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NYC Mass Shooting Was Nearly Impossible to Prevent, Experts Say

Holy shit, they did it. They wrote the headline.

Trump Goes Full Fascist: 'Whether It's Right or Wrong, It's Time to Go After People' Donald Trump is trying to distract from his ties to Jeffrey Epstein by calling on the DOJ to "go after" his political enemies, including Barack Obama.

And so, here we go...

Sounds like ICE killed a guy and then held american citizens hostage at gunpoint until they agreed to destroy the evidence

Business idea: Japanese Hotel Bathrooms - we will convert your crummy American bathroom into the transcendental experience you had when visiting Japan

something that stands out about this is just how cheap it is for us to have world-leading scientific capacity

we spent ~6.75 trillion last year, and the combined budgets for NIH, NSF and NASA are barely more than 1% of that

what an incredible waste to lose it all for a drop in the bucket

Virtual Rally to Save the Cornerstone of Conservation Science · National Wildlife Federation We need YOU as we rally in support of _critical_ federal government services at risk of being lost forever. The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area is responsible for many of the programs t...

Please join the @nationalwildlife.bsky.social, @amfisheriessoc.bsky.social & others at the

“Virtual Rally to Save the Cornerstone of Conservation Science”

in support of the USGS's Ecosystem Mission Area

Thursday, May 22
12 – 1pm EDT

www.mobilize.us/nwf/event/79...

Unitary executive theory: The President is the only nationally elected actor and must be empowered b/c he is uniquely responsive to the public.

Reality: Trump will never face another election, and can look forward to four years of unaccountable criming because the institutions won't do their jobs.

Scientists' Letter in Opposition to Rescinding the Regulatory Definition of “Harm” in Endangered Species Act Regulations May 19, 2025 Submitted via: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0034-0001 Public Comments Processing Attn: FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0034 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W 5275 Leesbu...

Calling all scientists! There's less than one week left to boost support to protect endangered species' habitat safeguards in the Endangered Species Act.

Sign on to the scientists' open sign-on letter here and please share: biodiv.us/4mojih5

(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para6 graph (2), no State or political subdivision thereof 7 may enforce any law or regulation regulating artifi8 cial intelligence models, artificial intelligence sys9 tems, or automated decision systems during the 10- 10 year period beginning on the date of the enactment 11 of this Act.

This is insane. Republicans have inserted language into the budget reconciliation bill that would ban states from regulating AI in any capacity for 10 years.

from @404media.co

www.404media.co/republicans-...

Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund

Report from @science.org:

• NSF staff told that its 37 divisions are being abolished. Programs within to be drastically reduced.

• Layoffs expected, details via memo Friday 5/9.

• Another round of grant terminations expected. (Already 1400 cancelled ~$1bn)

www.science.org/content/arti...

Not to be too pro technocrat, but it is astounding how much this country depended on the selflessness of like a few hundred thousand highly educated public servants who, for peanuts, made sure our food and medicine and environment etc were safe. And in return these servants were demonized.

THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON, DC 20202 May 5, 2025 Dr. Alan Garber Office of the President Harvard University Massachusetts Hall Cambridge, MA 02138 Dr. Garber, The Federal Government has a sacred responsibility to be a wise and important steward of American taxpayer dollars. Harvard University, despite amassing a largely tax-free $53.2 billion dollar endowment (larger than the GDP of 100 countries), receives billions of dollars of taxpayer largess each year. Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right. Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these "students" come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country—and why is there so much HATE? These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public? Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus. In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor. It had scrapped standardized testing requirements and a normalized grading system. This year Harvard was forced to adopt an embarrassing "remedial math" program for undergraduates. Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics, when it is supposedly so hard to get into this "acclaimed university"? Who is getting in under such a low standard when others, with fabulous grades and a great understanding of the highest levels of mathematics, are being rejected? Harvard has even been embroiled in humiliating plagiarism scandals, exposed clearly and plainly in the media, with respect to your then…

