Patrick Stendel

That statue, which was cast back in 1961, was modeled on 1950s Texas Rangers – as in the law enforcement Texas Rangers – Captain Jay Banks. Since it's unveiling 65 years ago it has spent most of its life at Love Field in Dallas. But then in 2020 it was removed and placed in storage. Why? Because Captain Jay Banks was a racist cop who made it his mission to stop schools from integrating. This is an excerpt from the 2020 book, Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers by Doug Swanson, which describes' Banks' role in efforts to keep schools in Texas racially segregated in defiance of the United States Supreme Court's 1954 decision, Brown v. Board of Education: Then there is the form and face of the statue itself. This dates to 1956, when the NAACP, backed with a court order, attempted to integrate the high school in Mansfield, about 30 miles southwest of Dallas. White residents erupted in fury, so Gov. Allan Shivers dispatched the Rangers. But unlike state police in other Southern racial hotspots, the Rangers in Mansfield did not escort black students past howling mobs of white supremacists. They had been sent instead to keep the black children out of a white school.

The commanding Ranger on the scene was Sgt. E.J. “Jay” Banks. A wire service photo showed him casually leaning against a tree outside Mansfield High. To his left, above the school’s entrance, was a dummy in blackface, hanging from a noose. Nearby a white mob had assembled. Some carried signs that threatened death for anyone attempting to integrate the school. Banks saw no need to remove the effigy or disperse the mob. “They were just ‘salt of the earth’ citizens,” he later wrote. “They were concerned because they were convinced that someone was trying to interfere with their way of life.” Blacks were so intimidated that none attempted to enroll at Mansfield. Several days later, Gov. Shivers ordered Banks and a few other Rangers to Northeast Texas, because African-Americans wished to take classes at all-white Texarkana Junior College, a public institution. Again the Rangers’ job was to stop black students from enrolling. As at Mansfield, a mob of white men gathered outside the school. An 18-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy, both black, arrived by cab and began to walk toward the college. The mob blocked their path. Some surrounded the 17-year-old and kicked him, while others threw gravel. The Rangers watched it happen and did nothing except threaten to arrest the two students. That wire service photo of Banks in front of the school with the Black person hung in effigy can be seen at the top of today's newsletter.

The statue was removed from public view in 2020 in the wake of that book about the Rangers being published. This occurred at the same time that statues of Confederates, Klansmen, racists, and segregationists were removed all over the country following the murder of George Floyd. But now the Texas Rangers Baseball Club, knowing full well the history of the statue, its subject, and its removal, and knowing that multiple municipal institutions decided it was inappropriate for public display, is happy to put that statue up in a public concourse at a major league baseball stadium. When I learned of this yesterday afternoon I contacted Major League Baseball and asked the following questions: Is Major League Baseball aware of the history of the "One Riot, One Ranger" statue and its subject, Jay Banks? Is Major League Baseball aware that Love Field and the City of Dallas removed the statue and put it in storage in 2020 after Banks' involvement in attempting to keep schools segregated in the 1950s came to light? Does Major League Baseball condone one of its Clubs erecting a previously-removed statue of a staunch segregationist at its ballpark?; and Does Major League Baseball have any comment regarding the discomfort that will be felt by Black fans when confronted with the statue of a segregationist at Globe Life Field? I did not receive a response. I'm going to assume that the league's silence on this means that it wholly condones the Rangers putting up the "One Riot, One Ranger" statue despite its sordid and extraordinarily well-reported history.

Yesterday the Texas Rangers erected a statue of a segregationist cop at Globe Life Field. A statue that was removed from public property in 2020 because of its racist history. @mlb.com has refused to comment. www.cupofcoffeenews.com/cup-of-coffe...

Opinion | The Doctors Are Not Alright Something is deeply misaligned when clinicians can't even voice their despair

N. Adam Brown: The Doctors Are Not Alright — Something is deeply misaligned when clinicians can't even voice their despair
www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/pres...

