Peter Rebeiro, PhD, MHS

No matter how some undermine and pervert and obscure the truth, it *remains*. The tragedy to mourn isn't *just* the loss of our anchor to reality, it's the entirely preventable suffering that will now be *promoted* because of it.

www.nytimes.com/.../vaccine-....

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error

Acting with all the precision of a dull ax dissecting an earthworm...🙄

And what will the consequence be? My prediction: poorer outbreak response, poorer support for local health departments, poorer public health for Americans.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

www.wired.com/story/cdc-te...

Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error

The Trump administration on Saturday scrambled to rescind layoffs of hundreds of CDC scientists who were mistakenly fired on Friday night in what appeared to be a substantial procedural lapse.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

YouTube video by dniete97 A Man for All Seasons - The Devil Speech

Worth remembering in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's murder (when many of my *Catholic* HS classmates were eager to suspend the legal rights of "leftists"), that we've covered this ground before...& St. Thomas More was pretty clear about the illogic ~500 years ago...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDBi...

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

CDC Inaction Stalls COVID Shots for Low-Income Kids Meanwhile, vaccines for insured kids are already available

What’s that about waste,fraud, and abuse? THIS IS ABUSE

Opinion | Why Young Men Are Losing Faith in Science

Part III: There's still something missing; the *value* of truth-seeking motivates *how* we do good science...but what about *why*? There's a cultural *rot* prizing selfishness & control over other people, mixed with ignorance & pride, that we have to reckon with, too.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/o...

Opinion | What 20 Years of Listening to Vaccine-Hesitant Parents Has Taught Me

Part II: more to be said about how academics often miss the point, following Bloom's piece...

{https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-arent-professors-braver}

But I think there's a lot more going on than what another academic (a sociologist) notes here: *values*...

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/o...

Why Aren’t Professors Braver? Fear and self-censorship in academe.

Part I: *All* academics should read this & reflect, as I will. What's the role of academic culture in stifling healthy & necessary confrontation...and how do we shift it?

#AcademicSky #MedSky

www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

Office of the Attorney General Washington, DC 20530 September 29, 2025 MEMORANDUM FOR THE DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION THE DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES THE DIRECTOR OF THE U.S. MARSHAL'S SERVICE THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION THE DIRECTOR OF THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF U.S. ATTORNEYS FROM: THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. SUBJECT: ENDING POLITICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST ICE

What is Pam Bondi actually doing in today’s “ending political violence against ICE” memo?

I take you through it, tonight at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com/p/a-rather-b...

Moldova’s pro-EU party wins clear parliamentary majority, defeating pro-Russian groups Moldova’s pro-Western governing party has won a clear parliamentary majority, defeating pro-Russian groups in an election that was widely viewed as a stark choice between East and West.

If they can do it under far worse conditions than we have here, so can you.

apnews.com/article/mold... 
Moldova’s pro-EU party wins clear parliamentary majority, defeating pro-Russian groups

WATCH: “They’re not strong. If you’re strong you don’t feel the need to do this level of suppression of dissent. When you’re confident in what you’re presenting you don’t need to do this stuff.”

Hasan & @timheidecker.bsky.social on the Trump regime’s authoritarian crackdown

Are Childhood Vaccines ‘Overloading’ the Immune System? No.

Icymi the first time this ran, here’s a refresher: Vaccines today are more efficient and contain far fewer stimulants to the immune system than some used decades ago

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/14/h...

Trump Ignores Science by Linking Autism to Vaccines and a Common Painkiller

There's a lot to say about the scientific illiteracy, hucksterism, & plain ol' predatory populism here...but before we can better educate the ill-informed, we have to have people who *want* to understand the science (& then, who are *capable* of understanding it). 🤷🏾‍♂️🙁

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09...

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer

Withdrawing from the War on Cancer: an extraordinarily successful scientific research system that took decades to build, saved millions of lives and generated billions of dollars in profits is being dismantled in short order. @jonathanmahler.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/09/14/m...

Kinda hilarious anyone wants to pretend these people are motivated by anything other than barbarous cruelty & violence. It's *grotesque*.

America empowered the worst of its own in electing Trump, and in turn, he has empowered the worst of America.

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

He should never have been confirmed by the Senate in the first place...& he's unlikely to resign or be fired...but that doesn't mean scientists shouldn't continue stating the facts & calling out this cult of disinformation & death.
Thank you, @idsainfo.bsky.social

www.idsociety.org/news--public...

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

Whether Americans find the warnings persuasive or not, it doesn't change the terrible *reality* that we all face, or the knowledge, expertise, & credibility of these authors. It's important for scientists to keep speaking truth to power, if only to avoid complicity.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

Monarez refused to fire top CDC leaders, ‘rubber-stamp’ vaccine changes, confidante says The former CDC director was ousted late Wednesday after refusing to resign despite pressure from Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The newly ousted director of the CDC refused to fire top agency leaders or approve changes to vaccines from RFK Jr.’s hand-picked panel of advisers.

Gupta: Here’s why this matters:

1. Because the FDA indications have changed, if I prescribe it to you, I’m opening myself up to a lawsuit. He directly signals that…

2. A pharmacist is no longer able to prescribe and administer a COVID-19 booster that doesn’t meet indications.

The authoritarian checklist It is time to admit that America is no longer a functioning democracy

New, from me:
America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism.
This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...

Opinion | Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force

This interview, which is also available to listen to as a podcast, provides a useful overview of some of the dangerous trends we’ve been seeing in recent months regarding federalization and militarization of state and local police functions.

C.D.C. Standoff: Kennedy’s Push to Fire Director Devolves Into Chaos

To get a sense of how scientists/public health officials feel, think about what you felt when you saw Notre Dame burn. The collective history, heritage, & culture- the work of *generations*- being destroyed in the blink of an eye.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/h...

www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...

Governor Pritzker Challenges Trump’s Threat to Send Troops to Chicago

Even if many of us are still relatively insulated from the chaos...do we realize how far gone our society is?

Whether you've noticed, the continued degradation of the rule of law here is no trivial thing...

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...

Larry Summers: "This is way beyond anything Nixon ever did ... this is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism. Firing statisticians goes with threatening the heads of newspapers, launching assaults on universities, launching assaults on law firms. This is really scary stuff."

YouTube video by The Daily Show Peter Beinart - "Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning" | The Daily Show

A #DailyShow interview worth a watch & reflection:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5kX...

Reputable organizations if you wish to donate:
donate.wck.org/give/525879/...
www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/our-r...

Call your Representative/Senators & tell them what you think:
www.congress.gov/contact-us

Opinion | We Will Regret Not Standing Up to This Venomous Cruelty

This is also why those who say *science* mustn't be "political" miss the point.

Science itself isn't political. But its *implications* & the actions it informs or indicts *are*...because politics are how free societies act (or don't).

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/o...

The Path Forward for Vaccine Policy in the United States | NEJM The former members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices consider paths forward for U.S. vaccine policy in the wake of their dismissal by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in...

Please remember, among the most destructive consequences of ripping public goods away & undermining institutional scientific integrity is the damage to our #publichealth.

www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1...

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

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Cancer vaccines and the future of immunotherapy Vaccines have had a major impact on the control of infectious disease, most recently by helping to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Prophylactic cancer vaccines have prevented several malignancies by pro...

🗨️ “Vaccines have done more to improve public health than any other medical intervention.”

A Viewpoint focuses on cancer vaccines & the future of immunotherapy—analysing trials & how the next generation of cancer vaccines can help improve patient outcomes & quality of life. tinyurl.com/n94jsbju