Maren Miriam Spolum
@maren-miriam.bsky.social
examining neoliberalism’s assent in the US & the social patterning of health inequities. Public health PhD candidate @umichsph | union member | Junie’s mom 🐾
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
The RFK, jr effect.
December 13, 2025 at 9:40 PM
The RFK, jr effect.
Must. read.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
fantastic piece laying out ways faculty governance is being further eroded and students education compromised through the latest insane AI hype/Ed tech grift
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
fantastic piece laying out ways faculty governance is being further eroded and students education compromised through the latest insane AI hype/Ed tech grift
Wrote a thing on the hot summer of uni AI adoption for @defector.com
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI | Defector
If you don’t work at a university or have college-age kids, you may have missed the flurry of news stories and social media banter about AI adoption in higher ed, stories which have snowballed into th...
defector.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Must. read.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
fantastic piece laying out ways faculty governance is being further eroded and students education compromised through the latest insane AI hype/Ed tech grift
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
fantastic piece laying out ways faculty governance is being further eroded and students education compromised through the latest insane AI hype/Ed tech grift
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
There are so many obvious constitutional violations in this story. It is enraging.
There is no war, there is no foreign invasion, there is nothing that justify it. This is a choice to create a military presence that will brutalize residents of cities that do not support the President.
There is no war, there is no foreign invasion, there is nothing that justify it. This is a choice to create a military presence that will brutalize residents of cities that do not support the President.
"The boy, who is Hispanic and African American, was held in a garage for five hours “without informing his family, stating any charges, or allowing him to call an attorney,” the statement said. He is a U.S. citizen, as is his entire immediate family, the release said."
Feds ram SUV after chase down residential street in Chicago, then tear-gas crowd
The crash happened late Tuesday morning near 105th Street and Avenue N in the East Side neighborhood. Two men being pursued were arrested as were two bystanders. The crash drew dozens of neighbors who...
chicago.suntimes.com
October 16, 2025 at 12:06 AM
There are so many obvious constitutional violations in this story. It is enraging.
There is no war, there is no foreign invasion, there is nothing that justify it. This is a choice to create a military presence that will brutalize residents of cities that do not support the President.
There is no war, there is no foreign invasion, there is nothing that justify it. This is a choice to create a military presence that will brutalize residents of cities that do not support the President.
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
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.
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:
October 11, 2025 at 2:30 AM
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.
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
We need a bigger national spotlight on this building raid, fam. Agents dropped from helicopters onto the roof. Citizens and non-citizens alike were dragged from their homes in the night. People who weren't kidnapped during the raid had their belongings seized after the fact. This is madness.
"Jones, 27, is among the residents left at 7500 S. South Shore Drive who are trying to piece together what remains after an early morning, high-powered federal immigration raid led to the arrests of dozens of their neighbors at their South Shore apartment building."
Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'
The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.
chicago.suntimes.com
October 2, 2025 at 4:23 PM
We need a bigger national spotlight on this building raid, fam. Agents dropped from helicopters onto the roof. Citizens and non-citizens alike were dragged from their homes in the night. People who weren't kidnapped during the raid had their belongings seized after the fact. This is madness.
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
New statement: IDSA, APHA and partners call for RFK Jr. to resign: "Our country needs leadership that will promote open, honest dialogue — not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programs that keep us safe." bit.ly/3JOgDya
September 3, 2025 at 11:10 PM
New statement: IDSA, APHA and partners call for RFK Jr. to resign: "Our country needs leadership that will promote open, honest dialogue — not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programs that keep us safe." bit.ly/3JOgDya
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
Tick tock. Tick tock. RFK Jr.'s time is running out. Today, Senators Cassidy and Sanders both challenge RFK Jr's reign of (t)error at HHS. Call your Senators and Representatives. U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
August 28, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Tick tock. Tick tock. RFK Jr.'s time is running out. Today, Senators Cassidy and Sanders both challenge RFK Jr's reign of (t)error at HHS. Call your Senators and Representatives. U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
“Daskalakis went on to say that Kennedy… had never taken a briefing by a CDC subject matter expert from his center” [vax and respiratory disease]
New: In 7 months, Kennedy has broken the CDC, perhaps irreparably. For all he’s done with mass firings, gutting expertise, and attacking vaccines, Wednesday’s loss of its most senior and competent leaders—truly the CDC’s backbone—is the most consequential attack yet.
www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/c...
www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/c...
