this matters

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · last wk.

Unless Congress reclaims its power, this will just become the new normal. A good first step would be to impeach Vought. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...

a few weeks old now

The New Republic@newrepublic.com · last mo.

Democrats say Hegseth and the Pentagon is attempting to steal funds from the National Institute of Health to make up for the record amount of taxpayer money they’ve spent in their war on Iran. trib.al/OscF6hg

bumping: we will publish things anonymously on reasonable request. Recently we have gotten some <eyes> comments re science nonprofits.

context on the OMB proposed rule and the Trump White House’s new science plans: “Trump and Republican elites are now seeking to politicize, damage, and corrupt NIH. They want to take over the science grantmaking system to destroy US universities.” from 2025

Trump is attacking NIH because politicizing funding can force universities to become conservative thinktanks

It's bad, folks. The real war is on free thought in the United States.

altnih4science.substack.com

One rule may seem technical. Five rules, moving in the same direction, begin to resemble a pattern documented in democratic backsliding: expanding executive control over the bureaucracy while narrowing institutional checks on personnel decisions. Pay attention.

On the 4th of July: It’s hard to hold a clear view of reality in one hand and hope for better in the other, and to fully commit to both of these things at the same time. This is the hard work of “a Republic, if you can keep it.” Patriotism is to use our freedoms to make America more free for ALL.

It is sad that Scott Atlas doesn’t understand basic economics. Paul Samuelson wrote about public goods—why NIH has been such a stunning success—more than 75 yrs ago. Also, to see why Atlas urges ending US success, just look at who elevates him: pro-privatization billionaires. 1/

Abolishing the NIH has always been this admin’s plan. They told us in Project 2025. They’ve SHOWN us with their actions over the past 18 months. This is why a heads down approach will not work. The scientific community has 2 options: oppose this with all we’ve got, or let them carry out their plan.

Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Scott Atlas, the champion of herd immunity as an Fox News commenter and the Trump Advisor during COVID, weighs in with a DEEPLY MININFORMED op-ed in the WaPo. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202... 1/7

No one should be surprised at this. This has always been what the "free market"/"Libertarian" right has wanted. They are honestly deluded enough to think that the free market will step in, just as they are deluded enough to want to abolish the FDA because they think private labs will test drugs.

Colette Delawalla, PhD@cdelawalla.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Right, so here is the Hoover Institute saying we should abolish the NIH: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Right, so here is the Hoover Institute saying we should abolish the NIH: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Abolish the NIH

A $48 billion government monopoly should give way to the market.

washingtonpost.com

The OMB proposed rule putting political appointees in charge of healthcare-funding decisions threatens the patients we serve by @nurseteria.bsky.social & @donnagaffney.bsky.social

Politics Should Never Decide Who Gets Care | Common Dreams

The Office of Management and Budget’s proposed rule putting political appointees in charge of healthcare-funding decisions threatens the patients we serve.

commondreams.org

Meet the microbiologist and science advocate who’s headed to Congress. Jasmine Clark led a March for Science in 2017. She just won a Georgia primary for a safe Democratic House seat - by Jeffrey Mervis | 22 May, 2026 19thnews.org/2026/05/geor... cen.acs.org/people/profi...

Meet Jasmine Clark, the self-described ‘mad scientist’ running for the US House

Jasmine Clark, a PhD microbiologist who won the democratic primary for Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, tells C&EN how being a scientist is propelling her toward Congress

cen.acs.org

Thousands of HHS staff who shape policy, including on public health, federal health insurance programs, and health data privacy, have had their employment status changed to a designation that makes it easier for them to be fired. www.statnews.com/2026/06/05/s...

What stripping civil service protections for thousands of federal workers will mean for HHS

Thousands of HHS staff who shape policy have had their employment status changed to a designation that makes it easier for them to be fired.

statnews.com

Must-read. Everything that Vought has done to science in the past 16 months is now laid bare as a plan to “cripple science research.” Five-alarm fire and all of us must respond. Speak out, focus on Vought.

John Timmer@jtimmer.bsky.social · 5mo ago

And my own take on some of the key points in what OMB/Vought is trying to do here: "If you wanted to cripple science research and were disappointed that Congress continued to fund it, this is the sort of document you would produce."

I keep thinking I’m done being shocked. It is abundantly clear there is a vendetta against anything that gives joy or laughter and helps people. I cannot believe the brilliant researchers who have been targeted and criminalized. Easy to demolish, hard to rebuild. www.npr.org/2026/05/21/n...

