I had the good fortune to work with Dr. Monarez during the COVID-19 emergency response. She is a consummate professional and deeply committed to public health.

Grieve, pray, and hug your loved ones. But also reach out and make connections with those who hold different political views. Love your neighbors. And remember that we are in this together even when - and especially when - it feels hardest.

Words can be more dangerous than weapons.

If we don't take responsibility for how we talk about tragedy, we’re preparing the ground for something far worse.

Northern Ireland only reached an uneasy peace after decades of bloodshed, thousands of deaths, and generations scarred. The U.S. doesn’t have to repeat that history. But if we keep pouring gasoline on every fire, then we risk our own American-style sectarian conflict.

This is how sectarian violence takes form. Not overnight. But drip by drip, word by word, until escalation feels like the only path left.

That’s the danger now. The murder itself is horrific. But the stories being told about it — martyrdom, revenge, collective blame — may be even more dangerous.

It didn’t start with bombs. It started with words.
+Politicians framing neighbors as enemies
+Leaders stripping away nuance
+Narratives that made violence feel inevitable

Context: in a country the size of Houston, there were 3,500+ political murders in Northern Ireland over just three decades — and tens of thousands of bombings, shootings, and kidnappings.

Lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't note that EPA is <0.2% of the federal budget. If Trump cuts the budget by 50% he will have achieved nothing to solve the federal deficit but he will make us all sicker and weaker.

If you do believe the federal government should protect you from deadly pollution, then there is a set of fixed costs to run that pollution monitoring and enforcement structure. Making the regulations less stringent does not mean you need fewer staff.

If you do not want the federal government to limit air and water pollution, then sure, you can eliminate an entire office. (That is also how you end up with rivers so polluted that they catch up fire).

We don't yet know what the Trump Administration will propose as alternatives as they roll back many regulations protecting public health. But much of their rhetoric on staffing reductions implies a false correlation between regulations and staffing levels.

WMATA has been rolling this out successfully in DC where the video is manually reviewed. More here: ddot.dc.gov/page/ddot-bu...