Matt Coates

We're seeing a massive institutional deportation and state violence apparatus being built and it honestly feels like people dont grasp the sheer scale of it and what already is in place. For every horrific video of masked feds kidnapping people there are so many people pushing paper to help.

In response to anti-DEI legislation in the states, universities have started to hire more white male faculty.

This increase starts before bills are signed into law.

Universities appear to be anticipating anti-DEI legislation and preemptively hiring more white men.

The subtext of this comment is that the Mayor of Boston is Asian-American, whereas the Mayor of Chicago (like almost everyone else that Trump refers to as “a low IQ person”) is Black.

CDC team running top survey on health and nutrition is laid off NHANES has collected data on eating patterns, diabetes and other common diseases for decades. The CDC team that runs it has been fired.

Protecting the nation’s public health demands data, whether it be new measles cases, a surge in ER visits, or shifting patterns in obesity. The most recent job cuts at the CDC threaten the mostly unseen foundation of that research enterprise.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/14/c...

Assessment of malnutrition in preschool-aged children by mid-upper arm circumference in the Gaza Strip (January, 2024–August, 2025): a longitudinal, cross-sectional, surveillance study After nearly 2 years of war and severe restrictions in humanitarian aid, tens of thousands of preschool-aged children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from preventable acute malnutrition and facing an ...

New study in @thelancet.com

“After nearly 2 years of war and severe restrictions in humanitarian aid, tens of thousands of preschool-aged children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from preventable acute malnutrition and facing an increased risk of mortality”

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Holy shit. As someone who teaches global public health & policy, I find this absolutely chilling. It’s *impossible* to teach this topic without discussing politics, conflicts, social determinants of health, power, equity, disparities, colonialism & neocolonialism….

CDC is being run by politicians now.

"there are few experienced leaders left at the CDC; some 80% of..center leaders were laid off or terminated, or have [left]. Houry was the only permanent career official in CDC's office of the director... there were 10 political appointees remaining, she said."

Great to see this paper!

You have probably already noted this, but is Fig 2B supposed to be labeled about pregnancies instead of infants?

Useful polling data: In 2025, confidence in public health institutions has steeply declined among Democrats, but hasn't gained under Republicans. MAHA public health takeovers appear very unconvincing, even to supporters.

www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/public-confi...
(h/t @tgof137.bsky.social)

Realizing that the endpoint here is probably massively scaling back screening for autism spectrum disorders, limiting resources for people who need them, but leading to a decline in cases & declaration of victory.

"If we stopped testing right now, we'd have very few cases, if any."

This graph shows a U.S. public health triumph: near-elimination of pediatric hepatitis B through universal birth vaccination. After 30 years of extraordinary progress, ACIP tomorrow considers dismantling it.

Medical justification: none.
Consequences: catastrophic.
www.cdc.gov/acip/downloa...

If you want to reduce the burden of chronic disease (including cancer), then making the vaccines for HPV & Hep B widely available and accessible with as few barriers as possible helps achieve that goal.

A VAERS report indicating death after COVID vaccine. The description of the investigation into this death reads: Adverse Event Description On 1/23/21 the patient had a single-car accident, slid off icy road into snowbank. She was seen in our ER, diagnosed w/ trauma and L4 compression fracture. She was transported to Hospital for further trauma workup. We believe she was treated and released. On 1/31/21 the patient had a headache but did not seek medical attention. In the morning of 2/1 she became unresponsive and was pronounced dead on the scene when EMS arrived. Autopsy showed a left temporal subdural hematoma.

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System is getting attention bc RFK Jr. & his antivaxx goons plan to use VAERS to claim COVID vaccines killed children.

This is an actual VAERS report for a reported death after COVID vaccine. This is what these people count as data showing “death after vaccine:”

UCLA’s Terence Tao: Losing support for research means losing our best and brightest The "Mozart of Math" warns that federal funding cuts could irreparably damage the nation’s scientific ecosystem and drive our top young scientists abroad.

newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/tere...

#universities #research #funding

US Supreme Court allows NIH to cut $2 billion in research grants The decision will hinder lawsuits against grant terminations, legal specialists say.

The US Supreme Court has derailed researchers’ efforts to reinstate almost $2 billion in grants issued by the NIH. The court’s decision represents a remarkable reversal, allowing the Trump team to proceed with its science cuts.

go.nature.com/3JsraiA

Under Trump, the Consumer Product Safety Commission—the agency that for 50 years has enforced laws that prevent choking hazards in young children’s toys—is trying to dissolve itself

Turns out most Americans (70%) believe US universities should be receiving previous levels of funding - or even more! - to advance scientific research.

