“A Dishonorable Strike Indulging all assumptions in favor of the administration’s boat strikes, killing helpless men is murder” By Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith (a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute & former head of the Office of Legal Counsel) 1/

Two words come to mind: “hoist” and “petard.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Putin gives an investment conference in St Petersburg, and no one comes... highlighting the instability and fragility of the Russian economy. www.ft.com/content/36b8...

The formidable Martin Wolf writes about the Trumpist “pluto-populism” — a term Wolf himself coined back in 2006 — evident in the appalling “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”: www.ft.com/content/31f4...

A short video about Juneteenth:

The formidable Martin Wolf writes about the Trumpist “pluto-populism” — a term Wolf himself coined back in 2006 — evident in the appalling “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”: www.ft.com/content/31f4...

“Trump told reporters: ‘The UK is very well protected. You know why? Because I like them, that's why. That's the ultimate protection.’ Commenters often note that Trump talks like a mob boss, but rarely has his organized-crime style of governance been clearer than in yesterday’s statement.”

“In the past, the NSF has usually enjoyed bipartisan support... But the ravages currently being inflicted upon the agency may bring a truly golden era of American science to a halt. … The Trump forces now directing the NSF have been terminating existing grants at a record pace…”

“Trump told reporters: ‘The UK is very well protected. You know why? Because I like them, that's why. That's the ultimate protection.’ Commenters often note that Trump talks like a mob boss, but rarely has his organized-crime style of governance been clearer than in yesterday’s statement.”

Prof Krugman (@pkrugman.bsky.social‬): “America is no longer a full-fledged democracy. We are currently living under a version of competitive authoritarianism... Trumpists, however, haven’t yet fully consolidated their hold.” 1/4

It seems hollering “woke” isn’t an argument: “The court finds and rules that [NIH’s] explanations are bereft of reasoning, virtually in their entirety…” And as for Trumpian anti-DEI rhetoric: “I’ve sat on this bench now for 40 years and I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this”

A man with ALS who’d lost the ability to speak: “The team asked the participant to attempt to make interjections such as ‘aah’, ‘ooh’ and ‘hmm’ and say made-up words. The BCI successfully produced these sounds, showing that it could generate speech without needing a fixed vocabulary.”

Prof Krugman (@pkrugman.bsky.social‬): “America is no longer a full-fledged democracy. We are currently living under a version of competitive authoritarianism... Trumpists, however, haven’t yet fully consolidated their hold.” 1/4

It seems hollering “woke” isn’t an argument: “The court finds and rules that [NIH’s] explanations are bereft of reasoning, virtually in their entirety…” And as for Trumpian anti-DEI rhetoric: “I’ve sat on this bench now for 40 years and I’ve never seen government racial discrimination like this”

“This year, the BMJ, a publisher of medical journals based in London, has seen bot traffic to its websites surpass that of real users. The aggressive behaviour of these bots overloaded the publisher’s servers and led to interruptions in services for legitimate customers…”

Appalling. And so is: "CBS reported Tuesday that the Navy is also considering renaming other John Lewis-class oilers including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and USNS Harriet Tubman." Will the lead ship of the class keep the name John Lewis?

Another judge just ordered govt to reveal its deal with Bukele to another alien sent to CECOT. A magistrate judge in Columbus, GA (MDGa) did so in the case of Venezuelan EDQC, sent to CECOT on 3/15 without opportunity to raise a fear-of-torture claim. 1/5 storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I've seen folks talk about how "in four years" they'll be able to get back to their planned projects and I really don't think that's going to work out. People & projects losing funding now will not be able to hit pause and come back once funding is restored. Hard-won progress & capacity will be lost

Definitely cool. But he has a rough road ahead of him...

If RFK Jr. wants to identify toxins that are causing harm to Americans’ health, he should pick up his phone, open the camera, and flip it around to selfie mode.

I am officially one of The Ancients, Keeper of Knowledge of the Before Time

Utterly appalling.

Republicans are determined to impoverish the U.S. with their attacks on #science.

Man comes to the US from Lebanon. Starts out delivering pizzas, becomes a Nobel winning neuroscientist. Trump freezes his funding, he gets an email from China offering to move his lab “any city, any university I want" with guaranteed funding for 20 years. What are we doing?

