Tom Morrell

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

Fustiliarian Friday: Trump/Kennedy/GOP use the shutdown as an excuse to destroy the CDC’s elite field epidemiology team and one of the most important epidemiology journals in the world.

Gift link.

ICE agents raid South Shore apartments; Trump says Chicago could become military training ground ICE agents raided a South Shore apartment building overnight as the city braces for a possible military deployment.

“ABC7 spoke to Pertissue Fisher, a woman who lives in the building. She said ICE agents took everyone in the building, including her, and asked questions later….’They was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other.’”

It can’t happen here, you say. But it is happening.

"Republicans run the entire government but can't keep it open"

That's it. That's the whole story.

Modeling the Health Impact of Discontinuing COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy in the US This decision analytical model study estimates the number of avertable COVID-19 hospitalizations in US infants younger than 6 months and pregnant persons with vaccinations during pregnancy.

Excited to co-author this study led by @nathanlo.bsky.social @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social on the devastating consequences of not vaccinating pregnant women vs Covid

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law – #261 in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-10685) – CourtListener.com Judge William G. Young: ORDER entered. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW, PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 52(A)(Sonnenberg, Elizabeth) (Additional attachment(s) added on 9/30/2025: # 1 Main Document) (J...

BREAKING: WE WON!!!
💥 💥 💥

Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment.

Full ruling here:

He's telling us what he's doing. Using the military to suppress protest. At some point the opposition needs to listen to him and adjust strategy.

i don’t think he was supposed to post this. this is a company lobbying for medical cannabis, specifically for medicare coverage of it, and i think they made a whole commercial for an audience of one. “YOU will…” “cementing YOUR legacy,” millions will
thank you… this was just for trump

It takes nine healthy, vigorous humans to keep 60 horses fed and exercised.
Today, six of us are sick with COVID-19, influenza A, or both.
Three were in bed or at the hospital this afternoon.
It’s gnarly here in Ventucky.
#COVIDisNotOver

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that could transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC

This is a fantastic health breakthrough.

Imagine having access to the greatest information-gathering systems to have ever existed, and destroying them and replacing them with Facebook memes.

Why your next car should be an electric cargo bike Rewiring cities for more human-centric transportation

Why your next car should be an electric cargo bike

By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services

In addition to scraping your uploads for "generative AI" training, Academia dot edu is going to start claiming rights to your personal info— *including your signature & voice*— for anything they see fit.

So now'd be a good time to remove all of your uploaded works, & then delete your whole account.

tldr humanity needs to engineer buildings around filtered air replacement rate and it's not even that dramatic but for dramatic results

RFK Jr now claiming, without evidence, that Tylenol during pregnancy causes autism.

He has no qualifications to make these claims.

He’s a menace who’s persecuting autistics while undermining public health and putting millions of lives at risk.

He must resign.

WARNER: Do you accept the fact that 1 million Americans died from covid?

RFK Jr: I don't know how many died

W: You're the secretary of health and human services. You don't have any idea how many Americans died from covid?

RFK Jr: I don't think anybody knows that

W: How can you be that ignorant?

Tweet from Stuart Stevens: When Democrats take the House, they must understand they are not a governing party. They are a dissident movement. Act like it. First day: - cut off all funding of Exec. Branch -vote to nationalize Starlink and SpaceX -defund ICE That's the first day. On the second, get more aggressive. There is nothing in the middle of the road but yellow lines and dead armadillos.

If you had told me in 2012 that Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign manager would be posting like this 13 years later i would not have believed you

A state could say: Congress apportioned $2 billion to us in the following bills… But the Trump administration hasn’t paid. So we are collecting it from federal taxes of state employees. Am I just making it up? Yes. But I want to see people try things.

Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire Federal agents showed up northeast of Lake Cushman to check identification of crew members fighting Washington's largest active wildfire.

Federal agents showed up northeast of Lake Cushman to check identification of crew members fighting Washington's largest active wildfire.

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."

Explaining this: As a presidential nominee who was confirmed by the Senate, Trump has to fire her, and her lawyers say that has not happened yet, so she is still in office.

There can’t be any gun restrictions because we have to protect against federal government tyranny, and if kids get shot we just have to live with it. Also the President can send troops to cities because the federal government can do whatever it wants. These two ideas are consistent and reasonable.

It's not "skepticism" when his stated goal has been to destroy not just mass vaccination but the entire public health infrastructure in the United States

In the Matter of Lisa Cook Trump’s attempt to fire a Fed governor is illegal. Now we find out whether that matters.

I wrote about the manifestly illegal attempt to fire Lisa Cook 1/

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/in-the-mat...

1 of 3 bike parking lots at the MN State Fair this week:

Evidence that the Twin Cities’ investment in a network of protected bike infrastructure is paying off.

More and more people are using bikes for more and more trips.

Wally the Green Monster had a great time test riding CargoB and learning about the power of e-cargo bike share at a recent Recharge America event in Allston!
⚾️🚲🌎🔋🌱

#wallythegreenmonster #bostonredsox #electricvehicles #cargobikes #bikeshare

🎉 BREAKING: InvenioRDM v13.0 has been released! Thanks to the entire open source team for their contributions to this major release. Learn all about the latest new and updated features at inveniosoftware.org/blog/2025-07... #OpenScience #OpenSource #Repositories #Zenodo

It is fucking insane that we had a decade of people complaining about the dangers of cancel culture, and now literally hundreds of thousands of people are being purged from government jobs for ideological reasons, but that is not cancel culture.

Chart showing risk of being murdered in the subway if you rode 500 times last year (0.4 in 100,000) versus other risks such as that of dying in a traffic accident in the US last year (12.1 in 100,000)

The subway risk chart you've been waiting for (Sawyer County, Wisconsin, is where Sean Duffy is from). Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Where is all that "health freedom" these guys promised? Cause all I've seen is decreasing choices for my family and myself when it comes to vaccination.

Will anyone review this paper? Screening, sorting, and the feedback cycles that imperil peer review Scholarly publishing relies on peer review to identify the best science. Yet finding willing and qualified reviewers to evaluate manuscripts has become an increasingly challenging task, possibly even ...

1. Kevin Gross and I just posted a new science-of-science preprint.

This one explores the looming peer review crisis. As many of you know, it's becoming significantly more difficult for journal editors to find scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts.