Links for you. Science:
What an Undervaccinated America Would Look Like
The hospital and mortality burden of COVID-19 compared with influenza in Denmark: a national observational cohort study, 2022–24
Astronomers Are Keeping an Eye on This Asteroid’s Odds of Hitting Earth
Trump Administration’s Halt of CDC’s Weekly Scientific Report Stalls Bird Flu Studies
NIH, Other HHS Divisions Told to Terminate Contracts or Grants Because of ‘Gender Ideology’
‘High anxiety moment’: Biden’s NIH chief talks Trump 2.0 and the future of US science
Other:
Remember When Bill Clinton Met Loretta Lynch On The Tarmac
RFK Jr. Pops a Very Suspicious Pouch as He Rants About Making America Healthy Again
Trump is in it only for himself. The president’s ugly hijacking of a plane crash adds to a pattern emerging from his administration.
Wilson Building Bulletin: Trayon’s last stand
Highly Paid Advanced Politics Knowers
Right turns on red puts pedestrians at risk
Trade Wars
A Capital Pride board member becoming a Trump appointee should ring alarm bells
Elon Musk Is Trying to Get Control of Key Payment System—at Any Cost
Trump rescinded a half-century of environmental rules. Here’s what that could mean.
Trump Change Causes Flood of Crude Spam Emails to Federal Workers (they are malignant, but also very stupid)
On Message
FAA Report on D.C. Plane Crash Is Out—and It’s an Indictment of Trump
Subprime Mortgages Destroyed Them. Who Paid the Price?
You’ll never guess who sabotaged Harris’ appearance on Rogan podcast
The Washington Post Is Hemorrhaging Talent at an Unprecedented Rate As Big-Name Journalists Head to Competitors
A year after decriminalization, Columbia Heights street vendors still can’t get licensed
What America can learn from Miami’s trash nightmare
How Can D.C. Make Life Harder for Landlords Like Sam Razjooyan? The City Has the Tools, But It’s Not Using Them.
D.C. sues landlord alleging discrimination against non-voucher holders
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker blocks Jan. 6 rioters from state jobs after Trump pardons
Is There Anything Trump Won’t Blame on DEI? The president is promising a return to meritocracy—while staffing his government with underqualified loyalists.
Career prosecutors withdraw from federal criminal investigation of GOP Congressman Andy Ogles
FAA Leader Quit Before D.C. Plane Crash—Thanks to Elon Musk
Look For The Helpers
Trump and Elon Musk Just Pulled Off Another Purge—and It’s a Scary One. Did Musk’s alleged effort to access the government’s payment systems have Trump’s blessing? Or was he going rogue? Either scenario is bad, but one’s a little worse.
mikethemadbiologist
Seems like a viable response to the absurd executive orders would be for managers to just say “Yep, all taken care of” and then do nothing about them. Don’t review grants looking for “gender ideology”, NIH should just tell upper management it’s taken care of. Whose really going to check?
Suppose NIH did spend the next 10,000 people-hours reviewing grants and they missed one by mistake, it’ll make MAGA headline news once discovered anyways. So instead of burning all that money reviewing grants:
1. Review nothing
2. Wait for THEM to make a public fuss about a grant they want de-funded
3. Fight for that grant on its specific merits