Break's Over

At a Loss

I’ve been struggling to write.

A possible reason: the lies have become too brazen.

My purpose in writing these newsletters is to point to instances of mis/disinformation, especially when it involves health care, and peel back the curtain to expose the tactics and purpose behind them.

To call it what it is, I wanted to be like one of my favorite fictional characters—a modern Sherlock Holmes. To investigate information crimes, digging into the backstories, the motives, the ingenious masterminds behind it all. Then, once a week, regale you with my dramatic summation.

But you don’t need Sherlock Holmes when a guy walks out onto fifth avenue and shoots someone in broad daylight. And that’s how obvious the lies have become.

That Ain’t It

I thought that was the reason for my writer’s block. That there’s just not much to say about a lie as artless as “the sky isn’t blue”.

But this week I walked out to a purple sky.

The lies have come to life. And they are wreaking havoc.

Musk and his allies are not just saying that government programs like US AID are riddled with “waste, fraud and abuse”. They are using that false pretense to gut them. And now people are starving to death. Grandparents suffocating. Babies born with HIV.

RFK Jr. and his followers aren’t just “undermining trust in vaccines”. A child has died of Measles in the United States for the first time in twenty-two years, and twenty-five years after we declared Measles eliminated. The outbreaks continue to grow.

It’s not just anti-trans rhetoric. Iowa just became the first state in history to rescind a group’s civil rights. Starting on July 1, 2025, Iowa law will no longer protect transgender people from discrimination impacting their housing, education, employment, public accomodations, health care, credit, and more. On Friday, the Montana House of Representatives passed a new indecent exposure law that would effectively criminalize being trans in public.

And the president is no longer playing footsie with the idea that Ukraine is to blame for being invaded. In a grotesque display in the Oval Office, America bullied a democratic ally and stood up for a murderous dictator. The post-WWII order is no more.

Stories Still Matter

It’s been a lot to process. Maybe for you, too?

There’s something surreal and depressing about watching something you’ve been warning would happen, happen. Especially when none of it is remotely necessary. It’s just death and destruction for the sake of death and destruction.

I’ve been stunned into inaction.

But none of this is an excuse to stop. Because even in this new world, stories matter. The people in power need to convince their supporters that what they are seeing isn’t real. We can and must poke holes in those stories.

We saw a new narrative created on the fly in this past week’s Cabinet meeting, when RFK Jr. insisted that Measles outbreaks are normal. He also provided a scapegoat: The Mennonites. He said, “I think there’s 124 people who have contracted Measles at this point, mainly in Gaines County, Texas, mainly, we are told, in the Mennonite community.”

First of all, Measles outbreaks aren’t normal. They are an increasingly common indication that vaccine rates are dropping. Every death and hospitalization from Measles is preventable.

Second, the blithe reference to the Mennonite community has led—intentionally or otherwise—many to believe that Mennonites oppose vaccines on religious grounds. That’s not true. The Mennonite religious tradition is not against immunizations. In fact, the pastor of Seminole’s Mennonite Evangelical Church in Gaines County is vaccinated, along with his entire family, children included.

Here’s what Dr. Peter Hotez, a Professor of Pediatrics and Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine says is actually going on:

In other words, the anti-vaccination activists are to blame for this outbreak. Chief among them, RFK Jr.

Break’s Over

So I’ve been knocked sideways a bit. But I promise I’m back in the game.

As another one of my favorite fictional characters, President Jed Bartlet, would say: “Break’s over. What’s next?”

Around the Internet

• The Pandemic Center Tracking Report from Brown University

  Jennifer Nuzzo, the Pandemic Center Director: “We started the Pandemic Center Tracking Report as an internal document to help keep on top of the many (and growing) serious infectious disease outbreaks that are occurring. It became so useful, we decided to share it. With the rollback in US federal health communications, it is becoming even more important to have a central place for sharing pertinent health information. Sign up to receive our Tracking Report free each Thursday.”

• “We the Builders”

  “Around a dozen current and former federal workers are behind a new website created as an outlet to share anonymous stories and technical expertise about the Department of Government Efficiency’s dismantling of government agencies.” - The Verge story

• What Felt Impossible Became Possible

  In the 1920s, the KKK were mainstream. They controlled levers of government and were ubiquitous in public life. But one man continuously stood against them. His name was George Dale. Read this article to read about Dale’s resistance, and for a concrete reminder about the importance of stalwart resistance.

Living Rent-Free in My Brain this Week

Patriarchy and authoritarianism go hand in hand. We all need to be vigilant in protecting women’s rights.

Quote I Like

Thanks for reading. Hang in there, everybody.

Ky

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