running the institution in a totally chaotic way. Harvard alumnus and highly successful hedge fund manager Bill Ackman noted that, under her leadership, Harvard has become "a political advocacy organization for one party." Ackman has called for the resignation of Pritzker, concluding that the "[t)he mismanagement here is Penny Pritzker" and noting that any serious corporation would have removed her after a litany of recent failings and the fact that, incredibly, "Harvard is not in a good financial position." According to Ackman, one of the world's foremost finance experts, Harvard's so-called S53 billion endowment is "massively overstated as far as what it's really worth," and Harvard has irresponsibly taken out $8 billion in debt. If this is true, it is concerning evidence of Harvard's disastrous mismanagement, indicating an urgent need for massive reform-not continued taxpayer investment. If Harvard prefers not to change, then Harvard should have no problem using its overflowing endowment to fund its bloated bureaucracy. At its best, a university should fulfill the highest ideals of our Nation, and enlighten the thousands of hopeful students who walk through its magnificent gates. But Harvard has betrayed this ideal. Perhaps most alarmingly, Harvard has failed to abide by the United States Supreme Court's ruling demanding that it end its racial preferencing, and continues to engage in ugly racism in its undergraduate and graduate schools, and even within the Harvard Law Review itself. Our universities should be bastions of merit that reward and celebrate excellence and achievement. They should not be incubators of discrimination that encourage resentment and instill grievance and racism into our wonderful young Americans. The above concerns are only a fraction of the long list of Harvard's consistent violations of its own legal duties. Given these and other concerning allegations, this letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the fede…

Federal Agencies. The Administration's priorities have not changed and today's letter marks the end of new grants for the University. These requests will advance the best interests of Harvard University, so it can reclaim its status as a respected educational institution for the future leaders of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter! Sincerely, Linda E. McMahon Secretary of Education

🚨🚨 Deranged letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon to Harvard’s president, cutting off federal funding for any new grants.

Worth reading in full. It is NUTS.

Oh fuck off. America has always been awash in get-rich-quick scams and we don’t need to treat this one with emotional heft because it takes place on the computer. Stop painting these people as anything other than credulous rubes or you’re going to encourage them.

It'd be nice if editors at major media outlets did a basic refresher on journalistic ethics so they could understand that claims require a factual basis. By any reasonable metric, DOGE has *increased* the spending of the government and *increased* the deficit while reducing the quality of services.

“The Trump administration is asking us to reimagine America as a country that not only does not value public service but actually torments its public servants,” @elainegodfrey.bsky.social reports. https://theatln.tc/U64UnPy2

The Manufactured Chaos in Government For federal workers, the problem isn’t just low morale. It’s the dysfunction.

“The Trump administration is asking us to reimagine America as a country that not only does not value public service but actually torments its public servants,” writes @elainegodfrey.bsky.social :

The proposed cuts to NOAA aren't just numbers on a budget—they're a direct threat to public safety. Protecting NOAA funding is about protecting your family, your community, and your future. Learn more about these dangerous cuts here: bit.ly/4iaKpJ2

Super happy to see our new article on how pharmaceutical pollution can influence salmon migration out in @science.org!

This was a huge effort by a great team of researchers over the last few years!

You can read the paper here: science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…!

graph of NIH basisfor new drugs

A pie graph worth keeping in mind as the NIH budget plummets jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... for 356 new FDA drugs approved

Beautiful multicolored Toucan at National zoo

IMPROPER IDEOLOGY BIRD!

We used to talk around the @marketplace.org office about what the first question would be if we got got an interview with him.

I think we landed on asking him to tell us how tariffs actually work.

It's critical for everyone to remember what an Executive Order is. It is the President communicating orders to members of the executive branch. Policies to pursue, actions to take, etc. They are not laws. They are not close to being laws. They are formalized memos to employees. That's all.

Sweet And Scary Muppets "It's about to get scary." –Roddy Gayle

It's Sweet Again.

www.mgoblog.com/content/swee...

Scientists have just cured pancreatic cancer in some patients with personalized mRNA vaccines. Pancreatic cancer. And this Trump administration wants to throw it all away.

They’re throwing away a cure for cancer.

This isn't going to get the attention of Columbia, but it's at least as bad: the University of Maine is having its funding cut off because the governor of Maine dared to challenge Trump.

Two transgender girls, six federal agencies. How Trump is trying to pressure Maine into obedience. Maine said it wouldn't break state law to follow President Donald Trump's order barring transgender girls from playing girls' sports. Then came a barrage of investigations and threats targeting the…

Maine said it wouldn't break state law to follow President Donald Trump's order barring transgender girls from playing girls' sports. Then came a barrage of investigations and threats.

The question is settled, this is going to funnel money to quacks and grifters to create a CDC-approved fake "study" that supercharges vaccine misinformation.

It's not just a public health failure, it's a terrorist attack on public health.

Today in Columbia SC
#StandUpForScience