Cyrus C. Taylor

Happy Birthday!

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

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An obituary for the short-lived DOE Climate Working Group, from Andrew Dessler over at The Climate Brink. It arose with a bang and died with a footnote in the EPA's endangerment finding repeal. www.theclimatebrink....

Melania Trump to chair UN Security Council as Iran war rages Monday's event will mark the first time that either a first lady – or a first gentleman – has presided over a Security Council meeting. Melania Trump has dabbled in diplomacy before, having previously...

“Melania Trump to chair UN Security Council as Iran war rages
Monday's event will mark the first time that either a first lady – or a first gentleman – has presided over a Security Council meeting.”

www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...

I went to fourth grade there!

Your post brings these lines to mind:

‘And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’

Cover of The Lancet, 28 February 2026 issue. The quote: “The destruction that Kennedy has wrought in 1 year might take generations to repair, and there is little hope for US health and science while he remains at the helm.”

On the cover of The Lancet:
Editorial — “Robert F Kennedy Jr: 1 year of failure”

Read the latest issue: spkl.io/63327Aa31W

The EPA has considered these comments and, in this final action, is not finalizing the alternative climate science rationale and is not finalizing new findings by the Administrator with respect to global climate change concerns under CAA section 202(a)(1). The EPA does not rely on any specific critique of climate science as a necessary justification for this action. Given our conclusion that we lack legal authority to regulate in response to global climate change concerns under CAA section 202(a)(1), it would be unnecessary and inappropriate to resolve such questions in this regulatory context. The EPA includes this section to summarize major scientific themes commenters raised and to acknowledge that scientific research and debate about climate change will continue. This discussion does not endorse or reject any particular assessment, study, or comment letter in the docket with respect to assertions regarding global climate change science and has limited its responses to the bases being finalized in this final action. The EPA’s conclusion in this final action is limited to the legal determination that CAA section 202(a) does not provide the authority to regulate GHG emissions from new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines for the purpose of addressing global climate change concerns, irrespective of how ongoing scientific debates are ultimately resolved.

As expected, in the final rule, EPA's Endangerment Finding repeal backs down entirely from challenging the science, choosing to focus on statutory arguments regarding EPA's authority. Good work, everyone who contributed to the @andrewdessler.com review!

The EPA's decision not to rely on the DOE Climate Working Group report for the Endangerment Finding repeal is appropriate. The report’s fundamental flaws make it unsuitable as a basis for policy decisions. The report demonstrates systematic methodological failures. It relies heavily on cherry-picked studies while omitting contrary evidence from the peer-reviewed literature. Key findings are presented in ways that misrepresent what the underlying research actually shows. These are not minor errors—they are the kinds of problems that would render a scientific analysis indefensible in any rigorous review process, including judicial review. The process itself also failed to meet basic scientific standards. The report was not peer reviewed and certainly appears to be working backward from a pre-determined conclusion. The DOE received substantial public comments challenging the report’s conclusions after the public release but never responded to them. A credible scientific assessment requires engagement with contrary evidence and criticism, not silence. Notably, the Climate Working Group’s membership are the cream of the crop of climate contrarians. The DOE report therefore represents the best case against mainstream science. That they produced a report that is so lacking in credibility actually demonstrates how strong mainstream climate science actually is.

I've been getting a lot of requests from reporters for comments about the removal of the DOE Climate Working Group report from the EPA's repeal of the endangerment finding.

Here are some comments:

Donate to Support for Washington Post international employees, organized by Michelle Lee Among the hundreds of journalists laid off by The Washington Post on … Michelle Lee needs your support for Support for Washington Post international employees

We have launched a new fundraiser to support The Washington Post's courageous international employees and local staff who were laid off, who are not eligible for Guild protections, and who face additional logistical challenges and security risks.

Please give & share widely:
gofund.me/e765aab9f

19-TS of 020326 hearing - Segundo APG v. Bondi, 26-CV-603

The transcript of the MN hearing where an AUSA said “This job sucks” is remarkable for more reasons than that. It’s a searing portrait of a crisis perpetrated by depraved & oblivious high-level officials. Read it all. ...
1/7
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

How to Film ICE Filming federal agents in public is legal, but avoiding a dangerous—even deadly—confrontation isn’t guaranteed. Here’s how to record ICE and CBP agents as safely as possible and have an impact.

NEW: The @wired.com Security desk put together a comprehensive guide to filming ICE—with tips for reducing risk at the forefront. No paywall, but please consider subscribing to help find these kinds of resources. And stay safe out there. www.wired.com/story/how-to...

www.wired.com/v2/offers/wi...

Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says An Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press reveals that the agency allows immigration officers to forcibly enter homes to make arrests without a judicial warrant.

BREAKING: Immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, a memo obtained by AP says.

Carney: "American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods, a stable financial system... this bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition... recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as a weapon. Tariffs as leverage ... "

The Prime Minister of Belgium speaks:

Every American should be ashamed that Canada feels the need to do this and that our fellow NATO members are having to study worst case scenarios. Provoking fear in our closest allies is not a sign of strength but of total moral collapse. Imagine if your best friends feared you might try to kill them

#SaveNCAR Update: CO Senators aren't backing down on NCAR protections, so now is the time to call your representatives and force the amendment to a vote: wclivestream.com/act/

Four Oglala detainees located, three still in ICE custody - ICT The four Lakota detainees were reportedly sent to a former concentration camp used during the Dakota Wars

This is surreal. 4 Oglala Lakota men kidnapped by ICE in Minneapolis have finally been located. One of them was released but the other 3 are being held at Fort Snelling, a former concentration camp used to imprison Native people incl. the Dakota 38 during Dakota Wars.

ictnews.org/news/north-c...

YouTube video by Federal Reserve Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell

Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...

An email from Martin Peterson to university administrators.

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

Are you sure that they want to calm the situation?

Your guidance is not inconsistent with the new Federal alcohol guidelines:

Texas A&M Bans Plato - Daily Nous Drop the race and gender material from your course and the Plato readings, or teach a different course. You have a day to decide. That's a paraphrase of what Martin Peterson, professor of philosophy a...

"I’m going to pause here just to review: an institution that purports to be a university has told a philosophy professor he is forbidden from teaching Plato."

surreal times

dailynous.com/2026/01/06/t...

Jared Kushner has somehow found a place at Coalition of the Willing press conference with Scholz, Zelensky, Macron, Starmer and Witkoff.

Kushner has no official position in the US government.

Béla Tarr, Iconic Hungarian Filmmaker Who Directed ‘Damnation’ and ‘Sátántangó,’ Dies at 70 Béla Tarr, the Hungarian filmmaker acclaimed for his dark and apocalyptic films including "Damnation" and "Sátántangó," died on Tuesday. He was 70.

variety.com/2026/film/gl...

YouTube video by kinemaslovakia The Turin Horse - Official Trailer

Bela Tarr has died.

youtu.be/tWYoqi4Kpw4?...

The next National Climate Assessment will be written by five climate deniers and an AI in a trench coat.

It’s the gold standard of US climate research. Contrarians could write the next one. Researchers who have downplayed the threat of global warming have been asked to author the next National Climate Assessment.

I look forward to the legally required, transparent peer review process required by the US Global Change Research Act and the Information Quality Act. I always thought they would try to do a NCA with Judith Curry, five old men and a LLM.

Also a town hall at 1 pm:

“1pm - AGU Town Hall

AGU hosts a Town Hall with UCAR president Antonio Busalacchi, What We Stand to Lose: Protecting NSF NCAR in La Nouvelle C.”