There is No Scientific Justification to Revoke the Endangerment Finding The U.S. EPA's decision to repeal the Endangerment Finding will limit the government's ability to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

As I say here, there is no scientific justification to revoke the engagement finding. In fact, over the last 15+ yrs, the evidence of how climate change affects our health has only grown. Higher risk of allergies, dementia, fertility, heart disease, and death: that’s what’s on the line. @nature.org

Flu vaccine may cut hospital, emergency visits in kids, even those with underlying conditions

Vaccine effectiveness against severe illness was 43% among children with underlying conditions and 53% among those without.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/i...

A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.

Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic.

The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.

What is actually the emerging evidence about non-specific vaccine effects in randomized trials from the Bandim Health Project?

Oh my God it just keeps getting worse. This #RFK sponsored #hepatitis vaccine trial in #Guinea-Bissau is being run by people whose research methods have been totally discredited. This isn’t research, it’s gun-for-hire antivax nonsense. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Insurance coverage of hepatitis B vaccine won’t change, industry and officials say | CNN Parents will still be able to get the hepatitis B vaccine for their children at no cost even though the US Centers for Disease and Control Prevention’s vaccine advisers recommended a major change to t...

The actuaries have spoken

www.cnn.com/2025/12/07/h...

A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...

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

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

Trump: "It's too much liquid. Too many different things are going into that baby at too big a number. The size of this thing when you look at it. It's like 80 different vaccines and beyond vaccines."

News 9 radar damaged in apparent attack by anti-government militia group Oklahoma City television station News 9 is reporting an anti-government militia group targeted its weather radar system.

When even folks in our government are spreading "weather modification" conspiracy theories, it's unsurprising that some groups act on those ideas and destroy devices they think are responsible for the flooding, tornadoes, etc.

The 1st year class of Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) fellows is being terminated today. We don't know the fate of 2nd years nor the future of the EIS program. CDC’s 2-yr EIS fellowship recruits talent from across the world and trains MDs, PhDs, nurses, vets, and others in field epidemiology.

Viewpoint: Recent disruptions and funding cuts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) undermine the infrastructure and stability of US scientific research, threatening the nation's global leadership and scientific productivity.

ja.ma/41hBnoc

#MedSky

RFK Jr. confirmed, elevating anti-vaccine activist to nation’s top health post The Senate held a final vote on whether to approve Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary after a three-month confirmation fight.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Isaac Asimov was ahead of his time in his writing but also his take on American society - “my ignorance is as good as your knowledge”

Hickenlooper sounds like a yes to me, I’m sorry to say.

He’s asking about vaccines now, differentiating healthy skepticism from promoting reckless info without understanding the field at all

Trump signs executive order withdrawing from the World Health Organization The United States will exit the World Health Organization, President Donald Trump said on Monday, saying the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.

www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Soft power is hard earned and easily lost.

The writers of the onion have one of the hardest jobs I can imagine: writing farcical stories in our very unserious current state of affairs.

Jimmy Carter's Hidden Legacy Carter's post-presidency was transformative. And while he's well-known for his contributions to democracy, he deserves immense credit for his incredible successes with global public health.

Jimmy Carter has died. I wrote about one of his less well-known but arguably most important achievements: saving millions of the world’s most vulnerable people from debilitating disease, blindness, and death. www.forkingpaths.co/p/jimmy-cart...

Opinion | The Killings of Young Mothers (Gift Article) For women under 25, getting pregnant more than doubles their risk of homicide.

This story on the link between pregnancy and homicide is bone-chilling. 🛟 #reprosky

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

We've just joined Bluesky 🎉 Follow us for research, news, comment and opinion from Nature journal 🧪

Navy-colored graphic with white text in the middle "Undiagnosed disease Democratic Republic of the Congo". WHO Logo at the bottom, also in white.

Disease outbreak news on undiagnosed disease in #DRCongo bit.ly/3Zpj12M

Possible H5N1 bird flu case in Marin County child; source of infection unknown A second CA child has tested positive for H5N1 bird flu in Marin Co.; confirmation needed from CDC

Health officials in Marin country are investigated another potential case of H5N1 in a child with no clear exposures. If the positive test is confirmed by the CDC this will be third human case reported during this outbreak without clear zoonotic exposure.
www.latimes.com/california/s...