will lie to you about roughing up a U.S. Senator in a room full of reporters, what won't they lie to you about?

Amidst the many other assaults on democracy & decency: “White House spokesperson Harrison Fields in a statement cited the need to "*liberate our federal lands and waters to oil, gas, coal, geothermal, and mineral leasing.*" apple.news/AYbwyG7AZRyi...

I have to admit that I did not have “The Defense Department under a Republican administration resurrects Socialist Realism three decades after the USSR’s collapse” on my bingo card.

I also have no gasts left to flabber.** **I have tempted fate & in response, the administration will do something so horrific that I will be forced to summon a gast to flabber.

Corey Booker: “IF AMERICA HASN'T BROKEN YOUR HEART, THEN YOU DON'T LOVE HER ENOUGH." 💙🥹

@booker.senate.gov dismantles a Confederate monument.

And, to be clear, it's almost certainly happening *because* the base has been screaming for action from elected Democrats. This isn't "relax, they've got this." This is "keep yelling, it's working."

I also have no gasts left to flabber.** **I have tempted fate & in response, the administration will do something so horrific that I will be forced to summon a gast to flabber.

((TV announcer voice)) Having trouble hiring people due to low wages or undesirable jobs? Don’t increase the pay or make conditions better! Just hire KIDS to work those overnight shifts - they’re young, they don’t need sleep! apple.news/Ar4VsEhF9RU-...

With the help of the @mpsa.bsky.social leadership team & Council, & many other PoliSci department chairs, the MPSA Department Chairs Caucus is now MPSA organized section 79! Our goal is to provide professional development opportunities & support to department chairs/heads in the discipline.

Re-upping this again as more people read about the Khalil case. More information to come, but nothing in WP and NYT so far contradicts original reporting. Again, it DOES NOT MATTER what you think about him or his cause. Either government is bound by the law for all of us or we're all at their mercy.

Reminder: When a person or institution you hate is targeted for illiberal persecution by an aspiring authoritarian, you have to defend them EVEN IF you don't like them. It doesn't matter if you don't like campus protestors or Columbia or the law firms. We must defend them or we're all at risk next.

In my dystopias & democracies class, students make a fictional authoritarian state, then a nonviolent resistance movement, and then they democratize & write a constitution. Some of their authoritarian regimes were terrifyingly good. (& there were a number of authoritarians that rhymed with Tusk. 🤔)

oh

Every single Democratic governor and attorney general needs to do this -- if only to make it clear to voters *right now* that the firings and funding freezes that are about to hurt their states badly are the work of Trump-Musk in Washington. Get ahead of this now, or get blamed for it later.

And guess who will bear the brunt of a DIY society? If you are curious, Prof. Calarco has a book for you.

“We fired all the guards at the bank so they’re not roadblocks to anything that happens.”

Setting up a personalist regime in which everyone is forced to beg for favors from the leader (to get federal funds, an exemption from tariffs, or an agreement not to be prosecuted)

Attended the Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission 60th Anniversary today & learned about a national org that follows EOs & responses from civil society, plus info on legal actions that the pro-democracy community takes against harmful policies. More info at Democracy2025.org

Is this why his DOGE picks lack a fully developed prefrontal cortex? Beause folks with an adult brain, long-term planning skills, and impulse control would be worried about jail time? All can still be on parent's insurance. Most have to pay an underage rental car fee. One can't legally drink

This is a constitutional crisis: the President doesn't have the power to cancel funds appropriated by Congress. Also, the math is insane; there is NO way to cut $4B/day by getting rid of "fraud". Cuts of that magnitude will dangerously undermine the core functions of government.

No mystery what we're seeing here: -Illegally withholding spending/nullifying contracts -Purges of law enforcement and prosecutors -Taking bribes for lenient treatment while threatening enemies with persecution -Pardoning violent/paramilitary allies -Granting vast powers to an unelected billionaire

It's quite a time to be a specialist in German politics while residing in the U.S. Lots to process. If you have a bigger attention span than mine this week, check out my book about how "left" and "right" are the wrong terms for understanding the present moment. 1/2 tupress.temple.edu/books/beyond...

I have a chapter in my book about how Richard Nixon tried to use the OMB to take away DOD grants to universities from 1970-1973. His closest aides knew it was a controversial order, but only slow walked it. It was eventually stopped by OMB staff who threatened to go to the press.

If you’re looking for something to read that points us in the direction of resistance, consider this book. @dratchison.bsky.social is awesome. cup.columbia.edu/book/survive...

If you’re in need of some hope or ideas for nonviolent resistance to dystopian government, try our book (me + Shauna Shames): cup.columbia.edu/book/survive...

States like Tennessee have been laboratories for fascism for years but this is next-level out of control.

this is not the obituary I wanted to read today