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Tara C. Smith

@aetiology.bsky.social

32K followers 2.8K following 5K posts

Collector of social media sites. Infectious disease epidemiologist. Writes about vaccine hesitancy, science misinfo, zombies. Probably somewhere on a trail. Views own etc.

Videos

The Smith special counsel investigation was a special counsel investigation that was opened by U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland on November 18, 2022, three days after Donald Trump announced his campaign for the 2024 United States presidential election. The investigation was created to continue two investigations initiated by the Justice Department (DOJ) regarding former U.S. president Donald Trump. Garland appointed Jack Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor, to lead the independent investigations. Smith was tasked with investigating Trump's role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack and Trump's mishandling of government records, including classified documents. .. more

Political science 39%

Economics 19%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 13h

I'm sorry. That's a lot of loss.

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Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 13h

Thanks. This was a close friend's dad and had a very class reunion vibe in a tiny village in my school district.

Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 13h

Third funeral in 6 months and I guess this is where middle age folks go to folks and see their friends.

(Thankfully funerals have not been for friends but for our parents. Feels like our 20s in reverse when we were attending each other's weddings).

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Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Smith, Alan Richardson , and 2 more Scott L. Greer, Smith, Alan Richardson, Silvia Secchi, David Darmofal

Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH, SM @jennifernuzzo.bsky.social · 14h

Some of these people have now been fired and rehired TWICE since January. The current state of dysfunction is mind boggling.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 16h

OOOPS! UPDATE: Two HHS officials tell me that disease detectives, measles response officers, global health officials and the MMWR staff were laid off by mistake and will be reinstated. But Washington office is still RIFed

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:

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Reposted by Smith, Christina Pagel, Nancy M. Wingfield , and 3 more Smith, Christina Pagel, Nancy M. Wingfield, Aviel Roshwald, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, David Darmofal

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 16h

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

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Reposted by Tom Clark, Daniel W. Drezner, Smith , and 6 more Tom Clark, Daniel W. Drezner, Smith, Alan Richardson, R. M. Wilson, Bessma Momani, Christina Ho, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Colin Woodard

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 20h

“We can give $20 billion to Argentina but we can’t afford the CDC’s measles experts” is a hell of an argument

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Reposted by Smith

Timothy McBride @mcbridetd.bsky.social · 20h

Trust in CDC under RFK Jr. falls to lowest in 5 years: Poll thehill.com/policy/healt...

thehill.com

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Reposted by Smith

Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 20h

The mass layoffs of federal workers on Friday night swept up the top two leaders of the federal measles response team, those working on Ebola and dozens of other infectious disease experts
(Gift article)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

C.D.C. Layoffs Included 2 Top Measles Experts Amid Rising Cases

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Smith

Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 1d

Jay Bhattacharya funding antivaxx cranks @gorskon.bsky.social taught me about 10 years ago.

www.etpnews.com/breaking-ken...

Breaking: Kennedy brings the “Aluminum Family” back as an “Aluminum Working Group”

NEW YORK - Secretary Kennedy brought back members of the “aluminum family” as an “aluminum working group“ which is being led by Lyn Redwood, according to a member of the group who spoke on the conditi...

www.etpnews.com

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Reposted by Devon Greyson, Smith

Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 1d

Farm bankruptcies are back in the news, so it's time to pull this chart out again.

Hey look they kept rising during Trump's first term. Then they went way down under Biden.

Now they're up again? So weird. Thanks Farm Bureau for the graphic

Screenshot from Farm Bureau article on farm bankruptcies. It shows farm bankruptcies climbing steadily 2014-2020, falling by half in 2021, & continuing to fall through 2023.

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Reposted by Smith

Trey Weller @treyweller.bsky.social · 2d

#Booksky Spooktacular 2025 Day 10: The @chuckwendig.bsky.social novel that tickles my fear the most is Black River Orchard. Folksy, juicy, with impeccable pacing it maintains over a significant page count. It flew by, and I ate it down to the core before asking for more.

Cover for Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig, depicting a dead-looking tree with a single red apple hanging off it

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Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you!

Reposted by Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan, Steve Peers , and 7 more Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan, Steve Peers, Smith, Jo Barraket, Rebecca Tushnet, David R. Miller, Ann Bartow, Rebecca Zorach, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2d

"30-year-old conservative lawyer and activist who is Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which deals with federal employee whistleblower complaints and discrimination" cancelled his colleague's hotel room so she would be forced to stay with him.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

In late July, Paul Ingrassia, the White House liaison for the Department of Homeland Security, arrived at a Ritz-Carlton in Orlando with a lower-ranking female colleague and others from their department. When the group reached the front desk, the woman learned she didn’t have a hotel room.

Ingrassia then informed her that she would be staying with him, according to five administration officials familiar with the episode. Eventually the woman discovered that Ingrassia had arranged ahead of time to have her hotel room canceled so she would have to stay with him, three of those officials said.

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Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you!

Reposted by Smith

Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 2d

"Institutions should embrace collective storytelling between those who hold deep knowledge and those with the cultural fluency and media reach to deliver it effectively." Amen to that!