‘People will die because of this’: How RFK Jr. drove out the CDC’s senior leaders
On the same day Susan Monarez was fired, four of the agency’s top leaders quit.
www.msnbc.com
August 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM
“Daskalakis went on to say that Kennedy… had never taken a briefing by a CDC subject matter expert from his center” [vax and respiratory disease]
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
This flew by my radar this week, but massively important: the 5th circuit court of appeals ruled that the NLRB’s structure unconstitutional.
It is a huge blow to “American workers who hope to organize their workplaces without fear of retaliation. It represents a partial negation of the New Deal…”
It is a huge blow to “American workers who hope to organize their workplaces without fear of retaliation. It represents a partial negation of the New Deal…”
Elon Musk Just Won His War on Labor Unions
The Fifth Circuit has done the mogul’s bidding and neutered the National Labor Relations Board, in a move that will likely substantially damage workers’ rights.
newrepublic.com
August 23, 2025 at 1:46 AM
This flew by my radar this week, but massively important: the 5th circuit court of appeals ruled that the NLRB’s structure unconstitutional.
It is a huge blow to “American workers who hope to organize their workplaces without fear of retaliation. It represents a partial negation of the New Deal…”
It is a huge blow to “American workers who hope to organize their workplaces without fear of retaliation. It represents a partial negation of the New Deal…”
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
The people dominating our political landscape, culture, and economy are just so stupid and full of shit it's almost impossible to describe
August 18, 2025 at 10:42 PM
The people dominating our political landscape, culture, and economy are just so stupid and full of shit it's almost impossible to describe
crying thinking abt the 2 civil servants at the CDC who approved my restricted use data request today, which will allow me to finish my diss. 200 bullets hit 6 CDC buildings a week ago. and here they are, back doing their jobs. maybe terrified. maybe traumatized. still serving 😭🙏 endless gratitude
August 15, 2025 at 7:08 PM
crying thinking abt the 2 civil servants at the CDC who approved my restricted use data request today, which will allow me to finish my diss. 200 bullets hit 6 CDC buildings a week ago. and here they are, back doing their jobs. maybe terrified. maybe traumatized. still serving 😭🙏 endless gratitude
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
NEW 🚨 The violence is the point. Elected Dems must call for widespread resignations (RFK, Bhattacharya, Prasad) in response to the CDC shooting. Public health must demand this of them, and the public must demand that of us. With @publichealthguy1.bsky.social in STAT: www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...
The CDC shooting was public health’s Jan. 6
“In RFK Jr.’s America, it will never be safe to practice public health or medicine," write an epidemiologist and a former CDC staffer.
www.statnews.com
August 15, 2025 at 3:58 PM
NEW 🚨 The violence is the point. Elected Dems must call for widespread resignations (RFK, Bhattacharya, Prasad) in response to the CDC shooting. Public health must demand this of them, and the public must demand that of us. With @publichealthguy1.bsky.social in STAT: www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...
Noooooooooo whyyyyyyy
Really bummed to hear that @umich.edu CSCAR is being shut down. Such an amazing resource for students, staff, and faculty. #statsky #episky
August 15, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Noooooooooo whyyyyyyy
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
We figured out to *cure cancer* (ref: last year’s pancreatic cancer trials) and the Trump administration decided “nah.” That a society could reject a cure for cancer is astounding.
We could have had cancer vaccines, and instead the United States will contribute nothing whatsoever to mRNA research, condemning millions of people worldwide to unnecessary illness and death
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he will cancel $500 million in vaccine development projects.
August 6, 2025 at 12:07 AM
We figured out to *cure cancer* (ref: last year’s pancreatic cancer trials) and the Trump administration decided “nah.” That a society could reject a cure for cancer is astounding.
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.
Release from HHS: HHS will wind down its development of the mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
August 5, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
Vought: "We're going through the same programmatic review on the NIH that we did on Education funding"
You mean - the Department you are illegally closing? That is what you are doing with NIH?
