Brian Wasik
@brianrwasik.bsky.social
5.3K followers 480 following 1.8K posts
Virologist. Evolutionary biologist.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Brian Wasik
crampell.bsky.social
An HHS source says admin also RIFed entire Office of Population Affairs last night.
“Not a single staff person to run our nation's family planning program or the evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program. The Office of Adolescent Health which nested within OPA functionally ceases to exist”
Reposted by Brian Wasik
rahaeli.bsky.social
For any Catholic, the sight of a Eucharistic Procession being turned away at the gates of the destination is the embodiment of Jesus being denied entrance. You don't have to be Catholic to get the symbolism in that!
Reposted by Brian Wasik
lollardfish.bsky.social
The end of federal enforcement of special ed laws. Some states - including MN - will likely be ok. But a lot of disabled kids in a lot of states are going to lose the education that federal law and decades of jurisprudence say they are owed.
Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says
The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
www.usatoday.com
brianrwasik.bsky.social
Illegitimate Executive Branch.
Reposted by Brian Wasik
joshuasweitz.bsky.social
One more note: there were many more RIFs on Friday night.

Perhaps the administration does not think of these as 'errors', and will claim that some RIFs were 'correct'.

We should assume otherwise: these RIFs are a form of political retribution that do not serve federal agency missions.
Reposted by Brian Wasik
edzitron.com
AI has lost the dunce vote. It’s over
Nate Silver
@NateSilver538 • 5h
•.°
I'm just one person, and my programming needs are somewhat unusual (building various kinds of statistical forecasting models). But I'm just not seeing the consistent productivity gains from LLMs that I would have expected if you'd asked me 6 months ago.
Reposted by Brian Wasik
markhisted.org
Looks from here like the goal is to create confusion, and focus public attention on a subset of the most outrageous firings — to distract from the other firings.

We shouldn’t be fooled, and should demand that all the illegal shutdown RIFs are made null and void. /end
Reposted by Brian Wasik
markhisted.org
Seeing a lot of celebration of this as a win.

But at NIH we have seen this exact play before.

It looks like it is the Vought strategy -and to stop the lawless firings we have to see the bigger picture.
A 🧵:
Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error
www.nytimes.com
brianrwasik.bsky.social
Its an insane workplace where every weak-jawed chud (Miller, Vought) can smash whatever and others reverse it and back and forth until maybe Sundown Grandpa gives 'direction' based on his attention and mood at three moment.
Reposted by Brian Wasik
joshuasweitz.bsky.social
New reporting: many apparently fired at CDC in 'error'. This is a failure by design given that the admin does not care about fulfilling agency missions. This is the kind of error that should have political consequences.

Unserious people cause real-world harm.

🎁
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...
Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Brian Wasik
richraho.bsky.social
Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”
Reposted by Brian Wasik
ericmgarcia.bsky.social
If you work in the Office of Special Education for the Department of Education and have been RIF'ed or if you work in a school that has been notified about it, please message me. My Signal is emgarcia.85. I'll protect your identity.
sarapartridge.bsky.social
There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.
Reposted by Brian Wasik
beijingpalmer.bsky.social
I love guys who are just blithely confident in their ignorance, they read like one statement on a tankie forum four years ago and now they think they know everything about one of the most involved conflicts in human history.
telesjr.bsky.social
The US never fought to end fascism anywhere. They joined the war because Japan forced their hand, and they saw a great way to make money. After the USSR pretty much had pushed Germany out of eastern Europe and they knew the nazis were going to lose, they jumped in.
brianrwasik.bsky.social
I'm sick to my stomach.

And the preventable food-borne illnesses haven't started yet.
crampell.bsky.social
Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)
Reposted by Brian Wasik
crampell.bsky.social
Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)
Reposted by Brian Wasik
sherylnyt.bsky.social
FULL STORY HERE: Emails began flooding CDC inboxes late Friday night announcing dozens of layoffs. HR people brought back from furlough to oversee the RIFs. Disease detectives, entire Washington office, global health, injury prevention, MMWR staff among those hit.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Brian Wasik
markharris.bsky.social
There are so many Diane Keaton performances to remember, but a lot of people haven't seen Reds, and A) my God, see it, it is a masterpiece and B) her performance as Louise Bryant is one of the bravest, toughest, least sympathy-courting pieces of work by an American actress in the last 50 years.
Reposted by Brian Wasik
propublica.org
WATCH: ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the 94 million pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the Trump administration’s cuts to The Emergency Food Assistance Program.

➡️ Read more: https://propub.li/4odsKnn
Reposted by Brian Wasik
gregsargent.bsky.social
This week, MAGA figures claimed Kristi Noem "stared down" violent antifa protesters in Portland. Turns out they were talking mostly about a guy in a chicken suit.

This episode opens a window into how MAGA propaganda works and MSM failure to handle it. 1/

(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2016...
MAGA Implodes over Kristi Noem’s “Stare Down” with Man in Chicken Suit
A good New York Times piece on Portland nevertheless demonstrates how the conventions of objective reporting fail to accurately capture the bad faith driving pro-Trump propaganda.
newrepublic.com
Reposted by Brian Wasik
ericmgarcia.bsky.social
Man, as a Jewish person and someone who chronicled autistic people’s lives, @stevesilberman.bsky.social would be livid with RFK Jr.’s nonsense about circumcision and autism. I simultaneously shudder at how angry he’d be, but also wish he were here to do the most important work.
Reposted by Brian Wasik
joho.bsky.social
Kids are missing school because our inept medical can’t handle measles.

Remember this when they claim they “would have contained covid.
NBC NEWS
WATCH
MEASLES OUTBREAK
Hundreds of U.S. students quarantined amid measles outbreaks
At least 270 unvaccinated kids are staying home from school as measles continues to spread nationwide. "Expect more," one expert said.