For Expertise to Matter, Nonpartisan Institutions Need New Communications Strategies

To avoid irrelevance when they are needed most, experts and nonpartisan analysts must rethink not just their channels of communication but also their theory of influence.

carnegieendowment.org

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Reposted by Smith

Nancy Parmalee @nparmalee.bsky.social · 2d

I don’t want to generate or receive an email, document, manuscript, PowerPoint deck, post it note, grocery list, novel, film, or hit list that has been generated with AI.

Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 2d

I write because I love writing. I love writing even when I'm struggling with a writing problem that is killing me. Finding a way through that problem is both intensely rewarding and also helps me become a better writer. There is no reason for me to ever outsource that.

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 2d

there’s this weird idea a lot of people seem to have about how all of us writers and artists must secretly want to use AI and are merely resisting temptation for ethical reasons, and like, no, it’s not hard for me to resist drinking the bowl of Piss With Glass In It actually

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Reposted by Smith

CIDRAP @cidrap.bsky.social · 2d

Trial results indicate Jynneos vaccine performs well in young children

The immune response in children aged 2 to 11 years was non-inferior to that observed in adults, and 2.5-times greater in children aged 2 to 5.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/m...

Photo: Doc James / Wikimedia Commons

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Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 2d

He thinks he's too smart for that.

Reposted by Smith

A.J. Bauer @ajbauer.bsky.social · 2d

This perfectly encapsulates how right-wing politics works and why it is so dangerous.

Rather than observing the world as it is and proposing changes, right-wing politics start with an idealized conception of the world and go about reshaping reality to confirm to that vision.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

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Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 2d

Someone should 1) Tell Bobby not to believe everything you see on the internets and 2) tell him that a baby is not carried in the woman's damn placenta.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

RFK Jr: "Somebody showed me a TikTok video of a pregnant woman at 8 months pregnant -- she's an associate professor at the Columbia Medical School -- and she is saying 'F Trump' and gobbling Tylenol with her baby in her placenta. The level of Trump Derangement Syndrome is now a pathology."

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Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Lisa W. Fazio, Margaret Mitchell , and 25 more Stephen M. Walt, Lisa W. Fazio, Margaret Mitchell, Richard S.J. Tol, Brian A. Nosek, Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan, Garry Peterson, Joshua S. Weitz, Tom Clark, Steve Peers, Jamie Morgan, Elizabeth Stokoe, Henning Melber, Sanford F. Schram, Daniel W. Drezner, Trevon D. Logan, Smith, Alan Richardson, David R. Miller, Lesley Bartlett, Zen Faulkes, Kate Starbird, Henry Jones, Pauline Stafford, Jason Williams, Dana Howard, David Darmofal

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

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Reposted by Will Jennings, Scott L. Greer, Joseph Schafer , and 8 more Will Jennings, Scott L. Greer, Joseph Schafer, Kevin Carey, Smith, Alan Richardson, Andrew Jacobs, Scott A. Imberman, Henry Jones, Simon Lester, David Darmofal

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

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Reposted by Philip Nel, Smith, Melanie C. Green

Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 3d

It cannot be made clearer.

If you continue to support the Harry Potter franchise in any way, you are directly funding the removal of trans people's human rights in the UK.

JK Rowling pledges to keep up fight against SNP trans policies

Author vows to bankroll campaigners after Scottish government fails to pay group's legal fees in Supreme Court equality case

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Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 3d

Interesting. Seems like important context.

Reposted by Smith, Brian Keegan

Adrian Walking Dead 🧟‍♂️ 🦇 @adrianswalker.blacksky.app · 3d

“the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa”

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Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 3d

(Maybe they discuss that in the article--I don't have a subscription).

Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 3d

I mean, their last President was prior OSU football coach Jim Tressel (now Ohio's Lt Gov). YSU is just weird with leadership.

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Reposted by Meredith Broussard, Lisa W. Fazio, James Q. Wilson , and 38 more Meredith Broussard, Lisa W. Fazio, James Q. Wilson, Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Dorothy Bishop, Anna Nagurney, Brigitte Nerlich, Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Gavin A. Schmidt, Jesse H. Kroll, Julie L. Lockwood, Patrick A. Jansen, Joshua S. Weitz, Nicole Dubilier, Jason Stajich, Simon J. Greenhill, Michael A. Clemens, Hugo Mercier, Megan L. Ranney, Rosemary A. Joyce, Philip N. Cohen, Michael J. Allen, Andrew Curry, Jacob Montgomery, Juan Cole, Kris Inwood, Smith, Robert C. Richards, Rebecca Tushnet, Alan Richardson, Lauren Hersch Nicholas, Victor Galaz, Scott A. Imberman, Sebastian Karcher, Brian Keegan, Ann Bartow, Jack Stilgoe, Ted Temzelides, Christina Pagel, Annalee Newitz, David Darmofal

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 3d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Reposted by John McLaren, Philip Nel, Smith , and 4 more John McLaren, Philip Nel, Smith, Alan Richardson, Mary Jane Curry, Larry W. Hunter, Katelyn K. Jetelina

Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 3d

Can’t believe I have to say this, but in Minnesota you will continue to have the freedom to get your COVID and flu shots.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Trump: "We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds."

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