The January 5 #HHS memo on childhood #vaccines calls for "gold standard medical research to assess overall health outcomes related to
all immunizations on the revised schedule."
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/decision-memo-adopting-revised-childhood-adolescent-immunization-schedule.pdf

Good critique by #JessSteier: "You can’t ethically run placebo-controlled trials on vaccines that are already known to work and are the standard of care. Withholding a proven vaccine from children in a control group violates the Declaration of Helsinki. This is a foundational principle of research ethics. So when they say 'we need gold standard science before we can trust this schedule,' what they’re really saying is 'we’re going to set an impossible bar and then act like the vaccines failed to clear it.'"
https://medium.com/@jsteier_29203/fools-gold-standard-science-5fcdd47fdda5

#DefendResearch #Ethics #Medicine #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

The January 5 #HHS memo on childhood #vaccines calls for "gold standard medical research to assess overall health outcomes related to
all immunizations on the revised schedule."
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/decision-memo-adopting-revised-childhood-adolescent-immunization-schedule.pdf

Good critique by #JessSteier: "You can’t ethically run placebo-controlled trials on vaccines that are already known to work and are the standard of care. Withholding a proven vaccine from children in a control group violates the Declaration of Helsinki. This is a foundational principle of research ethics. So when they say 'we need gold standard science before we can trust this schedule,' what they’re really saying is 'we’re going to set an impossible bar and then act like the vaccines failed to clear it.'"
https://medium.com/@jsteier_29203/fools-gold-standard-science-5fcdd47fdda5

#DefendResearch #Ethics #Medicine #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"HHS terminates, then reinstates, thousands of grants for substance use."
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/14/hhs-terminates-grants-substance-use-mental-health-00729433

"The Trump administration reversed course late Wednesday after notifying thousands of organizations across the country that their substance use recovery and Mental Health grants were being terminated."

PS: Another example of slash first, think second.

#DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"Congress Is Reversing Trump’s Steep budget Cuts to Science."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/science/trump-science-budget-cuts-congress.html

"After the White House called for billions of dollars in funding reductions, senators and representatives are rescinding the proposed cuts and even boosting funds for basic research."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"220,000 Fewer Workers: How Trump’s Cuts Affected Every Federal Agency."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/01/09/upshot/trump-workforce-cuts-table.html

Eye-opening, stomach-turning table of the staff cuts to 500+ federal agencies, Nov 2024 - Nov 2025. Plus a search engine to find the cuts for a given agency. Some examples:

#NASA, down 6%
#NIH, down 18%
#HHS, down 18%
#NOAA, down 20%
#CDC, down 22%
#OSTP, down 26%
#NSF, down 29%
#NEA, down 34%
#IMLS, down 59%
#NEH, down 73%

#DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"Congress set to reject Trump’s major budget cuts to NSF, NASA, and energy science."
https://www.science.org/content/article/congress-set-reject-trump-s-major-budget-cuts-nsf-nasa-and-energy-science

"The U.S. Congress has delivered another rebuke of President Donald Trump’s plans to slash this year’s budgets of several science agencies. Today, lawmakers hammering out final bills covering the National Science Foundation ( #NSF), #NASA science, and Department of Energy ( #DOE) research programs unveiled an agreement to spend very close to current levels."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"NIH Approves 100s of Grant Applications It Shelved or Denied."
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/research/2026/01/02/nih-approves-100s-grant-applications-it-shelved-or-denied

This follows the pillaging pattern of agency layoffs. Reckless cuts followed by partial rehires. Hack first, plan second.

#DefendResearch #Funding #NIH #Medicine #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"NIH Approves 100s of Grant Applications It Shelved or Denied."
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/research/2026/01/02/nih-approves-100s-grant-applications-it-shelved-or-denied

This follows the pillaging pattern of agency layoffs. Reckless cuts followed by partial rehires. Hack first, plan second.

#DefendResearch #Funding #NIH #Medicine #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/climate/nasa-goddard-library-closing.html

"Holdings from the library at the Goddard Space Flight Center, which includes unique documents from the early 20th century to the Soviet space race, will be warehoused or thrown out."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Libraries #NASA #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"DOJ Sent Letters to Medical Journals. Then What Happened?"
https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/119233

"Worrying probe into publications' partisanship may have lost steam…Since receiving those letters in April, the publications haven't heard a peep on the matter from #DOJ."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Medicine #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/climate/nasa-goddard-library-closing.html

"Holdings from the library at the Goddard Space Flight Center, which includes unique documents from the early 20th century to the Soviet space race, will be warehoused or thrown out."

#Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Libraries #NASA #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

One of the most important examples of #Trump #censorship to date:

"DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing."
https://archive.ph/Ow3FE

Thanks as always to the #WaybackMachine for preserving a copy.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250911165140if_/https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/306123.pdf

#DefendResearch #Takedowns #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

One of the most important examples of #Trump #censorship to date:

"DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing."
https://archive.ph/Ow3FE

Thanks as always to the #WaybackMachine for preserving a copy.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250911165140if_/https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/306123.pdf

#DefendResearch #Takedowns #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

Excellent piece by @brianpjcronin on the consequences of slashing govt-funded science.
https://highlandscurrent.org/2025/12/26/out-there-hard-stop/

#DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"DEI Under Threat: Collaborative Strategies to #DefendResearch."
https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/12/22/guest-post-dei-under-threat-collaborative-strategies-to-defendresearch/

"None of this is new, and the censorship of scholarship has a long history. As #SaraRouhi explained, 'it’s really easy, particularly in the US where we tend to be very short-sighted, to forget that all of this has happened before,' pointing to an infamous Nature editorial from 1937, calling out the censorship of Jewish researchers in Germany at the time. This editorial is striking in two ways: its argument that scientific inquiry can only develop to its full extent in an atmosphere of political freedom, and that everyone engaged in scholarly inquiry ought to be empowered to pursue their research, wherever it leads."

#Censorship #DEI #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/16/trump-dismantle-national-center-atmospheric-research-climate/87798771007/

"The #Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research [ #NCAR] in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading #climate research labs."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Takedowns #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

"Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/16/trump-dismantle-national-center-atmospheric-research-climate/87798771007/

"The #Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research [ #NCAR] in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading #climate research labs."

#DefendResearch #Funding #Takedowns #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics