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  • 1.  Opinion, WAPO 7/10/25, by Catherine Rampell: "First thing we do, let's fire all the statisticians"

    Posted 07-10-2025 23:26
    Washington Post, 10 July 2025
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/14tBjvgs0l4_iM8LYT_fAswaYdMr8K4SS/view?usp=sharing

    PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14tBjvgs0l4_iM8LYT_fAswaYdMr8K4SS/view?usp=sharing



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    Ralph O'Brien
    Professor of Biostatistics (officially retired; still keenly active)
    Case Western Reserve University
    http://rfuncs.weebly.com/about-ralph-obrien.html
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  • 2.  RE: Opinion, WAPO 7/10/25, by Catherine Rampell: "First thing we do, let's fire all the statisticians"

    Posted 07-11-2025 07:51

    Terrifying.  But it is good to see someone of her stature report on this.



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    David Marker
    Senior Statistician
    Retired
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Opinion, WAPO 7/10/25, by Catherine Rampell: "First thing we do, let's fire all the statisticians"

    Posted 07-11-2025 08:59

    I've worked across many states and at all levels of government in public health, social services, research and agriculture (local, state and federal). I highly encourage us all to keep our field factual and platforms like these, apolitical, as they serve to unite us, and politics divides us, as history will tell. I've seen data teams across the political spectrum play with outputs and purposefully omit findings to advance their desired narrative, which I have always thought was wrong and unethical, as a public health statistician and evaluator whose role was to point to the wins and areas of opportunities. That's all I got folks! Thanks for your service and all that you do. 



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    Carl Letamendi, PhD, MBA, MPH, GStat
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Opinion, WAPO 7/10/25, by Catherine Rampell: "First thing we do, let's fire all the statisticians"

    Posted 07-14-2025 18:18

    This is not a small problem, and yes it is very horrifying, or "terrifying" as David said.    

    Having worked with the production of US Federal Government Official Statistics, I can tell you it is taken deadly seriously, with integrity and pride in the work. That is the norm. 



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    James Knaub (Jim)
    Retired Lead Mathematical Statistician
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Opinion, WAPO 7/10/25, by Catherine Rampell: "First thing we do, let's fire all the statisticians"

    Posted 07-15-2025 18:37

    I was shocked to find this notice above the official NIH Natioinal Institute on Alcohol Abuse amd Alcoholism (https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics). This site was the site to obtain data on alcohol consumption per capita and some of the effects in the United States with estimates for each state and region. As of March 2025, data will no longer be published. I hope it will still be collected but without publication it is of no use.

    Due to HHS and NIH restructuring, as of March 2025, this website will be maintained, but no new content will be added.

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    Eugene Gallagher

    Associate Professor, retired

    School for the Environment

    UMass Boston



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    Eugene Gallagher
    Associate Professor (Retired)
    University of Massachusetts
    New Bedford MA
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    Original Message


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