BK

[STL Fan Van @STLCityFanVan]

US OPEN CUP CHAMPIONS

[Jesus Freakin Congress @TheJFreakinC]

🚨Last night, in Minneapolis, federal agents fired green chemical gas into a residential neighborhood after community members showed up to document what was happening on their own block.

Let’s be very clear about what that means…

This wasn’t a federal courthouse.
This wasn’t federal property.
This was people standing in the streets where they live… streets lined with houses, apartments, kids, babies, and pregnant people.

That green gas didn’t just hit people outside. It spread through the neighborhood, into yards and homes.

Agents also threw flash bangs at a family trying to leave because of the smoke, even though they had small children, including a 6-month-old who was later taken to the hospital by ambulance.

And, the green gas matters. This isn’t “normal” tear gas.

That same green smoke has been documented before… in Portland… where it was used by federal agents to “protect” federal buildings.

Independent testing found it contained hexachloroethane, which produces zinc chloride smoke when deployed. The U.S. military stopped using it decades ago because of how toxic it is.

Exposure to this gas is linked to burning skin and eyes, coughing, vomiting, chest pain, and serious respiratory injury, with the risk of delayed and long-term lung damage. This is especially dangerous for infants, children, pregnant people, and anyone with asthma or other respiratory conditions.

Now, federal agents are using it in neighborhoods.

And on top of that… ICE and other federal agents are not supposed to be doing crowd control in residential areas at all.

Their authority is limited to specific federal functions. Crowd control in city streets is not one of them. They do not have blanket jurisdiction to gas neighborhoods because people are in their own neighborhood streets.

So what we’re watching is federal agents:

• acting outside their role
• performing crowd control where they have no jurisdiction
• firing toxic green gas into civilian neighborhoods
• and exposing families inside their own homes to chemicals that cause real physical harm.

This isn’t public safety.
This isn’t lawful enforcement.

This is the federal government treating American neighborhoods like hostile territory… and using chemical weapons to do it.

That should alarm everyone, because there is nothing stopping this from happening in your neighborhood next.

[BK @BKraftSTL]

Perfect explanation of the hand young Americans have been dealt

[Mark Blyth @MkBlyth]

Mike Green is writing some amazing stuff at the moment. It's not in the delta, it's in the level and the cost structure. Read this and you will understand Angrynomics on a new level: https://t.co/2a9tNESNGm

[Pittsburgh Steelers @steelers]

Who wants it? 👀

RP for your chance to win this @dkm14 throwback jersey!

[Pittsburgh Steelers @steelers]

RP for your chance to win this signed @_TJWatt Week 4 gameday poster‼️

Get yours at the @SteelersShop ➡️ https://t.co/KTMka2JydC

[DrDemetre @dr_demetre]

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.

I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.  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.

The recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader.   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.

Sincerely,

Demetre C. Daskalakis MD MPH (he/his/him)

[BK @BKraftSTL]

@TheMengisKhan @LFC Updates on this?

[Abier @abierkhatib]

Cook the BBC like this, every day, all day.

Bravo Dr Nick Maynard

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

U.S. taxpayers have spent $24 billion on Netanyahu's horrific war in Gaza. Instead of starving children, that money could pay for:

700,000 public housing units
500,000 low-income kids receiving health care
500,000 veterans receiving VA care
600,000 kids in Head Start

Combined.

[Tommy Vietor @TVietor08]

Rarely do you see this much demonstrably false bullshit packed into a video this short. The only compelling argument made here is for term limits.

[LenaSun @bylenasun]

NEW: The CDC shooting was much worse than initially reported. 181 rounds. 150 windows hit. Staff are furious at RFK Jr. and Trump becuz their long-running fears about anti-vax rhetoric turning deadly seem to be vindicated. ⁦@LaurenWeberHP⁩ + Me. https://t.co/kI7Dn1S5lt

[Kyle Brandt @KyleBrandt]

Let’s not mess up the TJ Watt thing this year. It’s not hard. @gmfb

[SportsCenter @SportsCenter]

A STUNNER IN FAYETTEVILLE!

