Brown University has a widget that tracks the cost of the Iran war to American consumers (as contrasted to whatever the Pentagon is spending). Per-household cost now exceeds $600. iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu
Joshua Rosenbloom
@jlrosenbloom.bsky.social
Economic historian with an interest in the economics of science, technology and innovation. Professor of Economics at Iowa State University. All opinions are my own and not those of my employer.
"Ours is a beautiful, ancient craft essential for any society's needs for self-understanding. We are equipped with a host of modern methods, but guided ethically by very old rules that no authoritarian political project ought to be allowed to profane." www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbz2...
WATCH: David Blight makes opening statement in hearing on how Smithsonian presents history
YouTube video by PBS NewsHour
youtube.com
Once again demonstrating that the Republjcans are the party of hypocrisy. Anti regulation, except when they aren’t www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/b...
A New Blow to Tracking Gun Sales
The House has passed a bill that would bar the use of merchant codes specifically for firearm retailers, an effort to pre-empt state adoption of the tool.
nytimes.com
We cannot accept the reckless use of deadly force by federal agents as normal. There is a pattern of this administration misleading the public and withholding key facts after these killings.
Thomas Massie: “It’s ironic that we control the House, Senate, Supreme Court, and the White House, and we’re yelling ‘election fraud’? We won all the damn elections.”
If you have not already done so, submit a comment to OMB by July 13 and let your members of Congress know why it matters. Don't forget to fill out this AAAS questionnaire to let us know which actions you took and whether more resources and support would be helpful: airtable.com/appzQB6WzSLj...
Airtable | Everyone's app platform
Airtable is a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. Customize your workflow, collaborate, and achieve ambitious outcomes. Get started for free.
airtable.com
AAAS Members are making their voices heard and are speaking out on the significant impacts the OMB proposed rule on federal grantmaking would have on the scientific enterprise. Here is what some members are saying ⤵️
Lincoln’s Peoria Revolution: Re‑Adopting the Declaration in 1854 as it is “All Men Are Created Equal” vs. the sacred right to enslave who you can: **1854 Commentary on the Meaning of the Fourth of July** & the Declaration of Independence itself... < braddelong.substack.com/p/1854-comme... >
1854 Commentary on the Meaning of the Fourth of July
& the Declaration of Independence itself...
braddelong.substack.com
RIP Mark Rothko. You would have loved how the hydrogen peroxide bleach is only turning the Reflecting Pool blue around the perimeter
It's not the universities that are indoctrinating students it is the Iowa legislature A Flagship’s Civics Center Saw Low Enrollment. Now Students Will Be Required to Take Classes There. www.chronicle.com/article/a-fl...
A Flagship’s Civics Center Saw Low Enrollment. Now Students Will Be Required to Take Classes There.
A provision in the Iowa state budget will require all students at the University of Iowa to complete two classes at the Center for Intellectual Freedom to get their degree.
chronicle.com
Purring politics ahead if science workwd so well in the former Soviet Union www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
OMB Proposes Rules Establishing Political Oversight of Grants
The Office of Management and Budget published long-expected proposed rules for how federal agencies must carry out Trump’s order to put “senior appointees” in charge of deciding who gets funded. The p...
insidehighered.com
#WhySocialScience? Because It Helps Us Understand (and Change) Our Society - New post from @jlrosenbloom.bsky.social of Iowa State University ➡️ www.whysocialscience.com/blog/2026/5/...
Because It Helps Us Understand (and Change) Our Society — Why Social Science?
It would be hard not to notice that we are living in a world of increasing inequality. According to data collected by the Federal Reserve , the share of the nation’s wealth owned by the top one…
whysocialscience.com
The Sloan Foundation is searching for a new Director of its Economics Program. At a critical time when federal research funding is limited, this is a critical position. Please circulate this opportunity to shape and support economics and economists widely! sloan.org/about/careers
Careers | Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Our mission is to make the world a better place through the advancement of scientific knowledge.
sloan.org
United States Representative Jamie Raskin is the ranking member of the House Committee on the Judiciary. Here, Representative Raskin shares how Thomas Paine’s Common Sense defined the stakes of the American revolution. #WeAreAmerica250
Dear news media, Do not give the Trump regime credit for opening the Strait of Hormuz, if it happens. I know it's hard to remember things that happened less than 3 months ago, but Trump's illegal war closed the strait in the first place. Sincerely, Mark
Completely agree that we the nominee for NSF Director should appear at an open hearing so we can learn more about him.
American Association for the Advancement of Science@aaas.org · 3mo ago"While an unconventional background is not necessarily disqualifying, it does require greater scrutiny of the nomination by Congress.” AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh urges the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions to hold an open hearing before voting to confirm James O'Neill.
@mattsclancy.bsky.social as usual offers useful insights about the fate of social science funding at NSF Social science at the NSF open.substack.com/pub/abundanc...
Social science at the NSF
History rhymes
open.substack.com
WATCH AND LEARN: At the end of Reconstruction, the insurrectionists never faced justice or punishment. Today, a fund was created with taxpayer monies to (Potentially? Eventually?) reward those who violently stopped a constitutional process— which is the literal definition of treason.
Trevon Logan@trevondlogan.bsky.social · 3mo agoI wish I didn’t know as much about the end of Reconstruction as I do. If you understood what is being unleashed now, how it will touch every aspect of our civic life, and how difficult it will be to undo it, you wouldn’t be able to think about anything else.
As a neighbor of CyTown I've been pondering where the money comes from. Still seems like smoke and mirrors... How mixed-use stadium districts — for work, play and football — became college sports’ latest craze www.nytimes.com/athletic/727...
The latest craze in the college football facilities race? Mixed-use stadium districts
nytimes.com
Look, it's not that hard. Want tariffs? Convince Congress to pass a law. If you do that, the Supreme Court has no quibble. And if you don't, then we get tariffs that are on-and-off, and unpredictable, and their unclear legality yields little leverage.
It was great to to talk about wealth inequality on Talk of Iowa the other day www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/talk...
Parallels between the Gilded Age and today's wealth gap
The Center Street Neighborhood — a tight-knit, predominantly Black community — was destroyed by highway construction and city urban renewal projects. Our sense of community is tied to economic opportu...
iowapublicradio.org
Sen. Warren: "Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?" Handsome Kevin: "ummm... errr... " His response raises real questions about whether Warsh is independent of the President and if he has the courage to tell hard truths.
We are spending billions to keep our entire navy in the Strait to fecklessly fail to open a waterway that wasn’t closed until Trump’s pointless war of choice closed it. He’s just burning your tax money.
Eric Swalwell suspends Gubernatorial campaign and resigns from Congress. Tony Gonzales resigns from Congress. Fraudster convicted felon pedophile rapist dictator remains in the White House.
Real time tracking of NIH and NSF awards grant-witness.us/funding_curv... shows Trump’s war on science is going strong. Bad news for science and universities.
Funding Curves: Grantmaking over Time by Agency – Grant Witness
grant-witness.us
Examining the dramatic growth and evolving role of postdoctoral researchers in the US scientific workforce from 1979 to 2023, showing a fourfold increase in postdoc numbers that outpaced growth in graduate students and faculty, from Ginther and @jlrosenbloom.bsky.social www.nber.org/papers/w35014
