Matt Motta

I've had a missile blow up next to my airplane, been shot at dozens of times by anti-aircraft fire, and launched into orbit — all for my country. I never thought I'd see a President call for my execution.

Trump doesn’t understand the Constitution, and we're all less safe for it.

A maddening double standard from Kennedy's CDC.

RFK Jr. believes that NO studies are good enough to show that vaccines do not cause autism.

But he'll cite just about *anything* showing that vaccines might cause injury.

CDC exploits sci. uncertainty when convenient, and ignores it otherwise.

Co-authored with this amazing team!

@thcallaghan.bsky.social @stecula.bsky.social @klunztrujillo.bsky.social @ophiryotam.bsky.social & @drorwalter.bsky.social

Today in @jhppl.bsky.social, we show that few Americans express strong concern about H5N1 health risks.

That's a problem, because public apathy may impede an already-sluggish policy response to a potential pandemic (as @propublica.org documented this week).

read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Political expedience doesn't magically transform correlation into causation.

Check out my op-ed in @thehill.com on why now is the time for the GOP to embrace the public option @bridgingthegap.bsky.social @buceid.bsky.social @bucas.bsky.social @dadakim.bsky.social @mattmotta.bsky.social @thcallaghan.bsky.social @asanews.bsky.social @apsa.bsky.social @whitehouse-47.bsky.social

@marydwillis.bsky.social and I published a paper published today in Environmental Research Letters! iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... We found that about 46.6 million people in the US, or about 14.1% of the US population, live within a mile of a piece of energy infrastructure. Why do we care? 🛟 |💡🔌

Donald Trump says the House Oversight Committee should get all files it is "legally entitled to."

That phrase is critical.

I suspect he will use that phrase to block most of the files not already release now that he has re-opened an investigation into Jeffry Epstein.

I can't tell you how many interviews I've done where I've been asked: If Trump's policies are so problematic, why are U.S. stocks rising so rapidly.

A bit of international context illustrates the real issue here.

U.S. stocks have dramatically underperformed other advanced economies.

Trump just got massively booed and flipped off by the crowd at the Commanders game.

(Video: Marisa Schultz)

Reporting is so light on details! 😬

"The deal would include a promised vote on extending Obamacare tax credits in December, the sources said."

"overwhelming defeat" is when you lose by a point and a half (historically narrow) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...

This is how Pres. Obama responded when Karmel Allison fainted on stage.

He caught her and said: “You’re OK. I’m right here. I got you."

The idea that the president could -- as a natural impulse -- display genuine concern and empathy for another person feels completely unrecognizable today.

I can't believe that this needs to be said, but...

Oz's confident assertion that Americans will lose 125 *billion* pounds (up from 125 million, just moments before!) is why we need people running HHS who actually know what they're doing.

Boston University Researchers to Examine Impact of Legalized Gambling in $2.5M Study Funding from Massachusetts Gaming Commission will drive research on social and economic impacts, including student behavior

Sports betting & legalized gambling are major public health problems.

Excited to be part of BUSPH's team to study this issue for the Mass. Gaming Commission over the next three years. (w/ @thcallaghan.bsky.social @jencornacc.bsky.social & more!)

More about our work 👇

www.bu.edu/articles/202...

Among the many amazing things about Adams pleading his case here is that he openly supports and now is asking for help from… people who cancelled funding for cancer research.

ANES Data Release! electionstudies.org/data-center/...

The 3-wave ANES panel is now available. It merges data from 3 election studies (2016-2020-2024), the first time the ANES has collected interviews of the same respondents across 3 presidential elections.

“.. the Times editorial board has compiled a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion .. The sobering reality is that the United States has regressed, to different degrees, on all 12.”

@nytopinion.nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The reality TV star who runs NASA for the reality TV star in the White House is pushing back on the reality TV star who thinks that we didn't land on the moon. 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

This is the sound of candidates losing the struggle against the crushing weight of partisan gravity.

This is nationalization and polarization and presidentialization swallowing everything else.

This is the dangerous collapse of dimensionality, in one chart
leedrutman.substack.com/p/the-modera...

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/485594b3-5a72-4ae1-aa93-8ee987be1569 Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform is to offer users the chance to trade on the outcome of elections and sports games, extending the US president and his family’s involvement in the booming prediction markets sector. The Trump Media & Technology Group, which controls the social media platform, on Tuesday announced it would partner with Crypto.com to introduce “Truth Predict”, which would allow users “to react instantly to developments in major current events”.  Crypto.com previously donated $11mn to Trump causes. Earlier this year the Securities and Exchange Commission closed an investigation into the company, and on Friday, it announced that it applied for a US bank charter. In August, TMTG also signed a multibillion-dollar deal to buy Cronos, the tokens issued by Crypto.com, which sent their price soaring. “For too long, global elites have closely controlled these markets — with Truth Predict, we’re democratising information and empowering everyday Americans to harness the wisdom of the crowd, turning free speech into actionable foresight,” said Devin Nunes, TMTG’s head.

Excuse me? So the company the President currently owns is teaming up with a cryptocurrency company to create a prediction market, which will take bets... on things the President himself has quite a lot of control over?

Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen.

www.ft.com/content/4855...

As @gelliottmorris.com notes, the welcomePAC report on Dems shows that the least popular parts of the Dem agenda are things not on the Dem agenda, while the least popular parts of the GOP agenda are things Trump has done this year. open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...

Super interesting -- especially given the efforts by groups like Children's Health Defense to spread misinformation about vaccines for our pets!

Vaccine Skepticism Comes for Pet Owners, Too

As I and several others (including @simonfhaeder.bsky.social) discuss with NYT today, pet parent vaccine hesitancy isn't just a health risk for our four-legged friends. It's a complex health policy challenge with important public health implications.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/s...

@thcallaghan.bsky.social & @mattmotta.bsky.social evaluate the challenge that polarization poses for our health and importantly, they propose a three-pronged path for better understanding and overcoming polarization in health and medicine. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

I know I speak for both @thcallaghan.bsky.social and I when I say we're so excited to collaborate with this amazing team!

Political Science, Public Health Faculty Partner on Vaccine Study Political Science, Public Health Faculty Partner on Vaccine Study

💉 New Maxwell study explores how state vaccination policies shape COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. It’s led by Brittany Kmush and @sgadarian.bsky.social, and supported by David Kelso ’68.

Climate science is facing significant opposition in the US. Today we are launching the collaborative Strengthening Trust in Climate Scientists Megastudy 📈 Find out more and join our efforts 👇🧵

Progress in Cancer Vaccines (Really)

Really encouraging progress in cancer vaccine work. Bonus editorial at the end: