Margaret Nielsen
@margaretnielsen.bsky.social
1.8K followers 930 following 260 posts
Retired professor, married, grandmother, post- #polio #disability, social justice and peace advocate @msunielsen on other social media
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margaretnielsen.bsky.social
Excellent idea - #GrandparentsForVaccines can share experiences from the decades before vaccines could protect us from diseases like measles and polio.
maddow.msnbc.com
"The group brings together hundreds of grandparents nationwide who lived through diseases such as polio, tuberculosis and measles — illnesses once thought eliminated in the United States..."

www.kgw.com/article/news...
Grandparents for Vaccines launches to share stories of life before immunizations
New volunteer group aims to educate parents about vaccine importance by sharing personal experiences with preventable diseases.
www.kgw.com
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
angierasmussen.bsky.social
@thewarningses.bsky.social & I talked about the CDC. So what if it's not functional? Does it matter? They screwed up the pandemic!

It matters a lot. We need the CDC for the same reason we need the Army: save American lives & defend national security
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/a-conversa...
A conversation with Dr Angela Rasmussen about the CDC
The CDC is being systematically dismantled. So what? What do we need public health for anyway?
rasmussenretorts.substack.com
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
angierasmussen.bsky.social
Here's just the video if you'd rather not read the longer blog post accompanying it. Just so you have some choices for depressing public health content to consume in the midst of the ALCS. (Go Mariners!)

Thanks to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for facilitating!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiw3...
A conversation with Dr Angela Rasmussen about the CDC
YouTube video by Angela Rasmussen
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
angierasmussen.bsky.social
The newsletter from agricultural producer news site WATT Poultry is now a primary source of my anxiety. H5N1 is exploding in North American poultry. Every day, a headline like this.

But no human cases. Either there aren't any or there's no testing. Given CDC's dismantling, I can guess.
Headline: "Avian flu invades flock of nearly 2 million Washington hens"
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
fcnl.bsky.social
For over a century, the U.S. gov. ran “boarding schools” that tore Native children from their families and cultures. Abuse and death were common. The harms endure.

This #IndigenousPeoplesDay, we must not turn away from this history. Our gov. has a duty to begin the process of healing.
'We survived, we are resilient': Remembering U.S. Indian boarding schools
Tuesday is Orange Shirt Day, when communities honor the survivors of U.S. Indian boarding schools and their descendants.
buff.ly
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
bbkogan.bsky.social
In the last 70 years, federal jobs fell from 4.5% of all employment to below 2%.

Civil servants aren't what's driving government debt, and firing them won't address it.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1N1kt
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
brendannyhan.bsky.social
In the United States. Not another country. Happening right now.
nickkristof.bsky.social
In Portland, an ambulance was summoned to the ICE office to treat an injured protester (not clear how he was injured). But when the patient was loaded inside, ICE officers refused to let the ambulance leave and threatened to shoot the ambulance driver: www.wweek.com/news/2025/10...
Documents Allege a Federal Agent at Portland ICE Threatened to Shoot an Ambulance Driver
Feds delayed medics who had come to pick up an injured protester. Then, according to confidential incident reports, the agents became aggressive.
www.wweek.com
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
sifill.bsky.social
I can’t help but think today about how many young people were savaged on social media, branded as anti-semites and abandoned by their schools for daring to call for a ceasefire. I remember saying that it was the first time I can remember that calling for ceasefire was regarded as a hostile demand.
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
heylookitsruth.bsky.social
A mom in Houston reported her 15-year-old son with autism missing. She spent 6 days terrified, searching for him. The whole time, Houston police knew exactly where he was since they helped ICE place him in a refugee facility.

This is beyond cruel.
www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...
Missing teen with autism transferred to refugee facility by HPD
He is currently being held at an Office for Refugee Resettlement facility.
www.houstonchronicle.com
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
fcnl.bsky.social
📣 Advocates are speaking out loudly clearly about what we need from our lawmakers as the shutdown continues:

We demand a deal that reopens the government, cares for the vulnerable, and protects funding from Trump’s authoritarianism.

Read more in our latest edition of This Week in the World:
This Week in the World: Gaza Ceasefire Provides Hope for Peace | Friends Committee On National Legislation
As the new Gaza ceasefire takes effect today, Israeli forces have begun pulling back, and thousands of Palestinians have begun trekking back to whatever remains of their homes.After two horrific and…
buff.ly
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
nikedomelon.bsky.social
Stock futures rise after Trump hints at backing off from new China tariffs

Wonder who made money, insider trading anyone🇨🇦🇺🇦✌️
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
BTIG: Trump tariffs were “the match that lit the selloff, but .. kindling for a fire was set over the last few weeks .. private equity and credit names were really selling off,” discretionary was weak. “There is enough damage below the surface .. to suggest this is the start of a deeper pullback ..”
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
mack2114.bsky.social
The U.S. Department of Education fired nearly everyone in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in a wave of new layoffs that began Friday, according to the union representing the agency's employees.

This wipes out special education office.

www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...
Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says
The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
www.usatoday.com
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
mskellymhayes.bsky.social
My latest is the story of how my community has rallied to protect and defend our neighbors in recent days, as ICE has targeted the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago. "This is not a story about a moment of victory, but a moment of being reminded of our power."
They Came for Our Neighbors. We Showed Up.
Before long, there were dozens, and then hundreds of people in the streets, watching and responding.
organizingmythoughts.org
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
danifroom.bsky.social
ICE is the only federal agency with an explicitly evil agenda from word one. You're not going to get some mythical moral whistleblower to turn on them because every person who signed on did so with the explicit, joyous expectation of inflicting harm upon those they see as unhuman.
michaeljkramer.bsky.social
Why are there so few (none?) news stories about individual ICE agents themselves? Who they are, what motivates them, any moral dilemmas they face? Why aren’t protesters trying to get some to speak out?
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
newyorker.com
The indictment of the New York attorney general, Letitia James, serves only one fundamental interest: Donald Trump’s insatiable thirst for revenge, Ruth Marcus writes. http://nyer.cm/eAarofz
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
matthewborus.bsky.social
I saw a report today that the mass firings at SAMHSA/HHS included all Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) staff.

These folks administer a major source of funding for state Protection & Advocacy agencies, whose work @mariannedhe.bsky.social describes in this article.
truthout.org
If programs such as the ACL are eliminated as Trump wishes, experts warn that an increasing number of disabled and aging Americans could be institutionalized with little oversight to ensure their rights are protected against abuse and neglect.
Trump’s Budget Would Limit Investigations Into Abuse, Neglect of Disabled People
Dismantling a key HHS agency, gutting important programs, and cuts to Medicaid will roll back decades of progress.
truthout.org
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
swin24.bsky.social
The idea that world events and life-or-death political decisions should turn on what one elderly US citizen sees on a TV sounds like the premise for a 1970s dystopian satire written by the most hysterical Marxist novelist seeking to magnify the moral rot and decadence of a declining American empire…
swin24.bsky.social
“One former senior Trump administration official from the first term tells Zeteo that…when Trump was publicly dangling the idea of attacking Iranian cultural sites…the president indeed… asked…aides what they thought of striking the specific targets offered up by the likes of Hegseth &…Sean Hannity.”
swin24.bsky.social
For my piece today at @zeteo.com i wanted to truly underscore how punishingly stupid american fascism is now. Like, my original proposed headline for this was:

Our Democracy Is Imperiled Because One Old Man Won’t Stop ‘Yelling’ At His TV. zeteo.com/p/trump-addi...
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
thisamericanlife.org
On the radio this weekend: What happens when people create alternate versions of themselves and release them into the wild? bit.ly/4he0KOo
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
thisamericanlife.org
On the radio this weekend: As NYC’s Democratic establishment attempts to resist the candidacy of Zohran Mamdani, we look back at another mayoral candidate who upset the established political machine.
Harold - This American Life
The story of Harold Washington and the white backlash that ensued when he became Chicago's first Black mayor.
bit.ly
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
sherylnyt.bsky.social
UPDATE : Two HHS officials told me Saturday evening that some RIF’d CDC employees—including disease, detectives, measles response team and MMWR staff —were fired in error and are being brought back. Story w/ @apoorvanyt.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...
Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
BTIG: Trump tariffs were “the match that lit the selloff, but .. kindling for a fire was set over the last few weeks .. private equity and credit names were really selling off,” discretionary was weak. “There is enough damage below the surface .. to suggest this is the start of a deeper pullback ..”
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
michaelsderby.bsky.social
A big deal for inflation and also whether you’ll have reliable food supplies, due to Trump policy choices.
simonlester.com
"The Labor Department warned in an obscure document filed with the Federal Register last week that 'the near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens' is threatening 'the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers.'”
Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices
U.S. farmers face labor shortages and potential food price hikes due to Trump’s immigration policy, the administration acknowledged in a Federal Registry document.
wapo.st
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
sifill.bsky.social
She probably should have impressed this upon Kavanaugh before he issued an opinion endorsing what are now known as “Kavanaugh stops.”
atrupar.com
Amy Coney Barrett defends heavy use of the shadow docket: "If we wrote a long opinion, it might give the impression that we have finally resolved the issue, and in none of these cases have we finally resolved the issue."
Reposted by Margaret Nielsen
cmgiulini.bsky.social
After spending 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, evidence hidden by the prosecution reversed his conviction. Rather than finally enjoying freedom, ICE abducted him for deportation

Depraved.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him
Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.
www.miamiherald.com