No. 5 Arkansas fails to reach its own regional finals, eliminated by Southeast Missouri State 😮

[STL Fan Van @STLCityFanVan]

Nah this is the Klauss I know holy shit

[. @TheMengisKhan]

#TheMasters

[Pittsburgh Steelers @steelers]

RP for your chance to win this signed @Patrickqueen_ Terrible Towel ‼️

[Elad Gross 🇺🇸 @BigElad]

I have this graph saved because of the number of times I hear this crap.

The Missouri Republican Party has orchestrated a massive defunding of our public schools and now is trying to funnel taxpayer money to wealthy privatizers. Kids have already been shorted out on billions of dollars over the last decade.

Minimum teacher pay in current law is $25,000. The "almost 75%" proposal increases it to $40,000.

[John Mellencamp @johnmellencamp]

Excuse me for stating the obvious truth.  I do so out of love for this country and the pain of learning, once again, that children have been killed by gun violence. If we as a country want to find the collective will within ourselves to change our gun laws, let’s stop playing silly political games.  Show the carnage on the news.  Show the American people the dead children and others who have been struck down.  Show us what guns and bullets can do to the human body.
The news media need to be brave enough to let Americans see what slaughtered children look like. Otherwise, I fear that too many perceive gun violence as an abstract; a story that’s repeated nearly every day to numbing effect. When I was a teenager, there was a war in Vietnam.  In the beginning, no one paid much attention to this problem in a foreign land until the media shouldered the responsibility and showed America how our sons were being slaughtered.  Once those images were shown on TV, there was overwhelming demand for that  war to be ended immediately.
I say this as a father and a human being, with deep empathy for the parents whose children have had their lives ended so suddenly and so senselessly: Show America the carnage. I am not being callous, and I know it will be painful to see.  But, sad to say, I think it’s the only way to shock America out of its stupor. #GunControlNow #GunViolence #Empathy #gunlaws #change

[First Things First @FTFonFS1]

.@getnickwright reacts to the shooting at the Chiefs parade:

[Tiberius @tiberiusfiles]

Having the worst possible Labour Party at the same time as the worst possible Conservative Party at the same time as the US has the worst possible Democratic Party at the same time as the worst possible Republican Party isn’t just a coincidence we can just shrug off.

This is the result of decades of intentional centralisation of power and wealth, courtesy of late-stage capitalism, and the resulting authoritarianism working to prevent any reasonable alternative to the managed duopoly.

Or, in short, this terrible, undemocratic and dystopian juncture, where the nations who helped write international law ignore it to murder thousands of children, is the result of what happens when the system works precisely as intended—so we the people have no political power, the tyrants do as they please, and every avenue to change is blocked and tightly controlled.

This is what happens when we meekly accept terrible ‘representatives’ on repeat: they continue to disenfranchise us while pacifying us with lies.

And we know they’re lying. We know they’re playing us. We know they’re the worst kinds of people imaginable—child-killers and grave-robbers in business suits with dead eyes and greedy, plastic smiles.

Yet this will only continue and worsen even as time goes by. The state of play will continue to decay because the fundamentals are still the same: the same centralisation of power, the same bad actors stifling change, the same charlatans like Biden and Starmer presenting the illusion of hope while acting completely against our interests.

Until we take a stand. Until we unite across significant divides. Until we refuse to let them manipulate us with their ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’ rhetoric where the fear of one tyrant plays us straight into the hands of another.

The solution is the old solution—organisation, mobilisation, mutual aid, civil disobedience, citizen education and direct action. And while the police state has never been stronger, we have new tools at our disposal, too, in how we organise and build movements for change.

If, like me, you have an issue with prejudice, with inequality, with climate change, with imperialism, or with any of the dystopian policies being carried out across the Western world, these are all upheld by the same system that exploits and disenfranchises us all, destroys communities across the world, murders innocent people, and treats our planet as nothing more than a resource to exploit.

This is the only fight in town, and we’ve been subjected to it for years. We need to get better at fighting back.