Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
@drmlb.bsky.social
Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics, and Medical Ethics at Baylor College of Medicine. Pediatric surgeon, theologian, healer of healers, and maker of good trouble.
Pinned
I've cared for a child who required general anesthesia for over a month for tetanus, treated near fatal infections in several children after chicken pox, and watched a kid (who asked for the COVID shot) die after their parents refused to let them be immunized. Lifetimes lost to preventable diseases.
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
With arms linked and snow falling, Minneapolis ICE protesters dance as ICE agents retreat back. "Nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!" WATCH ⬇️
January 17, 2026 at 3:34 AM
With arms linked and snow falling, Minneapolis ICE protesters dance as ICE agents retreat back. "Nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!" WATCH ⬇️
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
#OTD in 2019, we lost beloved #poet Mary Oliver.
Her work celebrated the natural world with simple, profound language & a sense of wonder. Perhaps America's best-selling poet, she won the #Pulitzer Prize (1984 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦) & National Book Award (1992 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘮𝘴). #booksky #poetry
Her work celebrated the natural world with simple, profound language & a sense of wonder. Perhaps America's best-selling poet, she won the #Pulitzer Prize (1984 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦) & National Book Award (1992 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘦𝘮𝘴). #booksky #poetry
January 17, 2026 at 3:17 PM
❤️
Just a couple Whooping Cranes out for a stroll on some sand flats in #PortAransasTx. #Birds
January 18, 2026 at 3:08 AM
❤️
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
"License plate readers and personal data from car registrations are only supposed to be accessed for an active criminal investigation...
“Following or observing or reporting on federal agencies is not a criminal activity — it's protected 1st Amendment activity...”
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
“Following or observing or reporting on federal agencies is not a criminal activity — it's protected 1st Amendment activity...”
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Privacy advocates: ICE using private data to intimidate observers and activists
MPR News has looked into reports that federal agents have accessed private data to track and intimidate anti-ICE activists since the immigration crackdown surged in Minnesota in December. Privacy advo...
www.mprnews.org
January 17, 2026 at 11:00 PM
"License plate readers and personal data from car registrations are only supposed to be accessed for an active criminal investigation...
“Following or observing or reporting on federal agencies is not a criminal activity — it's protected 1st Amendment activity...”
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
“Following or observing or reporting on federal agencies is not a criminal activity — it's protected 1st Amendment activity...”
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Are you worried things can’t get dumber?
Don’t worry
Don’t worry
January 17, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Are you worried things can’t get dumber?
Don’t worry
Don’t worry
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Who’s going to enforce it? Because until authorities are brave enough to enforce this ruling, we’re going to keep seeing this abuse.
This is who they are when the cameras are on. Imagine who they are when they think no one’s watching.
This is who they are when the cameras are on. Imagine who they are when they think no one’s watching.
January 18, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Who’s going to enforce it? Because until authorities are brave enough to enforce this ruling, we’re going to keep seeing this abuse.
This is who they are when the cameras are on. Imagine who they are when they think no one’s watching.
This is who they are when the cameras are on. Imagine who they are when they think no one’s watching.
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
I have been feeling a lot of anger lately due to our political climate.
Dolly made this video today for her 80th birthday to benefit pediatric cancer.
We can’t lose hope.
youtu.be/McaD2PG8jOE
Dolly made this video today for her 80th birthday to benefit pediatric cancer.
We can’t lose hope.
youtu.be/McaD2PG8jOE
Dolly Parton - Light of a Clear Blue Morning ft. Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus, Queen Latifah & Reba
YouTube video by Dolly Parton
youtu.be
January 18, 2026 at 12:46 AM
I have been feeling a lot of anger lately due to our political climate.
Dolly made this video today for her 80th birthday to benefit pediatric cancer.
We can’t lose hope.
youtu.be/McaD2PG8jOE
Dolly made this video today for her 80th birthday to benefit pediatric cancer.