Researchers say the Trump administration is finding new ways to punish science

Even with federal grants largely restored, scientists say the Trump administration is still preventing those funds from reaching them. The consequences, they say, are already becoming clear.

npr.org

getting a bunch of messages from NIH people 👀👀

“Mr. Kennedy said at a Mental Health and Overmedicalization Summit organized by the MAHA Institute… “No major medical organizations were represented at the gathering…” These people are just quacks and cranks.

Ellen Barry@ellenbarry.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Today RFK Jr. rolled out a multi-pronged effort to help Americans wean off SSRI antidepressants. Do they want to? Comments are open. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/s...

It’s one of the worst industries there is, taking advantage of our broken healthcare system to sell hope and bullshit and turn people away from proven medicine. It’s despicable and we need to demolish it with a regulatory hammer.

Oh, self-dealing by the MAHA crowd??? Who would have thought. We can’t get back soon enough to civil servants who serve the country first

Billie Jean Sweeney@billiejsweeney.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Calley Means, the senior White House advisor to HHS, founded a company, TrueMed, that prompts customers to use money from flexible savings accounts to purchase alternative “wellness” products — prompting conflict-of-interest charges. www.importantcontext.news/p/heritage-f...

Calley Means, the senior White House advisor to HHS, founded a company, TrueMed, that prompts customers to use money from flexible savings accounts to purchase alternative “wellness” products — prompting conflict-of-interest charges. www.importantcontext.news/p/heritage-f...

The Heritage Foundation Has a Radical New Project

The rights of women, people of color, gay people, disabled people and trans people—a vast majority of the country—are being targeted by a billionaire-funded network.

importantcontext.news

David Morens' name should be trending. A 78-year-old doctor who worked in the NIH and has no criminal record was abducted from his home by armed federal agents and *stripped* before being transported away--all because the DOJ now works to validate right-wing conspiracy theories like the lab leak.

The indictment is absolute soup. Lab leakers have completely given up on proving their main contention and are now just flailing around looking for any rule violation or procedural misstep that makes it look like a cover-up happened. www.justice.gov/opa/pr/forme...

Walker Bragman@walkerbragman.bsky.social · 6mo ago

To be clear about what just happened: The Trump administration sent armed FBI agents to abduct a 78-year-old doctor and former federal public health worker from his home and stripped him because the brainwashed right-wing base, hopped up on a literal conspiracy theory, wants scalps.

The perversion of justice is perhaps the most dangerous thing happening under Trump. Morens is being targeted to throw red meat to the GOP base and to validate a conspiracy theory. This is a scandal worse than Watergate. Another one. But this demands swift accountability. Patel must go.

Jon Cohen@cohenjon.bsky.social · 6mo ago

www.science.org/content/arti...

“We scientists are used to sticking to our knitting. But I began realizing that science needed defending,” says @samwang.bsky.social. @nature.com talked to researchers running for office who say the "science is above politics" era is a failed business model.

‘Science needs defending’: record number of researchers run for office in US mid-terms

Many Democrats making the switch to politics are motivated by the Trump administration’s cuts to science — whereas energy and AI are a pull for some Republicans.

nature.com

same deal in science. Too many scientists are into self-flagellation, blaming what scientists did as opposed to attacks from the far right authoritarian party.

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The national media is eating up this report as justification for perpetuating the lie that universities themselves - as opposed to decades of attacks from the far right authoritarian party - are responsible for eroding trust in higher education. You can almost hear them salivating at the chance.

Russell Vought‘s attacks on biomedical research are terrible. The public hates how he destroyed cancer research. Hammer on this!

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6mo ago

DOGGETT: Doesn't your budget propose another 12% cut for NIH? VOUGHT: Most of what you said is untrue. NIH was not cut at all-- D: My Q is don't you propose another 12% cut? VOUGHT: We propose a cut D: Is it your feeling that we just can't afford to invest more in doing something about cancer?

Part of the reason we are here is the Trump administration has sought to destroy both immigration and good STEM and academic jobs, which do a lot to create innovation and future good, stable jobs. Creating good honest work for young people means rebuilding public funding for many things

Faine Greenwood@faineg.com · 6mo ago

I’ve been thinking about this a lot. for the first time I can remember, there’s no supposedly obvious alternative path to reliable employment that our leaders can demand we pivot to. indeed, they’re not even bothering to try to offer an alternative - and scamming starts feeling like the only answer

Bhattacharya is not a friend to science. The sooner the scientific community (and members of Congress!) realize this, the better shot we have to save science. This article positions Bhattacharya as a defender of science, pushing back against Russell Vought’s OMB. www.politico.com/news/2026/04...