Lester K Spence

I just donated.

For those of you who don't know, author @sarahkendzior.bsky.social coined "transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government" in her 2020 book, "Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America"

It's a powerful read, as are all of Sarah's works. Buy/Read.

What's mandate of Black Studies during this moment. What's our responsibility? Join us as we host the first of a series of public conversations in Baltimore, at the Baltimore Unity Hall. We'll be in dialogue with Paul Coates and Olakekan Kamau-Nataki. Next Wednesday from 6-8pm.

What To Do If You’ve Been Doxed Or Placed On A Watchlist We map out steps you can take right away, and steps you can take to build resilience longer term against doxing.

This is such a useful resource from @penamerica.bsky.social

"What To Do If You’ve Been Doxed Or Placed On A Watchlist"

Please consider letting others know that this exists.

pen.org/what-to-do-i...

Mario Guevara

If you were concerned about Kimmel, here's another for you…

Journalist Mario Guevara has been detained for 100+ days, ironically arrested as he reported on a "No Kings" protest.

The Trump-Vance admin just issued an order of final removal, to send him to El Salvador—where he fled from 21 years ago.

Just realized a couple of weeks ago that east baltimore folk have a different accent than west baltimore folk.

And here's Coleman A. Young, who would become first black mayor of Detroit, who told HUAC they must have confused him for a stool pigeon. michiganadvance.com/briefs/on-th...

"Globalization, Neoliberalism, and the Global Rise of Right-Wing Politics," a curated reading list of journal articles and issues published by Duke University Press, has been made freely available through October 31.

Access here: buff.ly/zplaDVr

Don't let the embarrassment that is Ezra Klein's op-ed distract you from the embarrassment you will feel if you forget to submit your ALPE proposal by Monday 😳

I'm on the list too. (Who knew?)

Kirk is their Rosa Parks.

"The only known solution to creeping authoritarianism is broad-based, peaceful, geographically dispersed mass engagement by everyday Americans. That’s it. That’s what works."

Story: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Not going to @apsa.bsky.social this year. Will participate virtually. If there's any organizing going on that folks think I should be made aware of, let me know.

They got me. A lot. If they got me....they probably got you.

The comparative move makes sense. But I don't know many racial politics scholars who've taught about the US in a normatively positive, exceptional framework.

I'll be presenting on crime data. Please join us.

CFP: Inaugural Association of Law and Political Economy Conference A forthcoming conference will launch The Association of Law and Political Economy (ALPE): a membership organization with a regular annual conference, elected leadership, and an architecture for open…

Ten days left to submit proposals for the inaugural ALPE conference in Richmond. Come join us for this exciting launch! lpeproject.org/blog/cfp-ina...

Are you an NYC resident who is willing to set up a meeting with your City Council members to get them on record re: supporting our budget demand? docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... - sign and we will contact you to let you know what is needed.

"Just the other day, I was in the audience at Lincoln Center when Justice Amy Coney Barrett said, while promoting a new book, that she doesn't think the United States is in a constitutional crisis," Farias told us. "Today, the Supreme Court, without offering a single line of reasoning, more or less declared that the Fourth Amendment, which protects everyone from unreasonable searches and seizures, nonetheless allows the Trump Administration to arrest and detain anyone who looks Latino, citizen or not, on account of the language that they speak or the kind of jobs they do. The ruling putatively covers the Los Angeles area, but the effect could be national," he continued. "If that's not a constitutional crisis, then what is?"

The New Yorker asked me “how bad” today’s Supreme Court ruling was. I boiled it down to one paragraph:

link.newyorker.com/view/5bda429...

Being of service can stave off a great deal of this.

The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city.

This is not a joke. This is not normal.

Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.

Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction 🧪

From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...

I just heard that a group of national guards (probably a small one) got off the MARC train at the west baltimore stop. Has anyone else reported on this?

I wouldn't make a big distinction between the situation for Black women and Black men. The labor market situation for both has deteriorated sharply since January. The Black unemployment has risen a full pp to 7.2%, the white rate hasn't budged at 3.7%

“Nothing is more important than stopping fascism, because fascism will stop us all.”

- Fred Hampton

Screenshot of Ziblatt's Foreign Affairs article on Weimar Germany: "Democracy rarely dies in a single moment. It is chipped away via abdication: rationalizations and compromises as those with power and influence tell themselves that yielding just a little ground will keep them safe or that finding common ground with a disrupter is more practical than standing against him. This is the enduring lesson of Weimar: extremism never triumphs on its own. It succeeds because others enable it—because of their ambition, because of their fear, or because they misjudge the dangers of small concessions. In the end, however, those who empower an autocrat often surrender not only their democracy but also the very influence they once hoped to preserve."

Matt Yglesias tweet: "If democrats end up in deal making mode with Trump, giving him what he wants on vote by mail might be smart."

Wild set of posts here:

#NIH is hanging by a thread. The #CDC has been decimated. #RFK Jr. and Russell #Vought are psychopaths--I don't say this frivolously--they are cold, calculating, inflicting violence on millions through public policy. It is where we are right now. These men are not normal. 1/

70 years ago today, 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American from Chicago, was brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. When you see “MAGA,” realize THAT was the America Trumpers are saying was “great.” I want a GREATER America than that. We all should.

My resignation letter from CDC. Dear Dr. Houry, I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business. I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested. This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough. While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people. This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles.

The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people. The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership. This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors. Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people. It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC. The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense. Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function. Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC.

Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc. I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again. I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season. Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.” We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary. I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us. Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources. At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him. To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information. The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer. I believe in nutrition and exercise. I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability. Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.

The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud. I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed. For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics. I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision. Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically. Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution. If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.

Full resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back.
"The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."