Smithbrainz
@smithbrainz.bsky.social
840 followers 730 following 1.7K posts
Lisa Smith. Writer, narrator, migraine advocate, connector of dots. Sarcasm free of charge. She/her. (I block at the drop of a hat. Nothing personal.)
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Smithbrainz
carlbergstrom.com
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.
Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Smithbrainz
universalhub.com
Looks like Mass. and other Northeast states picked a good time to set up a regional public-health system.
sherylnyt.bsky.social
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
Reposted by Smithbrainz
batemanhornecenter.bsky.social
A new study sheds light on why people with ME/CFS feel worse after activity.
Findings reveal an immune system on edge, energy production that falters, and gut barrier leaks fueling inflammation.
Read more: https://bit.ly/4q3i8sV
#MECFS #PEM #Research
When the Body’s Alarm Won’t Turn Off
Blog Summary Imagine if a fire alarm kept ringing long after the smoke was gone. That’s similar to what happens in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), where the body seems…
bit.ly
Reposted by Smithbrainz
gregggonsalves.bsky.social
This is beyond bad. All of our disease defenses are down now. We are sitting ducks. This is #RussellVought #DonaldTrump #RFKJr. They are endangering American lives with their insane crusade. These men are hazardous to your health and dangerous to the republic. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Smithbrainz
nora.zone
cry havoc and let slip the frogs of war
Reposted by Smithbrainz
eliowa.bsky.social
It only makes sense to shut down the CDC journal MMWR if CDC is no longer doing public health

CDC DOB: July 1, 1946
CDC died: October 10, 2025

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...
Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Smithbrainz
bachynski.bsky.social
“Roughly 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers — the so-called “disease detectives” who respond to outbreaks around the globe — received layoff notices, according to a person familiar with them. The service was spared during an earlier round of layoffs in February.”
Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Smithbrainz
boghuma.bsky.social
He got the COVID and flu Vaccines like every 79 year old should this is a good thing.
"Cardiovascular age validated by by ECG and found to be 14 years younger than chronological age" is a nonsensical phrase.
I am an internist this is not something we do or write in medical reports.
Reposted by Smithbrainz
gravelinfluencer.bsky.social
They continue to eviscerate the public health machinery that has quietly kept Americans, and others around the world, safe and healthy for decades.
The staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the journal that reports on health trends and emerging infectious threats, was also laid off. The publication’s storied history includes a June 1981 report that five previously healthy gay men were treated for an unusual pneumonia — the first hint of the AIDS epidemic. Roughly 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers — the so-called “disease detectives” who respond to outbreaks around the globe — received layoff notices, according to a person familiar with them. The service was spared during an earlier round of layoffs in February.
Reposted by Smithbrainz
ebharrington.bsky.social
Coincidentally, religious delusions are a known side effect of ingesting psychedelics--a practice now apparently de rigeur among the Broligarchs.

Sources--

Wall Street Journal: www.wsj.com/tech/silicon...

Nature Scientific Reports: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Smithbrainz
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
The random people who called into this C-SPAN session had better questions for Mike Johnson than most corporate media outlets
atrupar.com
C-SPAN caller to Mike Johnson: "Hearing you say that 'everyone is smiling' in cities where troops have been rolled into feels dystopian and insane watching the response to it."
Reposted by Smithbrainz
emptywheel.bsky.social
There really needs to be a massive betting line on which bubble will crash first, crypto or AI.

Lucky for the billionaires who created the bubble, Trump installed the guy who started the run on SVB then wailed until he was bailed out, David Sacks, as his Crypto/AI Czar.
Reposted by Smithbrainz
followtheh.bsky.social
About your Trump and Melania crypto. Well a spot of bother.
Reposted by Smithbrainz
angierasmussen.bsky.social
I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.
Reposted by Smithbrainz
donmoyn.bsky.social
RIFs can’t be done without agency leadership so this is RFK Jr extending his purge of CDC scientists to help Vought’s shutdown agenda. Genuine public health risks created by aggrieved men.
sherylnyt.bsky.social
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
Reposted by Smithbrainz
conifergirl.bsky.social
Written by James B. Greenberg a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Founding Editor of the Journal of Political Ecology, and past president of the Political Ecology Society.

substack.com/home/post/p-...
The Republic Is Not Yet Lost
How institutions, law, and civic culture still hold tools to resist authoritarian capture, if we choose to use them
substack.com
Reposted by Smithbrainz
njbbari3.bsky.social
For studies about CO2 and disease transmission… plotting a graph that shows continuous readings per day as three lines would be better than using medians. Maximum recorded, minimum recorded and average.

Because a lot of transmission of COVID can happen in a very short time.
Reposted by Smithbrainz
fritschner.bsky.social
A few minutes ago in the House:

- Speaker Mike Johnson officially cancels votes next week, extending the House recess through a fourth week

- House Republicans block Democrats from passing a bill to pay the troops during the shutdown, ensuring they will miss paychecks next week
House Press Gallery: During today's pro forma session, the Clerk read a message from the Speaker designating Tuesday, October 14 through Sunday, October 19 as a district work period. Punchbowl's Briana Reilly: House gaveled in and out of its pro forma just now w/o recognizing Rep Elfreth, who was seeking to UC a mil pay bill from Rep Sykes. 

Elfreth told reporters after that House Dems stand “ready and willing to take” up standalone legislation to pay troops.
Reposted by Smithbrainz
mjsdc.bsky.social
This arrest appears to be in direct violation of a temporary restraining order prohibiting DHS officers from arresting journalists. The officers here may well be subject to contempt of court. protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/u...
It is hereby ORDERED that Defendants,' their officers, agents, assigns, and all
persons acting in concert with them (hereafter referred to as "Federal Agents"), are temporarily
ENJOINED in this judicial district from:
a.
Dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical
force against any person whom they know or reasonably should know is a Journalist, unless Defendants have probable cause to believe that the individual has committed a crime.
smithbrainz.bsky.social
I got nothin’.
reuters.com
BREAKING: The US will slap an additional 100% tariff on imports from China and impose export controls on all critical US-made software from November 1, President Donald Trump said reut.rs/48lhYXC
Reposted by Smithbrainz
fishkin.bsky.social
@mit.edu has done an incredibly important service to the nation by being willing to be the first school to reject the administration's "compact."

President Kornbluth focuses—and she's right—on the principle that "scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone."
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
Reposted by Smithbrainz
sethabramson.bsky.social
Masks. Armed. No insignia. No names. No warrants. But they will come up to an American citizen on the street and threaten him with arrest for peacefully exercising basic American rights.

I'd challenge historians of the American Revolution to articulate how things were worse than this in April 1775.
In a Chicagoland Suburb, Berwyn, IL, multiple ICE agents and a cameraman surround a resident who blew his horn and walked down the street in his own neighborhood. They demand his ID and they threatene...
TikTok video by Ms RK
www.tiktok.com