Nicola Barber
@nicolabarber.bsky.social
Biologist, science educator, instructor, University of Oregon she/her
My position on taking action. And on the important space between everything and nothing.
It's really hard to overstate how hugely favored conservatives were up until two months ago. Here's the graph of Canadian polling between March 2023 and March 2025. (Reminder: blue is conservative.) Those are months and months of 20+ point leads for Tories.
Pretty strong case for Liberals and Carney from Laura Loomer
a Page in your life 🍁📎@sailorgirl2017.bsky.social · last yr.Laura Loomer: “What can Americans do and what can President Trump do in these next 3 weeks before your election to make sure the interim Prime Minister, Mark Carney, does not hold another term.” www.instagram.com/reel/DIAyVFm...
Big news: on a bipartisan basis the Senate just voted to reject Trump's tariffs on Canada. The House has to vote on it next, where it's less likely to pass, but the cracks are starting to form. Trump is losing support from Republicans on his costly trade war.
SCOOP—Trump plans to issue an executive order designating fentanyl as a "Weapon of Mass Destruction," per copy of EO reviewed by me. Source at State speculates purpose is to designate cartels as terrorist orgs/justify military ops in Mexico/Canada. Context/full text of draft only on The Handbasket:
Trump to declare fentanyl “Weapon of Mass Destruction," per draft EO
A copy of the draft was obtained and reviewed by The Handbasket.
thehandbasket.co
Proud to see so many of my general biology students show up with signs and friends for our local #StandUpforScience rally at the University of Oregon!
Jeff Douglas, an actor who pivoted into a pretty good CBC broadcaster, filmed a new video with a loud nod to an iconic Molson beer ad from *25* years ago about how Canadians are very different than Americans and absolutely don't want to be annexed by the US: youtu.be/_OzbmriDgQc?...
We Are Canadian
YouTube video by Jeff Douglas
youtu.be
SCOOP: Now that Linda McMahon is confirmed/sworn in as secretary, Trump will be imminently issuing an executive order eliminating the Department of Education. I’ve obtained a draft of an email that McMahon will be sending to staff re: the EO and the department’s “final mission”. Here is a portion:
![After President Trump's inauguration last month, he has steadily signed a slate of executive orders to keep these education promises: combatting critical race theory, DEl, gender ideology extremism, and discrimination in admissions. President Trump has also been focused on eliminating wasteful bureaucracy and harmful programs in the federal government. To that end, today he signed [Executive Order XYZ, entitled "Eliminating the Department of Education,] which has given us a clear and final mission.
We are to identify which of the Department's functions, programs, and offices are not mandated by statute, and eliminate them. This reorganization will impact staff, budgets, reporting, and more —and in coming months, we will determine how it can be accomplished with minimal delay and disruption. The President further tasked us with creating a plan to reallocate and reassign functions of the Department of Education that would be more effectively managed by other agencies. This plan will offer Congress a road map toward fulfilling the expectations of the President and the American people.
The new vision—which I hope each of you will embrace going forward—can be expressed as four main convictions:
Parents are the primary decision makers in their children's education.
Students deserve to be protected from physical violence, racial discrimination, medical tyranny, and gender extremism ideology on campus.
Postsecondary education should be a path to a well-paying career aligned with workforce needs.
Taxpayer-funded education should refocus on meaningful learning: proficiency in math, reading, and core subjects, and patriotism in American history and civics.
As we move to reduce the Department's middleman role in education, these four convictions must guide us toward conscientious and pragmatic action. The elimination of bureaucracy should free us, not limit us, in our pursuit of these goals
Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make th](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ejihld4sywvvqwe67cdkn4jq/bafkreictcxubqhd7foyjwbms62bj3cxmfyepqk2ms3l6ctabsa6fvpm5ju)
There has been a lot of chatter today about Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump, some regarding this moment when White House correspondent Brian Glenn asked if the Ukrainian president plans to wear a suit. I want to address idea in this thread. 🧵
Our public K-12 school district in Eugene OR is first to join the lawsuit against Trump admin deadline to end diversity programming. Proud of leadership here and hope others join to stand up for our students www.registerguard.com/story/news/e...
Eugene 4J becomes first public K-12 district in US to join suit vs. Trump administration
The lawsuit is over orders that critics say could destabilize education funding and "undermine efforts that support success of all students."
registerguard.com
Diversity is our greatest asset, even if the government disagrees… They not like us! POC in STEM are here to stay. They tried to rig the game but you can’t fake influence! Mustard on the [Be][At] bro. Happy Black History Month!
Gloves are off immediately in Canada USA hockey 👀🇨🇦🇺🇸🏒
I made this Pride flag using only NASA images and our team thought it would be cool to share on social (I work on the NASA heliophysics communications team), but it's getting all sorts of hate on the bird app and Fbook. Thought y'all might be more appreciative of it here. ☺️🏳️🌈💖
There is definitely a change in attitude. Even in little things. Grocery stores are now clearly identifying Canadian products on the shelves and in flyers. PC now has a swap option in their app so you can easily find the Canadian version for items on your list.
Honestly, this guy. He’s so upbeat, so genuine, so optimistic. A bridge-builder. And this video shot in the snow is visually stunning.
Top tip. Don’t have insomnia in the middle of a coup. An executive order has now given DOGE oversight of all government departments. It’s a complete takeover of the federal government by Musk. A Musk ‘team lead’ will now make all hiring decisions according to a ‘data-driven’ model
i am going to put a finer point on this: executive orders are not laws. and they certainly are not royal decrees. they are interpretations of existing law for the purposes of enforcement. the fact that so many people are treating them as laws is actually driving me a bit insane.
jamelle@jamellebouie.net · last yr.i mean, the president's executive order isn't a goddamn law! as far as this doctor is concerned, who cares what the president says!
Hearing that DOGE went into the Dept of Education today and shut down almost the entirety of the department's in-house research arm, Institute of Educational Sciences, cancelling contracts totally about $900m.
In which there are many reasons to obey and one not to. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/o...
Opinion | To Obey Trump or Not to Obey
The voluntarily surrender of the public’s power is how autocracies are built.
nytimes.com
Executive wants to frame the NIH indirects cut as $4B in savings. But given that NIH returns $2.5 on every $1 investment, this would actually cost US economy a net $6 BILLION (per year!). Not to mention the human costs of wrecking education and research sectors and the communities they serve.
Direct Economic Contributions
NIH directly supports the economy through investments in research institutions and job formation.
nih.gov
NEW — DOGE now has full access to HHS Payment Management System, I’ve learned. The system distributes almost $1 trillion per year in grants (largest in the govt) and supports all of NIH, CDC + many other public health initiatives. Musk guy Luke Farritor is actively delaying payments to recipients.
Are you an HHMI-funded researcher affected by the cancellation today of IC3 (Inclusive Excellence 3)? Find me at mwadman@aaas.org or on Signal: meredithwadman.13
Extremely disappointed to see HHMI decide to kill their Inclusive Excellence program, including terminating the current IE3 awards to over a hundred institutions effective this year in the middle of a 6-year grant. I was hoping HHMI (and other private funders) would continue to lead the way.
Just got word that our Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence 3 (IE3) Grant was being canceled. All 100+ institutions. So even private funding is susceptible to this administration’s unraveling of DEI initiatives