We can’t lose hope.
youtu.be/McaD2PG8jOE
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Native Americans protested in Minneapolis today after the ICE abducted four Oglala Sioux Tribal Members. Three of them are still missing. (1/17|26)
January 17, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Native Americans protested in Minneapolis today after the ICE abducted four Oglala Sioux Tribal Members. Three of them are still missing. (1/17|26)
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Do we need to say it louder? Here. Louder.
" Federal courts in Alabama are using a law last applied during the U.S. internment [incarceration] of people of Japanese descent during World War II to charge immigrants who don’t register themselves..."
www.al.com/news/2026/01...
" Federal courts in Alabama are using a law last applied during the U.S. internment [incarceration] of people of Japanese descent during World War II to charge immigrants who don’t register themselves..."
www.al.com/news/2026/01...
Alabama uses Japanese American Internment era law to charge immigrants who don’t self-register
Alabama is finding new ways to criminally charge undocumented immigrants
www.al.com
January 18, 2026 at 12:28 AM
Do we need to say it louder? Here. Louder.
" Federal courts in Alabama are using a law last applied during the U.S. internment [incarceration] of people of Japanese descent during World War II to charge immigrants who don’t register themselves..."
www.al.com/news/2026/01...
" Federal courts in Alabama are using a law last applied during the U.S. internment [incarceration] of people of Japanese descent during World War II to charge immigrants who don’t register themselves..."
www.al.com/news/2026/01...
This is worth watching to the end.
Mubashir and his family came to the United States as refugees from Ethiopia when he was a child, and they all became naturalized citizens in 2019.
Despite being a U.S. citizen, Mubashir was targeted by ICE, assaulted, and detained. Listen to his story:
Despite being a U.S. citizen, Mubashir was targeted by ICE, assaulted, and detained. Listen to his story:
January 18, 2026 at 12:55 AM
This is worth watching to the end.
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Seems like they’re just not that into us 🤷🏼
January 17, 2026 at 11:32 PM
Seems like they’re just not that into us 🤷🏼
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
The markets did everything they could to hold steady in the face of the Jerome Powell subpoenas, but I’m not sure they’ll do well with this news.
Looks like the EU-US trade deal is now dead, with all three major groups in the EU Parliament calling at least for suspension. The downward spiral has already begun.
January 17, 2026 at 10:58 PM
The markets did everything they could to hold steady in the face of the Jerome Powell subpoenas, but I’m not sure they’ll do well with this news.
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Every word of this is a lie
January 18, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Every word of this is a lie
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
When I lecture to students about how the apparently thriving economy of the 1920s was really a house of cards just waiting to be knocked down, one of the points I stress is how much a small number of the very rich were essentially propping up consumer spending in unsustainable ways
The top 10% now account for nearly half of all consumer spending.
January 17, 2026 at 6:50 PM
When I lecture to students about how the apparently thriving economy of the 1920s was really a house of cards just waiting to be knocked down, one of the points I stress is how much a small number of the very rich were essentially propping up consumer spending in unsustainable ways
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
We all knew Tylenol didn’t cause autism.
Now the data in the @thelancet.com confirm it—no increased risk of autism, ADHD, or Intellectual Disability when used as directed in pregnancy.
Misinformation from HHS keeps failing the science test.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Now the data in the @thelancet.com confirm it—no increased risk of autism, ADHD, or Intellectual Disability when used as directed in pregnancy.
Misinformation from HHS keeps failing the science test.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Prenatal paracetamol exposure and child neurodevelopment: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Current evidence does not indicate a clinically important increase in the likelihood
of autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, or intellectual disability in children of pregnant
individuals who use paracetam...
www.thelancet.com
January 17, 2026 at 4:53 AM
We all knew Tylenol didn’t cause autism.
Now the data in the @thelancet.com confirm it—no increased risk of autism, ADHD, or Intellectual Disability when used as directed in pregnancy.
