Roger Clem

New Documents Reveal a Controversial Vaccine Study's Unusual Path to CDC Approval A new investigation has found irregularities in the ethics review of a grant to study effects of a birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine in Guinea-Bissau.

"New documents obtained by Rolling Stone reveal that the proposal was not vetted by, or homed within, a scientific center at the CDC. Instead, these documents show, it was routed straight from the director’s office to grant management officials who approved it, a process that took only 10 days. " 😮

Screenshot from an NIH website reading: "Table 1 shows the number of principal investigators (PIs) applying for or receiving an R01-equivalent grant in FYs 2021 to 2025, disaggregated by career stage. NIH supported 1,423 and 1,144 ESIs in FYs 2024 and 2025, respectively. The decrease seen in FY 2025 may likely be due in part to NIH implementing a requirement to use 50% of its remaining competing Research Project Grant (RPG) funds (starting in June 2025) for full-year funded competing RPGs, which was expected to lead to fewer awards and support fewer researchers overall."

Check this out straight from the NIH website, acknowledging that multiyear funding was likely responsible for a 20% decrease in early stage investigators.

And that it was expected.

A strange approach for someone so committed to the next generation of scientists.

grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

And Gingrich doubled the NIH budget but Cassidy is now the standard bearer and when both moderates and extremists are being appeased the system probably tends toward destruction.

Also see: “most republicans still believe in democracy and they are secretly fighting for it” from the book “lies we tell ourselves”.

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide.

This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

He is not even running NIH per se.

Mamdani’s ‘cuckoo’ property tax hike will land him ‘Real Estate Agent of the Year’ after inevitable exodus, Kevin O’Leary says Mr. Wonderful thinks it’s a wonderful idea.

Everyone is leaving NYC again. No place has died as many deaths.

*is*

Is this AI generated?

What NIH Staff Can’t Tell You—And Why That Matters The people who understand most clearly what is being lost at the NIH are also the people least able to say so.

“Taken together, these two policies create a structure in which dissent becomes professionally costly, alignment becomes professionally necessary, and the space for honest scientific judgment quietly contracts.”

open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...

The Epstein Class is the by-product of an economy that emerged over the last two decades, from which this new elite has siphoned off vast amounts of wealth.

Some thoughts... https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-squalor-of-the-epstein-class

The current system is working exactly as designed. It destroys critical thought to protect capitalist hegemony and utilizes disciplinary techniques to mold compliant, indebted subjects. It is a factory for the production of inequality that only societal change can address imho…

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/u...

‘Anything is possible’: How Jeffrey Epstein received special treatment at one of the country’s elite hospitals The convicted sex offender enjoyed unusually close access to Mount Sinai doctors, records show.

If we can answer the question why do we have VIP patients at nonprofit hospitals, perhaps we can start to understand many things. www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

It’s not too late for states and Congress to stop Trump from subverting the midterms With only nine months before the midterm elections, Trump is plotting to prevent Democrats from taking control of Congress.

"I’ve wanted Marc Elias to be wrong for seven years, or six years, for as long as he’s been coming on my show. I have wanted his warnings to be wrong, but every single one of them has been either affirmed or prescient."--Nicolle Wallace. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/its-...

There seems to be a lot of ignorance and/or denial about how academic institutions work.

I have a different take

Based on personal interactions, my take on these scientists is that they were weaselly arrogant assholes but can we shift the blame to institutions that enabled all this? And not just Ivys or MIT - e.g. Mt Sinai interacted with him/his staff for years AFTER his conviction

The Trump Administration is continuing to politicize government advisory committees, this time on Alzheimer’s Disease. More than 7 million Americans from all walks of life are living with Alzheimer’s Disease. We need advisory committees that are representative of all Americans.

I mean I’m shocked. That they would ignore the field standard for very careful vetting of donors.

In response they should run stories on white supremacists who support the admin.

Respect is earned

Why be scared of a candy bar if you aren’t scared of a germ? I don’t get his threat appraisal system.

The Court, accordingly, ORDERS that: 1. Plaintiffs shall file under seal (but not ex parte) by February 20, 2026, a Notice indicating which Plaintiffs are currently in which third countries; 2. Plaintiffs shall by February 27, 2026, file a Notice noting the number of Plaintiffs who wish to travel independently to a U.S. port of entry or who wish to be flown from a third country to the United States for their court proceedings, understanding that in both scenarios they will be detained upon arrival. Plaintiffs shall simultaneously file a separate Notice under seal listing the names of such individuals; 3. Plaintiffs shall by March 9, 2026, file a Notice giving the number of Plaintiffs (in Venezuela or third countries) who wish to file supplements to their habeas class petition, including challenges to the Proclamation or their identification as TdA members. Plaintiffs shall likewise file a simultaneous Notice under seal listing those individuals’ names

The Government shall promptly return to Plaintiffs upon written request by their current counsel all passports and identification documents that any agency currently retains, and it shall make good-faith efforts to obtain any of Plaintiffs’ passports or identification documents that were transferred to El Salvador; and 5. The Government shall file a Status Report by March 13, 2026, explaining how and when it will transport any Plaintiff seeking return to the United States from a third country. In that Status Report, the Government shall also inform the Court as to the feasibility of returning Plaintiffs still in Venezuela who wish to return for their proceedings. It shall also describe the steps taken to obtain any passports or identification documents from El Salvador.

BREAKING

Judge Boasberg ORDERS the Trump admin to facilitate the return of the more than 100 men spirited out of the country last year without notice or a hearing.

Plaintiffs may also submit habeas petitions from abroad, he says.

Doc buff.ly/rccakD7

Yes. And depending on when they use their car they might spend 2 hours parking it.

Even in NYC, where you absolutely do not need a car, people go to extraordinary lengths to have one.

This is the second account - the first being in Chicago - of DHS agents mass detaining people and then *sorting them by race*.

Based on the title I suppose this article must be very long.

Happy to share the newest study from our lab, led by superstar postdoc Dr. Rodrigo Campos Cardoso, where we resolve the infralimbic cortex GABAergic circuits of fear extinction: tinyurl.com/38vvr2my

www.fiercehealthcare.com/practices/ri...

And the new NCI Director moves to piss away his scientific credibility.

First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.

1/2