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Joshua Weitz

@joshuasweitz.bsky.social

9.5K followers 2.8K following 1.8K posts

Professor of Biology & Institute for Health Computing, U of Maryland; explores how viruses impact human and environmental health; 'Asymptomatic' (JHU Press, 10/2024) & 'Quantitative Biosciences' (Princeton U Press, 3/2024) & 'Science Matters' substack. .. more

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Joshua S. Weitz is an American biologist. He is both a professor of biology and the Clark Leadership Chair in Data Analytics at the University of Maryland. Previously, he was a professor at Georgia Tech, where he was the founding director of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences. In 2017, he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. .. more

Biology 28%

Environmental science 26%

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 17d

New from #SCIMaP - analysis of the White House’s Proposed FY 2026 National Science Foundation Budget.

Take-home: Slashing NSF by >50% will lead to ~$11 billion in economic loss and extensive job loss and reduced training opportunities in communities nationwide.

Report: osf.io/e8rnc

a 🧵

Economic loss from the White House's NSF FY 2026 Proposed Budget

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 30m

Unknown gap between number fired on Friday and unfired on Saturday and as before in previous "errors", message is clear: admin doesn't care about federal workers or their mission.

open.substack.com/pub/joshuasw...

With Malice Toward All and Charity for None: Oct. 10-11 CDC (Un)Firing Edition

A post interpreting the Friday night firing of more than 1,000 CDC experts only to have some of these layoffs termed an ‘error’ & reversed on Saturday night.

open.substack.com

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 1h

But they still fire a lot of them...

In sum: the 'unfiring' doesn't specify how many were un-RIFed

&

manages to cast a second, unfair aspersion against those who remained RIFed

&

sends a broader message: the administration doesn't think civil servants or their work matters.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 1h

Why do these 'errors' keep happening in mission-critical positions...

'Trump administration tries to bring back fired nuclear weapons workers' (2/16)
apnews.com/article/nucl...

'With Malice Toward All and Charity for None' (10/11)
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/with-malic...

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Reposted by Elena Litchman

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 3h

New post:

With Malice Toward All and Charity for None:
Oct. 10-11 CDC (Un)Firing Edition

joshuasweitz.substack.com/publish/post...

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 4h

And for the moment, ever downwards.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 4h

"We want to put them in trauma"

(with laughter from the audience at the Center for Renewing America)

Article:
www.propublica.org/article/vide...

Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBH9...

“We Want the Bureaucrats to Be Traumatically Affected”

YouTube video by ProPublica

www.youtube.com

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 5h

Give them time.

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 5h

Equal parts malice and incompetence, but the incompetence ends up being a form of malice, so it's mostly malice.

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 5h

One more note: there were many more RIFs on Friday night.

Perhaps the administration does not think of these as 'errors', and will claim that some RIFs were 'correct'.

We should assume otherwise: these RIFs are a form of political retribution that do not serve federal agency missions.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 5h

Correct.

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 5h

New reporting: many apparently fired at CDC in 'error'. This is a failure by design given that the admin does not care about fulfilling agency missions. This is the kind of error that should have political consequences.

Unserious people cause real-world harm.

🎁
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Will Jennings, Joshua S. Weitz, Mary Feeney , and 9 more Will Jennings, Joshua S. Weitz, Mary Feeney, American Library Association, Robert C. Richards, Melanie C. Green, Gerald Friedman, James Goodwin, Erol Akçay, Henry Jones, Timothy D. McBride, Monisha Bajaj

Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 11h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 14h

One week from today, in front of NIH, 10am-12pm

Rally to Defend Medical Research

NIH/Medical Center Metro stop
Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20814

www.mobilize.us/mobilize/eve...

NO KINGS NIH --Defend Medical Research · Mobilize

**In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Bo...

www.mobilize.us

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Reposted by Joshua S. Weitz

Reposted by Joshua S. Weitz, Scott L. Greer, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 7 more Joshua S. Weitz, Scott L. Greer, Rosemary A. Joyce, Juan Cole, Erika Franklin Fowler, Daniel Aaron, Robert C. Richards, Alan Richardson, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Timothy D. McBride

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 15h

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Reposted by Brendan Nyhan

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 15h

"Roughly 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers — the so-called “disease detectives” who respond to outbreaks around the globe — received layoff notices"

There is no 'make healthy' objective here, but there will be costs and consequences, to readiness, safety, and lives.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 23h

FULL STORY HERE: Emails began flooding CDC inboxes late Friday night announcing dozens of layoffs. HR people brought back from furlough to oversee the RIFs. Disease detectives, entire Washington office, global health, injury prevention, MMWR staff among those hit.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Joshua S. Weitz, Laia Balcells, Andrew Rudalevige

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 23h

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Timothy Snyder, David Brady, Joshua S. Weitz , and 5 more Timothy Snyder, David Brady, Joshua S. Weitz, Steve Peers, Ben Harris‐Roxas, Brian Keegan, Leah Stokes, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 1d

The editors of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) were apparently fired today.

The precursor to MMWR began in 1878 to address emerging public health threats rapidly.

We are not “great” without it. We are vulnerable to threats from sporadic foodborne illness to bioterrorism.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 1d

Word is rippling out. The US is intentionally dismantling expertise that took decades to build, firing CDC staff (and beyond) late on a Friday amidst a government shutdown.

Knowing less will make us sick.

Investing less will cost us more.

Nihilism is no way to lead.

bsky.app/profile/sher...

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

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: