I received a heartbreaking email today: A paper in a special issue I’m editing is being retracted because one of its authors is afraid of losing their job and their legal status in the U.S. if they publish a scientific study on evolution. Yes, on evolution, nature's engine of diversity.
“In some ways that’s even more chilling than firing the four stars,” Rosa Brooks, a professor at Georgetown Law. “It’s what you do when you’re planning to break the law: you get rid of any lawyers who might try to slow you down.”
By NYT Greg Jaffe
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/u...
This scatter plot shows the relationship between state life expectancy, the age by which half the people die, and the percent of the state's population who are Evangelicals. As the state's population becomes more evangelical by one percent the life expectancy declines by 13% of a year. The predicted life expectancy for a state with no Evangelicals is 80.66 and calculating the predicted life expectancy for the state with 100% Evangelicals would be 67.66. The last is the only way we can estimate Evangelical life expectancy. The correlation is -0.777, now why would this data produce three 7's? As an aside I have lived in rural Alabama for about the last 50 years and I have noticed early deaths among Evangelicals, I just never thought to collect data on it.
This is a second post looking at Evangelism and death rates, this measure is life expectancy, the age by which half the people die. I am focusing on Evan and death rates because Trump has put Evans in charge of health care. They got rid of research because they use prayers for health care? 🧪☠️
UPDATE: The Vice President wants the racist DOGE staffer reinstated 👇🏽
One of his comments was “normalize Indian hate” (Vance’s wife is Indian-American)
www.huffpost.com/entry/doge-s...
carmack55 21h Follow Dozens of female Republican officials who have been fired by the Trump Administration's anti-DEl policies are complaining that Trump's firings were supposed to be according to race, not gender. DEI 816 @ 112
“You were ONLY supposed to be RACIST”
"The men appear to have barricaded the entrance to the bank, spray painted the security cameras, and ordered the employees to lie on the floor. We're watching now to see if they do anything wrong."
Elon Musk Quoted tweet: Career Treasury officials are breaking the law every hour of every day by approving payments that are fraudulent or do not match the funding laws passed by Congress. This needs to stop NOW! Mario Nawfal Quote tweet: Should the treasury be put on the blockchain so this doesn't happen? Elon Musk Reply: Yes!
We are in such, such profound danger. They are doing the Reichstag fire to the most crucial and foundational payments layer of the Federal Government.
Phyllis Fong, Dept of Agriculture IG Who Was Investigating Elon Musk's Brain Implant Startup Neuralink, "Forcefully Removed From Office" After Refusing Termination Order.
"...a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power."
FDR 1938
headlines from a week ago as an incident near DCA appears to be the deadliest aviation disaster in the US since 9/11 www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
A tweet from Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) stating: "The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly."
No. The Medicaid portals were shut down because the OMB demanded they be. They’re only back up because of the outcry. I’d tell you to stop lying but we know that’s a feature of this administration.
There’s a potential Ebola outbreak in DR Congo
BUT the CDC can’t communicate with the WHO to learn more
SO we will know less about this outbreak
And this increases the risk to everyone
Including us
THIS is what happens when we pull back
Stupidity.
www.statnews.com/2025/01/28/p...
NEW: OPM — the US govt's HR department — is now being run exclusively by Big Tech lackies, mostly from Elon Musk companies. Reporting directly to the chief of staff is a kid who just graduated high school & was recently a camp counsellor before interning at Neuralink.
From @telliotter.bsky.social:
A very smart colleague just pointed out the grim truth that the U.S. leaving the WHO may ultimately be a win for the rest of the world. Why? Because without a vote, “the US can't block WHO actions like vaccine programs, disease surveillance, contraception, etc”. Man, that is daaaark, but accurate.
I am begging the national media to start taking this seriously.
Stop buying the claims that the framing of "temporary" or "pause."
They are altering the review processes of federally funded scientific research from merit-based peer review processes to political screening by ideologues.
Response from @schumer.senate.gov
This is the ethos of project 2025, dismantling the federal government by any means necessary
Thousand stand in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin with lights lit on their phones. 14 people at the front hood lit letters spelling out Hope & Resistance
An incredible photo from Berlin this evening.
An estimated 100,000 have been on the streets in the German capital today to protest against the Far Right and fascism in Europe.
#Resist
(📸 Ricarda Lang)
My dad was tortured by the Gestapo for 4 days and thrown in a concentration camp for being in the Norwegian Resistance. Growing up, he would tell me things he learned in the Resistance. I thought, I'm never going to need this stuff. Here's some of those things #Thread
Ketamine is a hell of a drug.
really important piece on the collateral damage that extremist anti-DEI efforts could do in trials of precision medicine
patients will suffer if we don’t match treatments to their indications
The antidote for despair is action ❤️
* Dial (202) 224-3121
* Enter zip code
* Leave voicemail
* Say “My name is ___, I’m a constituent in [town]. (If clinician/scientist, say so)
“The NIH freeze harms research and patients and must be lifted immediately.”
Be brief. Staffers tally all calls. Go! ✅
Scientific advancements aside, this is economically irresponsible
Every $1 spent by NIH generates $2.46
For example, in 2023, $47B in NIH spending generated ~$93B
Halting NIH spending will LOSE the US a lot of money (and talent)
All NIH study sections canceled indefinitely. This will halt science and devastate research budgets in universities.
Brave yourselves for more of the like.
This should delight Trump’s base
This scheme, which now accounts for ~90% of Trump’s wealth, should enrage every citizen. But I guess we’ll just shrug our shoulders and move on.
Listen up.
The Trump administration plans to use subpoenas and other means against news organizations to identify and deter leakers.
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