Misinformation from HHS keeps failing the science test.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Now the data in the @thelancet.com confirm it—no increased risk of autism, ADHD, or Intellectual Disability when used as directed in pregnancy.
Misinformation from HHS keeps failing the science test.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
I can’t get the face of this autistic woman out of my mind.
She was driving through an area where ICE was active when they forcibly removed her from her car. She was on her way to a brain injury clinic appointment. She screamed as they carried her away that she was autistic and had a brain injury.
She was driving through an area where ICE was active when they forcibly removed her from her car. She was on her way to a brain injury clinic appointment. She screamed as they carried her away that she was autistic and had a brain injury.
January 17, 2026 at 5:45 PM
I can’t get the face of this autistic woman out of my mind.
She was driving through an area where ICE was active when they forcibly removed her from her car. She was on her way to a brain injury clinic appointment. She screamed as they carried her away that she was autistic and had a brain injury.
She was driving through an area where ICE was active when they forcibly removed her from her car. She was on her way to a brain injury clinic appointment. She screamed as they carried her away that she was autistic and had a brain injury.
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
“That’s slavery.”
Civil Rights lawyer @oliverma2026.bsky.social (running for CA Lt. Gov.) reminds us ICE detainees work in for-profit prisons for $1/day just to pay for phone calls to their families.
Cruelty is big business.
P.S. @CoreCivic’s new CEO’s last name is “Swindle” — beyond parody
Civil Rights lawyer @oliverma2026.bsky.social (running for CA Lt. Gov.) reminds us ICE detainees work in for-profit prisons for $1/day just to pay for phone calls to their families.
Cruelty is big business.
P.S. @CoreCivic’s new CEO’s last name is “Swindle” — beyond parody
January 17, 2026 at 3:13 PM
“That’s slavery.”
Civil Rights lawyer @oliverma2026.bsky.social (running for CA Lt. Gov.) reminds us ICE detainees work in for-profit prisons for $1/day just to pay for phone calls to their families.
Cruelty is big business.
P.S. @CoreCivic’s new CEO’s last name is “Swindle” — beyond parody
Civil Rights lawyer @oliverma2026.bsky.social (running for CA Lt. Gov.) reminds us ICE detainees work in for-profit prisons for $1/day just to pay for phone calls to their families.
Cruelty is big business.
P.S. @CoreCivic’s new CEO’s last name is “Swindle” — beyond parody
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Living a moral life in an age of bullies requires collective action; it cannot be done alone. Each of us must organize and participate in a vast network of moral resistance. From this solidarity we will grow stronger. This is what our current moment requires.
January 17, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Living a moral life in an age of bullies requires collective action; it cannot be done alone. Each of us must organize and participate in a vast network of moral resistance. From this solidarity we will grow stronger. This is what our current moment requires.
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
According to DHS, about 3,000 ICE and federal agents are operating in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. THREE THOUSAND! The entire Minneapolis Police Department only has about 580 officers. This is outrageous and unnecessary.
Our tax dollars are funding this abuse, so it’s happening in our name.
Our tax dollars are funding this abuse, so it’s happening in our name.
January 17, 2026 at 7:44 PM
According to DHS, about 3,000 ICE and federal agents are operating in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. THREE THOUSAND! The entire Minneapolis Police Department only has about 580 officers. This is outrageous and unnecessary.
Our tax dollars are funding this abuse, so it’s happening in our name.
Our tax dollars are funding this abuse, so it’s happening in our name.
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Reposted by Mary Brandt, MD, MDiv
Newly available videos and existing footage synchronized and assessed by The New York Times provide a frame-by-frame look at what led to Renee Good being shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. Watch our visual investigation. trib.al/dJBtpjH
January 16, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Newly available videos and existing footage synchronized and assessed by The New York Times provide a frame-by-frame look at what led to Renee Good being shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. Watch our visual investigation. trib.al/dJBtpjH