Marcel Harmon

Kansas AG offers to delay enforcement of anti-trans law until March 26 while judge weighs challenge • Kansas Reflector Kansans won’t know until at least Tuesday if a judge will delay implementation of the state’s new “bathroom law,” but a concession by Attorney General Kris Kobach means key components of the law can b...

Kansans won’t know until at least Tuesday if a judge will delay implementation of the state’s new “bathroom law,” but a concession by Attorney General Kris Kobach means key components of the law can be delayed until March 26. #ksleg via @crazeywriter.bsky.social kansasreflector.com/2026/03/06/k...

Gas just hit $3 a gallon in rural Iowa…

Hope is a Promise As well as a weapon and a tool we can use to help us resist, while building a better future.

But we'll have to work to get there. 2/

marcelharmon67.substack.com/p/hope-is-a-...

May we live in a world where cruelty and thoughtlessness do not define the default actions of our leaders. 1/

Hope is a Promise As well as a weapon and a tool we can use to help us resist, while building a better future.

"Hope is a powerful human emotion, feeling, and expectation capable of providing our lives with greater meaning. It’s also been described as a weapon, a blade and a shield for us to wield as we resist injustice."

marcelharmon67.substack.com/p/hope-is-a-...

Hope is a Promise As well as a weapon and a tool we can use to help us resist, while building a better future.

"Hope is a powerful human emotion, feeling, and expectation capable of providing our lives with greater meaning. It’s also been described as a weapon, a blade and a shield for us to wield as we resist injustice."

marcelharmon67.substack.com/p/hope-is-a-...

How an anti-trans bathroom law similar to the one in Kansas forced sweeping changes in Texas • Kansas Reflector TOPEKA — Two months after a Texas bathroom law went into effect for government buildings, public officials there are still working through how to comply with the law’s vague language.  Just this week,...

How an anti-trans bathroom law similar to the one in Kansas forced sweeping changes in Texas | via @crazeywriter.bsky.social #ksleg

Loss of Infectivity of Influenza Virus and SARS-CoV-2 during Aerosol Sampling Our understanding of transmission of influenza virus and other respiratory viruses is limited by the difficulty of detecting infectious viruses in aerosol particles. Most aerosol sampling methods are believed to contribute to virus inactivation, but the magnitude of this sampling artifact is unknown. To investigate this question, we aerosolized influenza A virus (IAV) and SARS-CoV-2 suspended in human saliva into a small chamber (3.7 L). Aerosols settled for 10 min onto either cells or a thin layer of liquid medium that was immediately transferred to cells for plaque assay. Aerosols that deposited directly onto cells led to the formation of 100× more plaque forming units (PFU) compared to aerosols that deposited first into liquid medium. Further experiments ruled out uneven aerosol distribution in the chamber or inefficient virus recovery as causes of this discrepancy. These findings indicate that aerosolized IAV and SARS-CoV-2 lost infectivity by approximately 2 log10 PFU within ∼10 min unless they attached to cells quickly. As natural infection via inhalation occurs by direct deposition of the virus onto cells, we hypothesize that sampling directly onto cells more accurately reflects the potential for exposure to lead to infection.

Our latest paper shows that most aerosol sampling methods may underestimate infectious virus in air. We observed 100x more infectious flu virus and SARS-CoV-2 if it deposited directly on cells (more realistic) rather than in liquid first and then transferred to cells. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

The cover-up just never ends. Rest in peace, Ruben Ray Martinez.

Can confirm.

Hateful lawmakers covet millions of dollars from hardworking Kansans to subsidize their contempt • Kansas Reflector Kansas legislators have done a whole bunch of hating lately. And they want you to pay for it with your tax dollars.

Opinion by @claywires.bsky.social: Hateful lawmakers covet millions of dollars from hardworking Kansans to subsidize their contempt #ksleg kansasreflector.com/2026/02/16/h...

Also, not every liberal is excited for the abundance economy, certainly not without major changes to our economic systems, wealth gap, and power differentials - e.g., @mazzucatom.bsky.social, @kateraworth.bsky.social, @prosocialworld.bsky.social, etc.

Really balancing abundance & sufficiency. 3/

Who Gets to Shape Federal Architecture? The Trump regime is making a play to dictate federal architecture as part of their effort to remake the federal government and create an authoritarian state. Will we let them?

I'd argue David underplayed the associated negatives, because he was conflating architecture & symbolism for a nation, people, & idea vs that for a vain autocrat. Something Emily & John keyed in on - also see: Who Gets to Shape Federal Architecture - marcelharmon67.substack.com/p/who-gets-t... 2/

AG Pam Bondi Performs for an Audience of One In “normal times,” Bondi’s job would never survive yesterday’s performance.

During the 2nd topic of this week's @slate.com Political Gabfest, Emily Bazelon, @jdickerson.bsky.social, & David Plotz discussed the radical transformation of Washington, D.C. over the last year - architecture (including the White House), renaming, art, etc. 1/

slate.com/podcasts/pol...

DEI as a "Fitness" Program Evolutionary fitness, that is. In honor of Darwin Day, a look at DEI initiatives from a cultural evolutionary perspective (including the far right's current attacks on DEI initiatives)

Resharing this for Darwin Day - DEI as a(n Evolutionary) Fitness Program. #DarwinDay2026

FYI #ksleg

marcelharmon67.substack.com/p/dei-as-a-f...

Voter Passport The SAVE Act

The SAVE Act was never about election integrity or keeping elections fair. It is about building a paywall around the ballot and hoping we’re too exhausted or too broke to participate.

The SAVE Act is meant to keep us home so they can steal an election.

jesspiper.substack.com/p/voter-pass...

State terror + state incompetence + state indifference = state collapse

"This is Mia, 7 years old -- 'I don't want to be in this place. I want to be in my school'" -- Walkinshaw confronts Lyons with letters written by kids being detained by ICE

Jayapal asks Epstein survivors in hearing room to stand and raise hands if they still haven't been able to meet with Bondi's DOJ. Every single one of them doe. Jayapal then gives Bondi an opportunity to apologize. She responds by trying to attack Jayapal and Merrick Garland but doesn't apologize.

Trump Starts the Steal It seems Trump won’t let this loss go—or happen again.

I'm not a doomer. I believe we have a robust system of checks and balances baked into our elections systems. But that's why this convo with @ariberman.bsky.social is useful -- you can hear us reach some pretty chilling conclusions anyway. The most important: get involved slate.com/podcasts/wha...

ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April Homeland Security plans to build warehouse detention facilities in other cities being met with opposition.

ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.

If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...

Crockett: "The US is falling apart, partially bc he's allowing for killings in the street, but also bc we have a 34 count convicted felon being shielded from any type of accountability as it relates to a child sex trafficking ring. I don't understand why we're pretending any of this is normal."

Yep. Also see Who Gets to Shape Federal Architecture: marcelharmon67.substack.com/p/who-gets-t...

Mamdani: "I speak of Renee Good, whose final words to the man who murdered her were, 'I'm not mad at you.' I speak of Alex Pretti who died as he lived, caring for the stranger. ICE shot him bc he did something they could never fathom ... let us offer a new path: one of defiance through compassion."

WATCH: Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen Aliya Rahman describes being detained by ICE YouTube video by PBS NewsHour

I’m sharing Aliya’s entire opening statement. We owe it to her, and those who no longer have a voice, to watch. youtu.be/zrcW8SZtYpI?...

Bari Weiss’s new CBS hires include ‘germ theory denialist’ doctor Dr Mark Hyman, who claimed he reduced his biological age by 20 years, brought on as a contributor

"Among the hires at CBS News announced by Weiss is a doctor who claims he reduced his biological age by 20 years with cold plunges; that cod liver oil treats autism; and that Alzheimer’s and dementia can be reversed with supplements he sells on his online store."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

What Would You Do? As the U.S. struggles against an authoritarian takeover, what will you do to protect democracy? How will you step up, especially if you're a white male with power? What are you willing to sacrifice?

How will you step up to protect democracy? It isn't a spectator sport.

Kicked off with references to two recent important What Next episodes with @maryharris.bsky.social

marcelharmon67.substack.com/p/what-would...

House Republican forces hearing, despite no support, on restrictions for delivering advance ballots • Kansas Reflector House Democrats heckled Leavenworth Republican Rep. Pat Proctor's latest idea to undermine advance voting after he forced a hearing on a bill that nobody was willing to support.

House Republican forces hearing, despite no support, on restrictions for delivering advance ballots | via @journalist-sherman.bsky.social #ksleg

Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raym...

Government records reviewed by ProPublica identify the two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

A reminder that the New England Patriots plane is flown by Omni air who contracts with ICE to fly people in chains to Africa and Asia several times per week.

Go Seahawks.