Kate Wassel, PhD

Science funding agency threatened with mass layoffs National Science Foundation staff heard the plans at a meeting Tuesday.

NSF to lay off nearly half of its staff in the next two months. www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

“On Friday, February 7, 2025, at 11:59 pm (EST) all USAID direct hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs. Essential personnel expected to continue working will be informed by Agency leadership by Thursday, February 6, at 3:00pm (EST). For USAID personnel currently posted outside the United States, the Agency, in coordination with missions and the Department of State, is currently preparing a plan, in accordance with all applicable requirements and laws, under which the Agency would arrange and pay for return travel to the United States within 30 days and provide for the termination of PSC and ISC contracts that are not determined to be essential. The Agency will consider case-by-case exceptions and return travel extensions based on personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons. For example, the Agency will consider exceptions based on the timing of dependents’ school term, personal or familial medical needs, pregnancy, and other reasons. Further guidance on how to request an exception will be forthcoming. Thank you for your service”

USAID’s website has been deleted, all that is left is a note saying all personnel are now on administrative leave and personnel outside the US are to be brought home. Completely illegal, no act of congress or even executive order was signed to dismantle the agency

Federal employees quietly edit job descriptions to protect roles from DOGE scrutiny | CNN Politics Some federal employees are quietly changing the language of job descriptions and performance reviews in an effort to protect roles and critical government functions in the face of the so-called Depart...

Some federal employees are quietly changing the language of job descriptions and performance reviews in an effort to protect roles and critical government functions in the face of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

“All Our Future Money Is Gone”: The Impossible Task of Providing Child Care in Rural Illinois Though the governor promised to make Illinois “the best state” to raise young children, child care continues to disappear. And, as one couple learned, there’s almost no help for those building a…

Nearly 70% of rural Illinois residents live in a child care desert.

One parent drove 100 miles a day to drop her son at child care, head to her classes in the opposite direction, then do it again in reverse. She spent $600 a month on gas alone.

w/ Capitol News Illinois

Hochschulen und Forschungsinstitutionen verlassen Plattform X - Gemeinsam für Vielfalt, Freiheit und Wissenschaft

More than 60 German universities and research outfits are announcing that they will end their activities on twitter.

Including my alma mater, the University of Münster.

HT @thereallorenzmeyer.bsky.social nachrichten.idw-online.de/2025/01/10/h...

Elon Musk’s Boring Company Is Tunneling Beneath Las Vegas With Little Oversight Given Musk’s role advising President-elect Donald Trump on ways to slash regulations and government oversight, Boring and the Vegas Loop project might be a harbinger for the country.

NEW: Given Musk’s role advising President-elect Donald Trump on ways to slash regulations and government oversight, Boring and the Vegas Loop project might be a harbinger for the country.

w/ City Cast Last Vegas

Keith Wasserman: Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our home in Pacific Palisades? Need to act fast here. All neighbors houses burning. Will pay any amount. Thank you.

“Will pay any amount.”

Feels like one of those futile pleas we’re going to hear from wealthy people more and more in the era of climate change.

This is very essence of Trumpism/MAGA: destroying their own in their furious eagerness to attack the enemy (cops, who are purportedly also their own).

JPMorgan becomes latest U.S. lender to quit Net-Zero Banking Alliance JPMorgan said on Tuesday it was leaving the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the latest U.S. lender to quit the sector's biggest climate coalition amid rising U.S. political pressure.

Profiting as the world burns: JP Morgan was the last of the Big-6 U.S. banks left promising Net Zero www.reuters.com/business/env...

Someone Else's Problem Ultimately, it just would have been too inconvenient to deal with the January 6th attack.

Ultimately, the reason Donald Trump never faced any consequences for January 6th wasn’t incompetence. It was inconvenience.

Everyone in Congress knew what happened that day. But no one with authority was willing to bear the costs of confronting it.

open.substack.com/pub/davekarp...

American Solar Manufacturing Is Back, and It's Big The success taking place in America is stunning. Companies are investing billions of dollars to produce American-made solar panels in states like Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Washington, South Carolina, and ...

America's solar manufacturing supply chain is springing back to life, and it's big. Made in America solar: thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. seia.org/blog/america...

Absolutely disgusting behavior

Congress has formally certified Donald Trump's 2024 election win — with Kamala Harris presiding — four years to the day of the US Capitol insurrection.

Follow live updates: cnn.it/4a7DTAr

I was thinking Norwegian fish stew, so basically yes. Haha

That looks awesome!

I look forward to the review of said food in act three.

“But it’s a dry heat, Frodo.”

Abstract painting.

"But the brightness of love seems to come from the fact that love is visible life and action." #CarlJung #SharedFacts #BrainFunction

The US used to export democratic ideals to the rest of the world. Now we export democratic backsliding:

America 101.

Let’s hear more from Jack Goldsmith about the greatness of John Roberts

Will the federal government become a toxic employer? Sorting fact from fiction on mass firings, relocations, and return-to-work policies

New, from me: Muskawamy's plans for federal government employees, sorting out fact from fiction.
Bottom-line: mass firings are unlikely, some proposals are real, but likely to worsen state capacity.
Making the government a toxic employer is bad for the rest of us.
🧵
open.substack.com/pub/donmoyni...

Noted. *leaves message for therapist* 😂

Diving into this tomorrow. 😬

Could Trump’s return derail the US offshore wind boom? - The Boston Globe Massachusetts climate goals bank on more offshore wind projects getting approved. But the industry is bracing for an uncertain future.

Biden Admin has approved a record number of offshore wind projects, but Massachusetts, and other coastal states, are banking on continued offshore wind approvals during the Trump administration to meet their climate targets:
www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/18/s...

Bumping this back up -- deadline is about 24 hours from now. The application is short. Please consider applying!