This is crazypants. Also funny.

After terminally ill patients tried a last-ditch blood cancer treatment, doctors are talking about a potential cure. https://trib.al/s1XkBk5

Decidedly cool. “The adaptability, the researchers say, underscores just how flexible octopuses are: Their limbs can react to sensory inputs without requiring their brains to engage, as if the appendages are making decisions independently.”

Worth pointing out — again and again and again: “The court… emphasized that ‘the President may not lawfully do by coordinated executive fiat what Congress has repeatedly declined to allow by statute.’”

“This year, the BMJ, a publisher of medical journals based in London, has seen bot traffic to its websites surpass that of real users. The aggressive behaviour of these bots overloaded the publisher’s servers and led to interruptions in services for legitimate customers…”

Appalling. And so is: "CBS reported Tuesday that the Navy is also considering renaming other John Lewis-class oilers including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and USNS Harriet Tubman." Will the lead ship of the class keep the name John Lewis?

Decidedly cool. “The adaptability, the researchers say, underscores just how flexible octopuses are: Their limbs can react to sensory inputs without requiring their brains to engage, as if the appendages are making decisions independently.”

Worth pointing out — again and again and again: “The court… emphasized that ‘the President may not lawfully do by coordinated executive fiat what Congress has repeatedly declined to allow by statute.’”

In fairness to Marjorie Taylor Greene, maybe she *can’t* read. That tracks.

I suspect they've got socks stuffed into their underwear, as well.

If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow. The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.

I've seen several faculty post about how scientists should just tough this period out. As if it were a moral imperative. Most junior scholars (including postdocs!) can't afford to wait several years. For many, the choice will be whether to leave academic research or leave the country.

“National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt wrote an apologetic memo to employees. Her statement to STAT that 250 people could lose their positions by summer’s end had come as news to the roughly 1100 NASEM staff.”

@milestaylor.bsky.social: “I served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Donald Trump – and warned the country about what I saw. ... Back in office, he’s wielding his powers for revenge. ... Now the President is going after individuals – myself included.”

To quote ‪Brad DeLong‬ re this article: “The London Economist travels into the Heart of Darkness that is the Republican Reagan-ranch stronghold of Simi Valley... It finds… a landscape where inconvenient facts are ignored, the plain reality of the situation denied, and analysis disappeared...”

I suspect they've got socks stuffed into their underwear, as well.

@milestaylor.bsky.social: “I served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Donald Trump – and warned the country about what I saw. ... Back in office, he’s wielding his powers for revenge. ... Now the President is going after individuals – myself included.”

Out now in @nathumbehav.nature.com: Cuts to NIH funding will impact the economy and employment nationwide. We visualize these losses and advocate for a theory-driven approach to communicating local, self-relevant impact. w/ @joshuasweitz.bsky.social + SCIMaP team: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

“That’s a fair description of what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did... when he canceled a $766 million government contract to develop a new bird flu vaccine. … Adam Lauring… said ‘these vaccines have probably been studied more intensively over the last five years than pretty much any other vaccines.’”

Liberation Day, budget, attacks on Powell … “Analysis by Torsten Sløk, chief economist at Apollo, suggested that US government credit default swap spreads — which reflect the cost of protecting a loan against default — are trading at levels similar to Greece and Italy.” www.ft.com/content/9ca0...

‘Yesterday… NBC News reported that the director of national intelligence (DNI)… is trying to figure out how to change Trump’s intelligence briefings to hold his attention. She is apparently considering creating a video… made to look like… Fox News... ‘The problem with Trump is that he doesn’t read’”

Aurora alert! It’s possible the aurora boralis may be visible tonight as far south as Alabama. Start looking tonight after dark around 10 pm (I’ve attached both the NOAA and University of Alaska maps, the former is always very conservative with view lines) www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/...

Never give up.

Magical thinking does not persuade bond markets

Still, there is a useful lesson in this article: authoritarianism is not solely a top-down affair. It requires at least some believers as a base.

“a second aide standing at a door in the office asks one of the agents to show her a warrant. The agent says the officers do not need a warrant and walks past her.”