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Reposted by Linda

The Onion

@theonion.com

White House Begins Christmas Season With Ceremonial Lighting Of Cross

December 10, 2025 at 10:00 PM

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Scott Tobias

@scotttobias.bsky.social

THE LOST BUS (2025, Paul Greengrass)

Otto driving a bus full of screaming kids: “Stay calm, kids. I need you to be my eyes.”

September 30, 2025 at 2:43 AM

Reposted by Linda

jamelle

@jamellebouie.net

RFK Jr. is objectively pro-disease, pro-illness and pro-child death.

RFK Jr.-Backed Vaccine Panel Advises Against MMRV Vaccine for Young Children

New members of a key committee tweak routine childhood vaccine guidance as some states and insurers go their own way.

www.wsj.com

September 18, 2025 at 10:54 PM

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Ed Markey

@edmarkey.bsky.social

Vaccines are safe and effective. RFK Jr. isn’t.

August 28, 2025 at 1:43 AM

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Don Moynihan

@donmoyn.bsky.social

In a functional government, this would be a five alarm fire where Congress calls in Kennedy and asks him what the fuck is going on

Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · Aug 27

Four more top #CDC officials have submitted their resignation in the past few hours - Debra Houry (chief medical officer), Demere Daskalakis (director of NCIRD), Daniel Jernigan (director of NCEZID) + Jen Layden (director of OPHDST) www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

It is horrifying

August 27, 2025 at 10:52 PM

Linda

@lindachavers.bsky.social

Wow. Brava.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Aug 28

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."

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.

August 28, 2025 at 2:15 AM

Linda

@lindachavers.bsky.social

In Absalom, Absalom! Faulkner wrote the American racial imagination better than we’d like to admit.
Add in deported babies, my scalp, my grandmother’s fingers, and a haunting law from slavery.
New essay: The Child Still Follows the Mother

The Child Still Follows the Mother

Faulkner, deportation, and the racial imagination.

open.substack.com

May 1, 2025 at 3:12 AM

Linda

@lindachavers.bsky.social

Does anyone else get so annoyed when boarding a flight and the person next to you won’t sit the fuck still?

April 16, 2025 at 5:04 AM

Reposted by Linda

Gary Andover

@garyandover.bsky.social

Everyone realizes Trump’s ultimate goal, right? He is making himself dictator for life. Everything he does is headed toward his ultimate goal. And he is moving very quickly.

April 8, 2025 at 11:38 AM

Reposted by Linda

Anil Kalhan

@akalhan.bsky.social

If "protests in all 50 states" wanted above-the-fold coverage in @nytimes.com, they should have been "seven random Americans" instead

NYT home page: more prominent coverage for "7 Americans React to Sweeping Tariffs" and "A Sticky Miso Salmon Bowl for Busy Weeknights" than for "Anti-Trump Protests in All 50 States"

April 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM

Linda

@lindachavers.bsky.social

That essay in Harper’s…some white men are so angry at not being centered they see their annihilation at every turn. Terrible about his mother’s legs though.

November 24, 2024 at 1:29 PM

Linda

@lindachavers.bsky.social

My latest post on dads and feeling like a 42-year-old baby.

Best Man Person

God’s been laughing at all of us.

open.substack.com

November 22, 2024 at 7:45 PM

Linda

@lindachavers.bsky.social

This is my kind of petty 😊

Jana H-S (they/she) @jana-aych-ess.bsky.social · Nov 17

allow yourself the joy of small cruelties against those who would prefer that you not exist

November 18, 2024 at 8:55 AM

Linda

@lindachavers.bsky.social

If you’re not reading then you’re not writing.

November 18, 2024 at 2:45 AM

Reposted by Linda

Jonathan M. Katz

@katz.theracket.news

He isn’t walking it back. Note what he says: “start with,” “begin there.” They’re going to start by rounding up cases who it will be hard for liberals, the media, etc, to defend. Then they’ll start testing to see how far they can go.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Nov 17

Notable - Mike Johnson on CNN walks back Trump's promise to deport as many as 20m people, saying "I'm not sure that's what's gonna happen. I think what the president is talking about is beginning w/the dangerous persons that we know are here. There are criminals, known criminals"

November 17, 2024 at 10:15 PM

Reposted by Linda

andyaf

@andyaf.bsky.social

They're simply following the Nazi playbook. The Berlin book burnings began in May 1933 in front of the Institute for Sex Research. If you can convince the population a small sliver of humanity shouldn't exist, it's not a big leap to clump others into the "less than worthy" category.

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · Nov 17

It is so sinisterly illustrative that the GOP can take the house, senate, presidency, a majority in the supreme court to last decades, and yet still be totally fixated on destroying the lives of a handful of teenage trans girls as if it were a matter of national security.

November 17, 2024 at 6:25 PM

Reposted by Linda

KimDoyleWille

@kimdoylewille.bsky.social

This should be at the TOP of our list of priorities as Americans!

We can't eat if there are not workers in the fields producing the food we eat. Americans won't do this very hard work. I know that from experience.

Please help our farm workers by signing and sharing this far & wide.
#TheyFeedUs

United Farm Workers @ufw.bsky.social · Nov 13

Add your name to support farm workers. If we are truly to endure mass deportation and the ruin of our federal agencies, nobody is more vulnerable than farm workers. We will continue our work to protect farm workers, but we can't do it alone. ufw.org/postelection... #WeFeedYou