Matthew Thomas, PhD

10/05/2025

What do you mean a highly contagious disease that's entirely preventable is spreading?

Oh that's right. Anti-vax proponents like RFK Jr. want people to think Autism is caused by vaccines when that is a lie.

I'm sure the raw milk, essential oils, and thoughts/prayers will solve this.

South Carolina officially has a measles outbreak, even while Georgia deals with a cluster of cases as low vaccination rates in the region raise concerns.

09/26/2025

Blatantly illegal firing for comments from years ago on a blog before he even started working for the federal government.

Loyalty to one person is not a requirement to work in government

Will Rosenzweig was considered a rising star at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami.

09/26/2025

I thought he was going to drop drug prices by 1500%, an arbitrary and impossible number. Meanwhile, RFK Jr. is hawking unproven supplements in place of actual public health.

This action will hurt Americans, both physically and financially, but that's all he's done in eight months.

The good news: There are several loopholes in Trump’s proposal that mean the impact of the new taxes may be limited.

09/23/2025

If you're wanting to get into executive politics, this book by William Howell and Terry Moe is a good one that just came out last month.

Trajectory of Power looks at the escalating unilateralism of the presidency. This isn't a book about just Donald Trump, but other presidents too.

Given my focus is more on governors, I will say that whatever limits there may be on presidents is not nearly as existent for many governors. At the same time, outside of exclusive powers of the presidency, any power they have is surely exacerbated at the gubernatorial level. While that might not seem as important comparatively, it's still a dangerous prospect as they seem to follow the lead of the president (or presidents learn from governors).

Ultimately, that's my big issue is because we as a field and as a public don't care nearly as much.

09/22/2025

Since COVID, Trump has always been wanting to stop data collection as if the problem miraculously goes away.

Stopping weather data, and now food security data. Just backsliding one day at a time.

The Trump administration is terminating the federal government’s annual report on food insecurity in America, saying it had become “redundant, costly and politicized” and noting that “extraneous studies do nothing more than fear monger.”

08/28/2025

Not requiring surveillance of listeria is insane behavior when there's frequently listeria outbreaks.

But then again, RFK Jr. has shown indifference to public health.

Beginning to understand why other countries don't want our food.

Federal health officials have scaled back FoodNet, a program that tracked food poisoning infections in the U.S.

08/16/2025

If jobs data, climate data, crime data, etc. is all fake but you're the source that will make it real, that's authoritarian.

It's dear leader vibes because it's all they have.

08/13/2025

The fact there's people who will cheer on deporting a US citizen kid with cancer because "the mom shouldn't have had kids here" is disgusting.

But yet the Trump Administration sees fit to give Ghislaine Maxwell (a registered s*x offender) work release at a minimum security prison which is against Bureau of Prison protocol and common sense.

Ask your friends who had a ton of energy nearly a year ago where they stand now, because they're awful quiet.

Before his deportation, the 4-year-old was receiving “life-saving” treatment in Louisiana, the lawsuit says.

08/11/2025

Nothing says "freedom" like having FBI agents do beat cop duties on the streets of DC under the flimsiest pretext ever.

With Trump likely announcing National Guard troops to also patrol, it really shows a) he had full control of the military on January 6th contrary to MAGA belief and b) he'll do anything to distract from his lackluster record and Epstein problem.

President Trump promised a weekend crackdown on Washington, D.C.'s homeless population and criminals. Trump activated federal agents to also be a show of force across the district.

08/04/2025

International students pay more in tuition than domestic students.

It's a stupid provision to force colleges to lower international enrollment when they provide so much to local economies. The number of jobs potentially lost from this decrease at regional universities will far surpass those fantasy coal jobs.

Then again, they don't really care about the economy as we've seen.

Trump officials are using rules, policies and agreements to compel and discourage U.S. universities from enrolling international students.

08/03/2025

If I had a nickel for every Fox News alcoholic appointed by the Trump Administration, I'd have two nickels.

Which isn't a lot but it's weird it happened twice.

The Senate on Saturday approved the nomination of Jeanine Pirro​, confirming the cable news personality to a top prosecutor post in Washington, D.C.

08/01/2025

That's not good.

Trump used those previous numbers to attack Fed Chairman and say the interest rates need to drop.

Come to find out, the math was entirely wrong. Yes, it happened in the Biden Administration but not to this magnitude.

But the head of the BLS shouldn't be fired. That just makes the future data less credible.

There's clearly something underlying the data where it needs to be updated like this.

The U.S. added 258,000 fewer jobs in May and June than the Labor Department first reported, according to federal data released Friday. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued stunning revisions…