A reminder that: @science.org's Trump Tracker provides updates several times a day about the crisis in US science. Latest update: European science groups ‘deeply concerned’ about threats to U.S. academic freedom. www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump Tracker: Firings, lawsuits, and U.S. science in chaos

Follow President Donald Trump’s impact on U.S. research and science globally

science.org

Baldwin: "Last night, the president said 'I'm not touching Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, VA, I'm not touching them.' By this morning, he endorsed the House budget resolution which paves the way for massive cuts to Medicaid."

What I’ve been saying (screaming). Now there’s data.

Adam Bonica@adambonica.bsky.social · last yr.

The DOGE firings have nothing to do with “efficiency” or “cutting waste.” They’re a direct push to weaken federal agencies perceived as liberal. This was evident from the start, and now the data confirms it: targeted agencies overwhelmingly those seen as more left-leaning. 🧵⬇️

It’s the dark money. A coordinated, global right-wing campaign to weaponized disinformation and the internet—particularly social media—to politicize public health and sow distrust and doubt. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

How COVID Pushed a Generation of Young People to the Right

Research suggests that pandemics are more likely to reduce rather than build trust in scientific and political authorities.

theatlantic.com

Tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas Measles outbreak in Texas Bird flu - first death among humans But yes, by all means, please fire CDC, NIH, and other scientists Everything will be fine

“We appreciate all your efforts, especially your focus on providing care to those who are struggling. You embody the mission and vision of the Department of Health and Human Services.” 140-plus Obama and Biden appointees, including Sebelius + Becerra, sign a thank-you letter to career staff at HHS.

THANK YOU!

The following is a “thank you” letter from the political appointees who served alongside the tens of thousands of dedicated civil servants at HHS during the Obama and Biden presidencies. It is signed…

jeffnesbit.medium.com

New: Last night, hundreds of CDC post-doc fellows were fired, including all in the group who call themselves the "disease detectors," and are the future of public health lab leaders. One senior official told me, "It is going to cripple public health for decades." www.nbcnews.com/politics/dog...

CDC 'disease detectors' among hundreds fired as Trump administration ramps up agency cuts

Administration officials last week informed CDC leaders of plans to cut up to 10% of its workforce as it targeted federal probationary employees.

nbcnews.com

So it begins: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as HHS Secretary and immediately starts dismantling US federal science infrastructure sciencebasedmedicine.org/so-it-begins... via @sciencebasedmedicine.org @gorskon.bsky.social

So it begins: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as HHS Secretary and immediately starts dismantling US federal science infrastructure | Science-Based Medicine

RFK Jr. was confirmed as HHS Secretary and didn't wait long to start dismantling federal science programs, complete with a commission to draw up a battle plan.

sciencebasedmedicine.org

"The very fact that I am having to publish this anonymously in a country that has the right to free speech written into our Constitution is an indictment of what is happening." www.bmj.com/content/388/...

Anger, despair, and defiance from a voice within the US federal research system

People around the world are watching with disbelief as the new US government closes down its aid programme, withdraws from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris agreement on climate change...

bmj.com

'Physician Senators, What Have You Done? They have betrayed the Hippocratic Oath in voting to confirm RFK Jr.' 👇🏻

Opinion | Physician Senators, What Have You Done?

They have betrayed the Hippocratic Oath in voting to confirm RFK Jr.

medpagetoday.com

“I never thought antivaxx policies would be put first in MY state,” sobs man who single-handedly cleared the way for antivaxxers to dictate health policy for the entire country

Physicians for a Healthy Democracy@physiciandemocracy.medsky.social · last yr.

I wrote about how RFK Jr. is targeting SSRIs in his first 100 days plan, and his history of spreading disinformation about antidepressants. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

RFK Jr. is already taking aim at antidepressants

The new HHS secretary has made baseless claims that the drugs are addictive and cause violent behavior.

motherjones.com

NEW: Marocco has tried shutting down nearly all USAID programs & freezing foreign aid. He’s led the charge to place nearly all USAID staff on administrative leave. Officials said they see the move as retribution against those who opposed his earlier work. By @annamaria.bsky.social + Brett Murphy

Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy

Now one of the most powerful people in the U.S. government, Peter Marocco’s turbulent tenure during the first Trump administration sheds light on his current efforts to dismantle the American foreign ...

propublica.org

"If we don’t continue to fight against the attacks on science and the budding authoritarian regime we are living through right now, I am afraid of the future. My past teaches me what it’s like. And I don’t want to live through it again in the US. Never forget."

President Trump and Musk's Onslaught Reminds Me of Brazil's Dictatorship

We're living in a budding authoritarian regime.

blog.ucsusa.org

This is fascism.

The most fitting end to a day in which the regime just curbstomped our outbreak response capacity: an H5N1 patient in a hospital that’s also presumably full of seasonal flu patients. www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Wyoming identifies first human case of bird flu

The Wyoming Department of Health said on Friday it has identified its first human case of H5N1 bird flu in the region, making it the third confirmed instance of hospitalization related to the infection in the United States.

reuters.com

"the extremely strong desire is to just punish universities [..] It’s not based on any kind of coherent policy agenda. It’s just a desire to inflict pain." This, is critical to understand. Pointing out "it's hurting us" won't do, since it's the whole point. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/o...