You mean - the Department you are illegally closing? That is what you are doing with NIH?
TAPPER: 14 Republicans say you're risking undermining critical research by holding up NIH funding
VOUGHT: If they were a company, their stock price would in shambles. They in some respects caused the pandemic. You have an entire institute that does nothing more than DEI research at the NIH.
VOUGHT: If they were a company, their stock price would in shambles. They in some respects caused the pandemic. You have an entire institute that does nothing more than DEI research at the NIH.
July 28, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Vought: "We're going through the same programmatic review on the NIH that we did on Education funding"
You mean - the Department you are illegally closing? That is what you are doing with NIH?
You mean - the Department you are illegally closing? That is what you are doing with NIH?
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
NEW: Many of the world’s vital sources of underground fresh water took millions of years to form and could require thousands of years to refill, as water mined from them largely ends up in the rising oceans.
Researchers warn: This drying is now nearly impossible to reverse “on human timescales.”
Researchers warn: This drying is now nearly impossible to reverse “on human timescales.”
“Staggering” Water Loss Driven by Groundwater Mining Poses Global Threat
A new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.
www.propublica.org
July 25, 2025 at 6:07 PM
NEW: Many of the world’s vital sources of underground fresh water took millions of years to form and could require thousands of years to refill, as water mined from them largely ends up in the rising oceans.
Researchers warn: This drying is now nearly impossible to reverse “on human timescales.”
Researchers warn: This drying is now nearly impossible to reverse “on human timescales.”
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
She is saying, in effect: "We are going to liberate the city from its democratically elected leadership using the military"
Kristi Noem: "We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city."
Sen. Alex Padilla is then forcibly removed!
Sen. Alex Padilla is then forcibly removed!
June 12, 2025 at 9:43 PM
She is saying, in effect: "We are going to liberate the city from its democratically elected leadership using the military"
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
It’s such a perfect encapsulation of how the right drives American media cycles that slightly-too-long school closures are still considered a huge liability for democrats while murdering hundreds of thousands of people with anti-vaxx propaganda is never mentioned as a downside of Republican rule.
Matthew Yglesias identifying the Democratic Party's electoral issues: school closures during covid, "paralysis on women's sports" and "candidates running on late-term abortions"
June 4, 2025 at 7:34 PM
It’s such a perfect encapsulation of how the right drives American media cycles that slightly-too-long school closures are still considered a huge liability for democrats while murdering hundreds of thousands of people with anti-vaxx propaganda is never mentioned as a downside of Republican rule.
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
This is just not true. The majority view among researchers at this point is that work requirements do not work. There is a reason they do not cite a single study here.
May 15, 2025 at 6:35 PM
This is just not true. The majority view among researchers at this point is that work requirements do not work. There is a reason they do not cite a single study here.
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
DeLauro nails it. This is illegal impoundment. Every last dollar that was appropriated by Congress for the NIH that has been "saved" needs to spent on its intended purpose: scientific research for the benefit of the American people.
DeLAURO: Are you planning to break the law by impounding appropriated funds?
RFK Jr: If you appropriate the funds, I'm going to spend them
D: We have! You're cutting the NIH by $18b. Congress appropriated those funds. How can you justify cutting billions from the biomedical research budget?
RFK Jr: If you appropriate the funds, I'm going to spend them
D: We have! You're cutting the NIH by $18b. Congress appropriated those funds. How can you justify cutting billions from the biomedical research budget?
May 14, 2025 at 8:36 PM
DeLauro nails it. This is illegal impoundment. Every last dollar that was appropriated by Congress for the NIH that has been "saved" needs to spent on its intended purpose: scientific research for the benefit of the American people.
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
RFK Jr and Statistics:
May 5, 2025 at 4:06 PM
RFK Jr and Statistics:
Reposted by Maren Miriam Spolum
Personally, I think it should be front page news for at least a month if a sitting US President is using falsified evidence to try and deny due process to a man who has committed no crime, but that’s just me
April 19, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Personally, I think it should be front page news for at least a month if a sitting US President is using falsified evidence to try and deny due process to a man who has committed no crime, but that’s just me