Unprecedented corruption

“Censorship and the suppression of reading materials are rarely about family values and almost always about control.” — Stephen King

Reduction in force (RIF, I.e. firing) email and page 1 of the RIF memo. CDC, this is absolutely illegal and our union (AFGE) will be suing. afge2883ga.org The union is asking that you send your RIF notice to: [email protected] with Name CIO/division/branch FTE status & tenure

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:

Journalist here I’m interested in talking to a federal agency scientist who was fired, then rehired. I can keep you anonymous. I’m on Signal ginnyg.04 Reposts are appreciated!

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

We aren't on the verge of an authoritarian takeover. We are in the middle of it. But I worry people don't see the whole scheme. They just pay attention to each new daily outrage. So I went to the Senate floor to explain Trump's plan. Here's a 🧵of the speech. It's important.

Congrats to the winners! Its notable that Omar Yaghi was a refugee. Refugees and immigrants once again making American science great!

Excited to share this new work from the lab, in collaboration with @jtuscher.bsky.social & Rob Sorge! Here, we used single cell transcriptional profiling to define molecular adaptations induced by chronic pain and opioid experience, which often occur in conjunction. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

“Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.”

RFK Jr. insanely moves MAHA to end animal testing, with NIH securing $87M for a center shifting to 3D tissue models. An 80% poll backs the phaseout. PETA applauds. A research group warns of risks. Grants can fund the rehoming of lab animals.

The fiscal year is over. So how was the NIH appropriation committed? A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.

He's telling us what he's doing. Using the military to suppress protest. At some point the opposition needs to listen to him and adjust strategy.

*banjo picking and sporadic musket fire* dearest martha, the horrors of war-torn portland cannot even be described

Here is a plot of 4-year multi-year funded new R01s for 2015-2025. NIH has made some 4-year R01s late in the fiscal year to invest the last of the appropriation, but what is happening this year is quite different. I estimate that these new R01s are ~25% of the multi-year funding since July 1.

Here is a word cloud of the words that were missing from the noncompetitive renewal awards but had been present in the parent award. 3/4

UC Davis is hiring! A tenure-track assistant professor of psychology, in human cognition or cognitive neuroscience #psychjobs recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07300

Important to remember that everyone involved in renaming the DoD to the Department of War is afraid to take the subway.

We have an Open Rank tenure-track faculty position in the Department of Nutrition & Integrative Physiology! Looking for a new colleague interested in making the University of Utah their new home to build a metabolic research program. Please share! @uofunuip.bsky.social

becasue if you do, you will be condemned to repeat it

Today, in my hellhole home of #Chicago, I walked to the farmers market with my family and bought flowers, cheese, honey, fruit, and tomatoes. Then we went to the local park to enjoy the 70s and breezy weather we have been blessed with.

JOB ALERT 🚨 We are hiring TWO principal investigators in cell, molecular, systems, or chemical biology in Toronto, Canada at @sinaihealth.bsky.social. We provide a generous startup, fully funded salary and academic appointment at U of Toronto. www.nature.com/naturecareer... Please repost!

In a functional government, this would be a five alarm fire where Congress calls in Kennedy and asks him what the fuck is going on

🚨Another PI job opening in the Neuroscience dept. at @umontreal.ca ! 🚨 www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Excited to finally share this collaborative effort led by Philip Boone, Michael Talkowski and @abepalmer.bsky.social!

Important- if you had an illegally terminated grant that was reinstated, you might not be safe. Staff are being told that grants *may* be canceled after October 1st, 2025 if not "in line with agency priorities". POs are being muzzled and can't tell grantees directly. #NIH #NIH_funding

I got to interview one of my academic heroes 😎🧠🍄 Read the interesting conversation on Psychedelic Alpha!

This is a terrible loss for NIH.

From Huxley to Heffter: Mark Geyer Reflects on a Life in Psychedelic Research psychedelicalpha.com/news/from-hu...

Exclusive: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History removed references to President Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit — an apparent change to its plans to update its collection of artifacts about the historic U.S. proceedings.

Suspension of all grants to UCLA www.latimes.com/california/s...

IMPORTANT UPDATE IMPORTANT UPDATE Regarding APHU/ACLU et al. vs. NIH Lawsuit

My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.

We are hearing NIH is hugely overloaded on peer review after the CSR review consolidation in the fall, and people are inside are panicking. But here’s something important: This was THE POINT. President Russell Vought WANTS to break NIH internally so he can cut the NIH budget…1/

Vought said he is “having fun” in his job as he maps out plans for massive cuts to federal agencies. He cited the National Institutes of Health, which is currently the premier biomedical research institution in the world, as one agency that “needs fundamental reform.”

Starting September 26th, being non-contact MPI is bad idea. But it also changes incentives to be PI on in grants where a significant amount of the funds go to coIs, because that burns one of the 6 yearly slots for less return. And let’s not even talk about R03 and R21 grants. They’re dead to me.

A discussion of the use of animals in research. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSvk... 1/n (Warning: Rant coming)

🧪 After the workshop on 7/7, the FDA and NIH are asking for public comments on implementing novel methodologies and other strategies to reduce the use of animal testing by 7/14: www.fda.gov/news-events/...

This "Democrats and Republicans" line is bullshit. I wrote a bipartisan bill last year that would have stopped all asylum seekers from being released into the country. It gave POTUS emergency power to shut down the border. It put billions into border security. Trump killed it.

Donald Trump is ripping away America’s role as a world leader in science and innovation. Cuts to health care breakthroughs. Cuts to tech development. Cuts to energy research. How is this America first?

Well, this happened yesterday... www.drugdiscoverytrends.com/nih-announce... I assume that this pertains only to applications that focus on therapeutic development and not those addressing fundamental biology or mechanism. But I am wary about making assumptions... 1/2

The IRS announced that churches and other houses of worship are now allowed to endorse political candidates to their congregations, effectively carving out an exemption to the longstanding ban on political activity by tax-exempt nonprofits.

New hair-raising piece from CNN about the National Cancer Institute... www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/h...

Imma need someone to talk me off a ledge here. Does this have legs? www.drugdiscoverytrends.com/nih-announce...

‪Attending the @rsaofficial.bsky.social meeting in New Orleans? Be sure to check out some exciting work from members of the PGC-SUD working group:

No Kings Day is tomorrow. Stand together against cruelty, corruption, and authoritarianism. app.sosha.ai/s/zmbfccyo

I mean, scholars of fascism were like, “He’s going to attack universities, the media, and unions, and he’s going to arrest his political opponents,” and most of America was like, “Stop exaggerating.”

Nobody believed us when we warned them RFK Jr.’s endgame is to eliminate all vaccines. They told us we were histrionic and hysterical. I’ve been watching RFK Jr. for 20 years. He’s antivax to the core. He really means it, and NOTHING will change his mind. He will do all he can to eliminate vaccines.

“In an unusual act of public protest, more than 340 scientists and staff at the National Institutes of Health today released a statement charging NIH officials and their superiors with politicizing science.” www.science.org/content/arti... #StandUpForScience #BethesdaDeclaration