Dear President Milliken, Regents, and Governor Newsom, As faculty members of University of California law schools, we endorse Governor Newsom's commitment to resist the Trump Administration's unlawful actions taken against the University of California, Los Angeles. The Governor is on firm legal ground. The Trump Administration's termination and suspension of federal funds has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in numerous ways. Governor Newsom and the University of California Regents will protect the vital interests not only of Californians but of all Americans if they defend the University of California's rights. The U.S. Department of Justice notified UCLA on July 29, 2025, that it had found that UCLA had "violated its obligations under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." Chancellor Frenk subsequently announced that "the federal government claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons" for federal grant terminations. UCLA faces losses of at least $584 million, funding that has supported vital research on matters ranging from treatments for pancreatic cancer to advances in online security. The Trump Administration has made no pretense of following the law. Title VI permits a federal agency to terminate funding only if it has found that the particular program receiving that funding has violated the law's non-discrimination provisions. Funding cannot disappear just because the agency's policy or political preferences differ from the institution's. Moreover, the agency can act only after following specific procedural steps. Importantly, Title VI requires a formal administrative hearing—a proceeding much like a trial-before the agency can terminate funding. At the hearing, the agency would have the burden of proving the university's alleged violations of Title VI before an impartial decision-maker. If the agency prevails at the hearing, the university or other interested persons could appea…

factually supported and consistent with civil rights laws. Without the steps Title VI requires, there is no protection against an administration alleging discrimination as a pretext to force compliance with its policy or partisan preferences. Title VI's procedures guarantee the constitutional due process requirement that no person can be deprived of liberty or property without fair notice and opportunity to be heard. They protect the university and its members' academic freedom, an endowment essential to scientific research, intellectual discovery, and open debate. We are deeply committed to the core principle of non-discrimination codified in Title VI and in the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. The principle that no person may suffer discrimination because of race, color, or national origin protects equality and ensures fairness in political as well as social life. Allegations of discrimination deserve serious and careful consideration and, where established, effective redress. But this enforcement effort must follow the law. We urge Governor Newsom and the UC Regents to continue to stand up for the fundamental principles of the rule of law, due process, and equal protection. A defense of the University of California's rights in court will model respect for these bedrock principles of equality and fairness, and it will ensure that the government honors them. The Trump Administration's failure to abide by the law subverts these principles by denying the University of California a fair opportunity to contest the government's charges of unlawful discrimination before an impartial decisionmaker. It is precisely because we cherish the principles of the Civil Rights Act and the Constitution that we encourage Governor Newsom, the UC Regents, and the University of California to fight back. Through its grantmaking powers, the federal government wields vast influence over social and economic life. If not held to account by the procedural protections enacted by Congres…

🚨 150 University of California law professors (and counting) have now signed this open letter to the UC Regents and other officials, explaining the flagrant illegality of the Trump Administration’s UCLA funding cut offs, and urging the UC to fight back. sites.google.com/view/uclawfa...

Pfizer Covid vaccine for young children may not be renewed by FDA Email obtained by Guardian says Pfizer was told approval may not be granted, meaning Moderna may have to fill gap

NEW: The FDA may yank Pfizer's under-5 Covid vaccine this fall. Pfizer has the only pediatric vaccines for all kids over six months, not just those with health conditions. My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Pro Soccer Player Who Spent 125 Days At CECOT Gives Chilling Account Of His Time There “Both the physical and mental abuse doled out by the officers made me think sometimes that I would never leave that place,” Jerce Reyes Barrios said.

pro soccer player Jerce Reyes Barrios followed all the rules when he came to the US. His lawyer told took his asylum case bc it seemed like a "slam dunk. Then US officials sent him to CECOT, where he was told he'd spend the rest of his life

w/@mattshuham.bsky.social www.huffpost.com/entry/pro-so...

Malnutrition rates reach alarming levels in Gaza, WHO warns Malnutrition is on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July. Of 74 malnutrition-related deaths in 2025, 63 occurred in July – including 24 children under five, a c...

Malnutrition is on a dangerous trajectory in the #Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July.

The crisis remains entirely preventable. Deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid has cost many lives.

Statement from WHO.
www.who.int/news/item/27...

Damn, I was so close.

For what it's worth, this is precisely the reason the Klan wore hoods when they terrorized communities and disappeared unfavored minorities.

Historically, it wasn't called doxxing it was just recognizing a fascist community member.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya used sickle cell disease research as an example of something he would not call DEI and cut. It's being cut.

www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/n...

A bar graph. On the left side is a bar showing that Republicans are cutting $930 billion from Medicaid. On the right side is a bar showing that Republicans are giving $910 billion in tax breaks to corporations under their budget bill, paid for by gutting Medicaid.

Republicans may lie about what's in their budget bill but the numbers sure don't.

We are dismantling American higher education & scientific research & health care & all the other things to fund concentration camps

Picture the worst correctional officer in America and now imagine how much further down the list from that they'll have to go to staff all this up, ditto for the officers

When Republican voters learn how much the "Big Beautiful Bill" redistributes from poor to rich, they become much less likely to want to re-elect their incumbent senators...

Kennedy Withdraws Funding Pledge to International Vaccine Agency

RFK Jr. is a menace to the health of children worldwide. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h...