This is an illegal action by the US Administration. USAID is Congressionally mandated as an independent agency. It is not a small office of the State Department.

Those now choosing to ignore their duty to our laws, whether Conservative or Liberal, will miss them when they have lost meaning.

2. While NSF and NIH indeed have a mission to fund specific research innovations via grantmaking, they do a lot more than that.

Their principal role is support a scientific ecosystem in the United States, that includes everything from education and training to infrastructure and communication.

The NIH overhead cut doesn't just hurt universities.

It's deadly to the US economy.

The US is a world leader in tech due to the ecosystem that NIH and NSF propel. It drives innovation for tech transfer, creates a highly-skilled sci/tech workforce, and fosters academic/industry crossfertilization.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Opinion | Don’t Believe Him Look closely at the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s second term and you’ll see something very different than what he wants you to see.

“What Trump wants you to see in all this activity is command. What is really in all this activity is chaos.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/o...

Not exactly a great start: President Trump begins his second term with a 47% approval rating—the second lowest for any elected president starting a new term since 1953 (his own first-term rating was the lowest at 44%).
news.gallup.com/poll/203198/...

As a European-American, it’s striking to see the lack of coordinated opposition from the Democratic Party to President Trump’s actions. Every congressperson seems to be on their own—no clear leadership, no unified strategy. It’s hard to wrap my head around this.

If not price-increasing, why price-increasing shaped?

It’s hard to tell which is worse—a politician who doesn’t keep his promises or one who does.

Hard to argue with the WSJ editorial page.

Happy Tariff Day to all who celebrate!

(This, of course, excludes the countless economists who’ve repeatedly warned that tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China etc. are a terrible idea for the U.S. economy… but who’s listening to them anyway?Maybe one day we’ll need a holiday to celebrate them.)

Another example of government ignoring expert advice for performative action. The opposite of "efficiency".

Trump Officials Release Water in California That Experts Say Will Serve Little Use
nytimes.com/2025/01/31/us/…

It’s fine to have a position, to decide what to publish and what not to publish, but this goes way beyond that!

National Science Foundation suspends salary payments, leaving researchers unable to pay their bills An NSF online payment system remained down after the federal funding freeze was lifted, leaving early-career scientists scrambling to pay bills

Suspending salary payments at the NSF is absurd. It's the opposite of government efficiency! It feels like sabotage. How do you expect to support innovation and scientific progress when you’re actively undermining the very people responsible for it?
www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/t...

This isn’t about government efficiency—it’s sabotage. Locking out career civil servants from critical systems, sidelining oversight, and installing loyalists with no transparency are the hallmarks of a hostile takeover, not a reform. This undermines institutions, not improves them.

A competent government, one that values efficiency and accountability, starts an investigation and waits for the facts before assigning blame. Blaming DEI for what happened isn’t just irrational, it’s a distraction from real problem-solving. This is no way to run a government.

Transparency is essential for public trust in health institutions. If the CDC is removing scientific data from public view, it only fuels skepticism and weakens confidence in public health decisions.

This is not a good look for traditional media—manipulating an OpEd’s title and content in a way that distorts the author's intent only provides further ammunition to its critics. Journalism is already under attack, often unfairly, and actions like this only make it harder to defend its credibility.

Can’t believe we are here

Before enacting a policy, it’s a good (non-stupid) idea to sit down and think through what will happen next. Freezing all grant spending without considering the consequences? Predictably disastrous. NOT A GOOD START FOR THE IDEA OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY.

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/o...

A graph of real investment in alternative electricity construction over time.

US real investment in "alternative" power generation (solar, wind, geothermal, etc) continues to reach new record highs this quarter

Wow, 27 spots filled and 17 on the waitlist? I’m absolutely certain this overwhelming demand is all about my teaching and definitely not because the course includes a week in Milan and Bologna. Nope, no way. Just pure academic enthusiasm.

The prosperity and competitiveness of the United States hinge on research and innovation, which draw lifeblood from our globally recognized universities.

Taking a numb sledgehammer to those universities is reckless self-destruction.

Signed.

You are enormously more of an expert than some of the people doing it—>

I hear that people are calling their Republican senators and representatives—reminding them that their duty is to the Constitution and the people they represent, not to their party or the president. That is good.

Look, I’m not an expert, but I truly believe this is no way to run a country.