darth vader says " i am altering the deal pray i don t alter it any further " Alt: darth vader says " i am altering the deal pray i don t alter it any further "

Dealing with US federal funding for #research, #education, or anything else worth doing now feels like dealing with Darth Vadar.

#Protest

Happy Easter

If we make it through this dark period with democracy intact, it may be because the administration's incompetence was greater than its depravity.

Van Hollen Holds Media Availability at Dulles Upon Return from El Salvador YouTube video by Senator Chris Van Hollen

I went to El Salvador hoping to meet with Kilmar and check on his well-being, and I had the chance to do that last night.

Our courts have been clear: this was an ILLEGAL abduction. I’m speaking now about my meeting with Kilmar and our work to bring him home:

Van Hollen: And it's also important that people understand this case is not just about one man. It's about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States of America.

"Last week we learned that six of our active NEH awards—totaling $789k in unspent funds—were immediately “terminated” by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Below you can read about the projects that were affected." -- Mullen

I think this is amazing, full stop.

I do worry that backfilling cuts at the federal level will lead to *disingenuous* arguments that this demonstrates the we don’t need fed funding after all (& I know funders know this is a danger). We most be prepared to dismantle such arguments immediately.

We were at our local theatre last night & cheered when they announced the production was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. NEA, NEH, IMLS & so many other sources of positive government support permeate our lives. The loss of these agencies is a travesty.

Yes!

Also, #GeoJSON, which is a key open format and Internet standard for expressing geospatial data was developed thanks in part to NEH funding to Pleiades. A huge array of mapping technologies use this standard.

We just received a heartbreaking email from a colleague at a Federal granting agency. It was full of professionalism, dignity, and devotion to mission despite the cruelty and illegality of the regime's destruction of their agency.

Their patriotism and service must be recognized. We're going to […]

More important reporting. And thanks to Steve Kidd and the entire @humanitiesall.bsky.social team for their vocal advocacy.

Can I just say (acknowledging I’m being petty here), the NEH termination letter reads exactly like some dipshit DOGE bro used a chatbot to finish an assignment they didn’t understand. I know the quality of our federal colleagues, and they sure as hell didn’t write it.

a man is wearing goggles and smoking a cigarette Alt: mad-max warboy

Given this rate of collapse, when do reach the era of spray-painting our mouths with chrome and throwing ourselves onto post-apocalyptic traffic in the name of Immortan Joe?

2 months?

Thanks Jason! This is invaluable advice.

Also, thanks to all your (our) colleagues in NEH and IMLS for their dedicated service. I can't imagine the heartbreak they're facing now, but they should know that they have a grateful community that wants to help.

A few tips for NEH grantees:
1) if you've spent money on an awarded grant but have not yet drawn down the funds, make sure to submit the paperwork to drawn down funds ASAP.

2) the NYTimes article suggests that "DOGE" might cancel awards. If you receive an email from DOGE cancelling your NEH award,

Breaking Thurmond's record while talking about the Civil Rights leaders being called home is an incredible moment in America.

This is one for the history books.

Cory Booker.

That’s the post. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

a woman is holding a cupcake and saying if the apocalypse comes beep me ALT: a woman is holding a cupcake and saying if the apocalypse comes beep me

I'm relieved the respected #journalist #JeffreyGoldberg handled this craziness with such professionalism.

But I'm disappointed that #Buffy Summers wasn't invited into the #NationalSecurity #groupchat. She made it pretty clear that she expects to be in the loop about this kind of thing.

The TESLA (a/k/a "TESLER") TAKEDOWN is working... WORLDWIDE!
Turns out people really resent an unelected weirdo running our Government & creating economic chaos. Hit Elmo where it really hurts: in his big, fat wallet. If we #TankTesla, It's Ex-X! (a/k/a Twitter) #WinWin

Visit www.takedowntesla.com

Senator - "strongly oppose" is a milquetoast phrase to describe a stance on a bad policy.

It is much more urgent to call Trump a traitorous piece of shit for this and so much more wanton destruction of our democracy and our society.

Elon Musk is a terrible president.

this was successful “resistance” — the thing we’re being repeatedly told is done, over, can’t work, never to return

The White House says:
- 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada

What Americans feel:
- Fewer options at the store
- Higher prices for all of us, especially on food

He promised to cut costs. Now he's implementing a Trump Tax on our families.

The chaos continues.

We traded liberty for cheap eggs, and now we have neither.

Since conspiratorial tropes seem so important in effective propaganda, how about some counter-propaganda?

"What's Trump trying to hide by muzzling the #CDC? Is he trying to cover-up the #H5N1 situation?"

Just making sure we have updated a full copy of the data we publish.

Internationally. Just in case.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14728229

#OpenData #archaeology

Now with the #archaeology, #opendata, #research tags truncated from the original #Mastodon post.

Feeling more and more like December of 2019, though the pace and severity of things will no doubt differ.

History never exactly repeats. #h5n1

California seems to be the epicenter of #h5n1 evolution in mammals. Yikes.

I hope the state commits to vaccine development ASAP, since I bet the incoming federal administration won't be too helpful.