Opinion | Trump Wants to Destroy All Academia, Not Just the Woke Parts (Gift Article)

The administration’s war on universities defies rational self-interest.

nytimes.com

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... What is going on at NIH and CDC is horrific. Young scientists summarily fired during the PhDs and Postdocs. Whole sections bullied into resigning. All pandemic and surveillance programme shut in the middle of a cattle flu outbreak that is infecting more people.

Musk’s takeover of US health agencies raises pandemic threat, experts warn

Doge wreaks havoc on HHS and CDC as Trump seeks to grant committee sweeping governmental powers

theguardian.com

Termination notices going out this afternoon to more than 300 employees of the National Cancer Institute. Access likely ends today. Four weeks paid leave and that’s it. Strong power move for Team Cancer.

Texas measles outbreak doubled, now into 4 counties www.houstonchronicle.com/health/artic...

West Texas measles outbreak doubles to 48 cases in four counties

Most of the measles cases are still among school-aged children in Gaines County, Texas health officials said Friday.

houstonchronicle.com

Eric Topol@erictopol.bsky.social · last yr.

Dreadful. Fully Preventable. More of this to come www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

‘Wrecking ball’: RFK Jr. moves to fire thousands of health agency employees | Science | AAAS brought to you by @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

‘Wrecking ball’: RFK Jr. moves to fire thousands of health agency employees

Supervisors deliver bad news across NIH, CDC

science.org

But RFK Jr PROMISED Senate Republicans he would leave vaccines alone. The promise was broken less than 24 hours after taking over at HHS.

Dan Diamond@ddiamond.bsky.social · last yr.

Today's executive order from President Trump is intended to halt federal funding for schools and universities with covid vaccine mandates, White House official says. Breitbart first reported the planned executive order.

An absolutely scorching OpEd by Harold Varmus, Nobel laureate, on Trump's destruction of the vaunted US scientific & biomedical enterprise & on Trump's kooky picks to lead the US health & science agencies Gift link to share far & wide www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/o...

Opinion | American Science is Under Attack (Gift Article)

The Trump administration hobbles research and endangers the public health.

nytimes.com

We are used to assuming that legal decisions are at least partly shaped by partisan identity. It would be nice if we could assume they were not also shaped by threats and intimidation from the leader of an online far right movement.

Kyle Cheney@kyledcheney.bsky.social · last yr.

JUST IN: Judge Bates (who Musk has been relentlessly attacking on X since he ordered CDC to restore deleted health websites) just sided with DOGE and rejected an emergency effort to bar Musk allies from accessing systems at Labor, HHS and CFPB.

To be clear- this will cost lives, severely weaken public health (and global health), cause more distrust in federal response, and ultimately undermine all the advancements in health we’ve made in recent decades.

HHS to lose thousands of workers under Trump administration probationary job cuts

Department of Health and Human Services officials expect most of the agency’s roughly 5,200 probationary employees to be fired.

apnews.com

In just weeks, the Trump/Musk administration’s suspension of PEPFAR has already led to thousands of additional cases of HIV that would have otherwise been prevented. DOGE is essentially the opposite of EA; maximizing harm for trivial/non-existent savings. www.wired.com/story/usaid-...

Elon Musk’s DOGE Is Still Blocking HIV/AIDS Relief Exempted From Foreign Aid Cuts

The Trump administration claims it is allowing “lifesaving” foreign aid to continue, but in reality, DOGE is preventing vital work on HIV and AIDS from saving lives.

wired.com

NEW: The Trump White House recently cited a Vinay Prasad in an email attacking the Washington Post and defending its research cuts. Prasad has built up a sizable online following sowing doubt about vaccines and COVID-19 mitigation measures. www.importantcontext.news/p/trump-whit...

Trump White House Cites Fringe Doctor to Defend Research Cuts

UCSF professor Vinay Prasad emerges as rationalizer-in-chief for Trump’s NIH cuts

importantcontext.news

RFK Jr. said he would fall in line with the Trump administration’s goals, which includes fighting for the “unborn."

Here’s What RFK Jr.’s Confirmation Means for Abortion Access

During his confirmation hearings, the HHS secretary nominee said he would fall in line with the Trump administration’s goals.

thenation.com

Giving infectious disease research a break, as promised by the MAHA agenda. Let's break down what exactly this Executive Order is *really* saying. Fortunately, I speak fluent anti-vax grifterese & can translate. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Establishing the President's Make America Healthy Again Commission

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.

whitehouse.gov

McConnell could have led the only vote that mattered - the one to convict Trump in either impeachment trial. He bent the knee both times. His token opposition to Gabbard and RFK means nothing other than legacy cleanup.

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · last yr.

Breaking: The Senate just voted to confirm vaccine conspiracy theorist RFK Jr. to be Health and Human Services Secretary, 52-48. All Republicans — except for Mitch McConnell — voted for Kennedy. ALL Democrats voted against.