Merlin Chowkwanyun, MPH, PhD

My new article in @jhppl.bsky.social situates the current attacks on public health in a historical perspective.

What I found surprised me. We've seen this before, and it's not as unprecedented as it feels.

Thanks to @sarahgollust.bsky.social @oberlanderunc.bsky.social for editing! Read free below.

Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...

Suing works and more institutions should have tried it. (This suit was filed, I believe, by faculty associations and unions.)

Consultants Offered Epstein Access to Top N.Y. Democrats if He Donated

So much of the rot in this country stems from our failure to fund public goods and regulate private wealth. In that context, people who need your money won't care how terrible you are.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/n...

My #NCAAW basketball final four prediction: LSU, UConn, UCLA, Michigan! LSU and UConn in the final game.

TY!

Pursuing Health Equity in the United States | NEJM This video roundtable explores the distinction and relationship between diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and the pursuit of health equity, and the hurdles for improving health equity in...

My take on the backlash to DEI/health equity in the health sciences in @nejm.org roundtable: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

there is a world in which it would make sense for Dems to cave and help reopen the government, for example, if we just got crushed in VA/NJ and voters were blaming us for the shutdown

we are not in that world. we are in the opposite world. trump is taking all the blame and flailing. jesus christ

Billionaire-Backed Democrats Killed the Build Back Better Act ⑉ Brick House The dark money group No Labels is reportedly loading up on billionaire donors to support conservative Democrats in elections ahead.

Ezra Klein's NYT column leans on the trope of Manchin being better than a GOP senator in WV. He doesn't mention Manchin blocking the Build Back Better Act or For the People Act in 2021.

Here I mention three Senate races where voters might have turned out for universal programs that Manchin killed:

AWFUL puns

I propose that we all agree to apologize to her if she does, in fact, cure all diseases by the end of the century.

And in the interim, we should mock this for the absurdly self-aggrandizing, utterly un-self-aware bullshit it is.

Kudos to Sally Kornbluth/MIT for rejecting the government’s attempt at corrupting higher ed. Others should quickly follow suit. Even the folks at Cato agree—this isn’t a tough call!

US public health is in crisis. In this special JHPPL issue edited by @oberlanderunc.bsky.social & @sarahgollust.bsky.social, you’ll find articles that help contextualize the erosion of public health infrastructure & adoption of policies harmful to public health. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/advanc...

@merlinc2.bsky.social offers historical context for current public health backlash. Drawing on vax campaigns, air pollution control & occupational safety, public health traditions have been hard to eliminate once entrenched though 2nd Trump Admin may be different read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Chris Mannix arguments about the WNBA and revenue. He’s so ignorant.

Quit Being All Gloom and Doom. MAGA Has Not Won MAGA has not won. Trump’s power is weaker than it looks, and American democracy is more resilient than the doomers believe.

"[D]espair is the wrong choice. Much of Trump’s power is illusory. It depends on the rest of civil society obeying in advance and preemptively kowtowing to his threats."

@davidoatkins.bsky.social share why "there are good reasons to be hopeful."

Five— five!!— grafs until the NYT suggests to readers it might not be lawful.

Complete and total abidication of their responsibility to readers to inform and not parrot propaganda.

Aww thank you! And congrats on the championship. :)

To sum up the judge's ruling:
- The Trump administration's freezing of Harvard funds on or after 4/14 is arbitrary and capricious, and is set aside. It also violated the First Amendment.
- The administration is also forbidden from implementing any freeze or termination of Harvard federal funding

YouTube video by American Experience | PBS Trailer | CLEARING THE AIR: THE WAR ON SMOG | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS

I’m in this documentary on the history of smog, airing tonight on PBS: American Experience at 9 pm. And streaming here www.pbs.org/wgbh/america... check it out!

174. Justice Gorsuch's Attack on Lower Courts Just like the earlier rulings that Justice Gorsuch claims lower courts are defying, his concurrence in the NIH grant cutoffs case would be a lot more convincing if it showed more of its work.

In the NIH funding case, Justice Gorsuch (joined by Justice Kavanaugh) claimed that this was the third time in recent weeks that lower courts had "defied" a #SCOTUS ruling.

As today's "One First" explains, that claim is not only nonsense; it's enabling a dangerous anti-court narrative on the right:

#FreePaige

"ChatGPT is great for brainstorming!"

Actually we have a tool for that already! It's called thinking. We use our brain. It's called brainstorming! Clue is in the name.

Senate Approps proposes a $400 million increase to the NIH budget, pushing back on the by $18 billion (40%) decrease proposed in the President's budget. Watch this space.

It’s Carl Schurz. The entire thing is filmed on one block in Yorkville.

I imagine this is why the players are especially annoyed now!

Got it. Thanks for the clarification. Kind of a confusing article, given that general revenue sharing is a big part of current complaints!

Is this article accurate? It says current revenue-sharing is 50%. I thought it was 10%

This Mystics team is going to be monstrous in a couple seasons. Leonsis needs to find a way to break this ridiculous agreement with the city and get them to a real stadium.

The last 24 hours have been hard to believe. The outpouring of love & support has made me tear up again and again. My heart can barely contain it all.

I thank everyone who has fought alongside us and helped make this moment possible. You are making a better future possible.

Mahmood is a social science god, what are you talking about