Jessica Briggs

I want the Democrats to stand up to this administration and support the shutdown. But I am still devastated that my study section may not meet on Oct 29th. Already it's been so challenging to have no mechanism to submit grants with our foreign collaborators. Now this. Delays upon delays upon delays.

Solar and batteries had a record-setting, grid-stabilizing summer in… Solar has set 17 power generation records in Texas so far this year, shoring up the grid alongside batteries as some gas plant developers step back.

The historically volatile Texas grid was entirely stable this summer, despite extreme temperatures. Grid operators never once had to ask Texans to conserve energy or shut off their air conditioners.

Why? Solar & batteries. Want a stable grid? Try solar & batteries.

I can’t say I know exactly how it all would have played out, but I would much rather live in the alternate universe where the leaders of Columbia University had stood up for the institution and all of its faculty and students.

The White House is engaging in direct extortion of local and state governments, attempting to force them to change their policies by stopping funding projects that already have signed grant agreements with the federal government.

Disney to Pull Jimmy Kimmel’s Show After Kirk Remarks Disney said it is pulling ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show in the wake of remarks he made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will be preempted indefinitely,” an ABC spokeswoman said Wednesday, as Disney leans into an authoritarian future. 

www.wsj.com/business/med...

I have the same questions. Is anyone submitting a R01 for the 10/5 deadline with a foreign institution as prime with a sub to a US institution?

rightwing media ecosystem operates by stoking hatred and anger and divisions every single day, they want people to constantly be afraid and want people to hate eachother, everything we are seeing is a result of the destablization the right has profited off of

Anyway Senator/Dr. Bill Cassidy could have kept RFK out of government entirely if he had actually cared

The thing about living in a human society is you either decide that everyone (except those for whom it would be medically dangerous) has to take VACCINES into their bodies or everyone (with no exceptions at all) has to take VIRULENT PATHOGENS in from those around them and, look, the first is better.

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."

It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

RFK Jr.’s damage to the CDC is ‘past the point of no return,’ Dr. Demetre Daskalakis warns “The CDC you knew is over,” the infectious diseases doctor told The Advocate. “Unless someone takes radical action, there is nothing there that can be salvaged.”

there is no question in my mind that rfk jr is the most dangerous person in this administration and that his eugenicist ideology threatens the lives of millions of people www.advocate.com/politics/dem...

BREAKING: Social Security Administration chief data officer and whistle-blower Charles Borges has resigned after bombshell report that SSA put highly-sensitive data at risk. He sent out an email to colleagues moments ago.

Here is the text of his email shared with me:

We're going to have a big beautiful dark age, perhaps darker than ever before. And I think you'll be very happy

#NIH is hanging by a thread. The #CDC has been decimated. #RFK Jr. and Russell #Vought are psychopaths--I don't say this frivolously--they are cold, calculating, inflicting violence on millions through public policy. It is where we are right now. These men are not normal. 1/

Celebrating #caturday with a pic of Floofy, one of our most recent foster kittens

e.g.

This is not being stated loudly or clearly enough. You can draw a direct line to the anti-vaccine nonsense fomented by Kennedy and his ilk to this attack on public health workers at CDC. His being in charge of these agencies remains a scandal and an outrage.

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

This is literally some of the craziest shit I have ever read.

And that's saying a lot.

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Health secretary RFK Jr. shuts door on U.S. investment in mRNA vaccine research Vaccine experts and people steeped in pandemic preparedness expressed horror at the news that RFK Jr. has shut the door in U.S. investment in mRNA vaccine research.

Pandemic preparedness in the US has been leveled a crippling blow with the cancellation of multiple #BARDA contracts to help develop mRNA vaccines. No other vaccine platform produces vaccine so quickly; without mRNA, Americans will have a long wait for pandemic vax. www.statnews.com/2025/08/05/m...

kennedy is going to kill a lot of people

Show me your budget, and I'll show you your values

the republican party is a criminal conspiracy against the american republic

📣 I'm recruiting a postdoc researcher to join my team for a project on mosquito-specific viruses and host interactions. Peep the job description & how to apply below. Perfect for soon-to-be or recent PhD graduates in mosquito vector biology 🦟 or arbovirology 🦠
🗓️ Application deadline 31 August 2025

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to watch them die. One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.” Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness. Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.” Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%. AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

/6 The bottom line, though, is that things are getting worse, they are going to get worse, and the only question is how much worse. The regime is emboldened by the collapse of the institutions and norms that might have restrained it and are going to push and push and push.

Exclusive: NIH to dismiss dozens of grant reviewers to align with Trump priorities The move would undo years of work, leaving advisory councils understaffed, and without the full expertise needed for reviews.

This is bad. Very bad. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This is not the act of a legitimate government.

this is so, so, so evil. and stupid, and wasteful. but primarily evil.