@grumpyoldscientist.bsky.social
Recovering federal regulator, molecular biologist, serious dog person
Reposted
So @jeneeninterlandi.bsky.social is on the @nytimes.com editorial board. She has been a voice of reason for many years at the paper (as have many of their health/science reporters) on infectious diseases. This is a great piece from her to close out 2025. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/o...
Opinion | This Is the Damage Kennedy Has Done in Less Than a Year
www.nytimes.com
December 30, 2025 at 11:38 AM
So @jeneeninterlandi.bsky.social is on the @nytimes.com editorial board. She has been a voice of reason for many years at the paper (as have many of their health/science reporters) on infectious diseases. This is a great piece from her to close out 2025. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/o...
Reposted
Well done and important to digest. There is plenty of human failing in any human endeavor, but the narrative and the reality in this specific situation needs sunlight.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
The Pharma Shill Paradox: Who Actually Profits from Vaccine Mistrust
A physician examines the financial anatomy of an insult
substack.com
December 27, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Well done and important to digest. There is plenty of human failing in any human endeavor, but the narrative and the reality in this specific situation needs sunlight.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Important. Americans assume the almighty dollar will always be almighty. We derive a lot of goodies from that. But there are cracks in that facade.
Excellent from @katie0martin.ft.com on the dollar’s rapidly-dimming safe-haven appeal, and the very real rise of “barbell” hedging strategies (USD at one end and financial apocalypse assets at the other):
FT: So long, American exceptionalism giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
FT: So long, American exceptionalism giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
December 27, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Important. Americans assume the almighty dollar will always be almighty. We derive a lot of goodies from that. But there are cracks in that facade.
We did however set a record for executive orders.
With fewer than 40 bills signed into law as of Dec. 22, the House and Senate set a modern record for lowest legislative output in the first year of a new presidency, according to data maintained by C-SPAN and Purdue University. https://wapo.st/3YPTQGo
December 27, 2025 at 3:20 PM
We did however set a record for executive orders.
Once something’s time has come, no amount of regressive, retrograde government action will stop it.
The seemingly unstoppable growth of renewable energy is Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year.
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: https://scim.ag/3MGESjx
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: https://scim.ag/3MGESjx
Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: The unstoppable rise of renewable energy
Clean energy infrastructure is being deployed with unmatched scale and speed—and China is leading the way
scim.ag
December 27, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Once something’s time has come, no amount of regressive, retrograde government action will stop it.
What a surprise. Because it was never about $. It was to get the data, and destroy the so-called deep state. Putting fed workers in trauma was an added bonus.
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?
www.nytimes.com
December 25, 2025 at 6:25 PM
What a surprise. Because it was never about $. It was to get the data, and destroy the so-called deep state. Putting fed workers in trauma was an added bonus.
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
Reposted
It's a true wiki, it even has a "Featured agent" section.
A public database of ice, ice agents, DHS, etc. Has now been built and it's entirely outside of the US and US government reach.
We Built a Public Record of ICE Because They Refuse to Keep One
Tracking Immigration Enforcement as It Accelerates Under Authoritarian Rule
open.substack.com
December 25, 2025 at 3:39 AM
It's a true wiki, it even has a "Featured agent" section.
Reposted
Ah, that pesky administrative procedures act. Because agencies have to obey their own regs, and all federal laws.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...
www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...
The nearly 80-year-old law that could hamper RFK Jr.’s drive to remake vaccine schedule
www.cidrap.umn.edu
December 24, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Ah, that pesky administrative procedures act. Because agencies have to obey their own regs, and all federal laws.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...
www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...
Whenever I need to learn a new term in finance, it bodes poorly. Continuation Fund. Last time it was “collateralized debt obligation “. Not a Ponzi, more an Ouroboros scheme?
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...
Investors Warn of ‘Rot in Private Equity’ as Funds Strike Circular Deals
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Whenever I need to learn a new term in finance, it bodes poorly. Continuation Fund. Last time it was “collateralized debt obligation “. Not a Ponzi, more an Ouroboros scheme?
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...
Reposted
On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up. But is still led to cuts that closed offices, canceled programs and deprived people of food, medicine and other aid.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little?
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:29 PM
On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up. But is still led to cuts that closed offices, canceled programs and deprived people of food, medicine and other aid.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...
For people who think Ohioans have no sense of humor, I give you the NE Ohio regional sewer district.
December 23, 2025 at 1:43 PM
For people who think Ohioans have no sense of humor, I give you the NE Ohio regional sewer district.
Guinea Bissau’s Hep B infection rate is ~20 %. Let that sink in.
@gorskon.bsky.social on the whole sordid saga of RFK Jr., FDA's sports medicine doc Tracy Beth Hoeg, Bandim Health Project at the University of Southern Denmark, hepatitis and babies in Guinea Bissau. sciencebasedmedicine.org/every-accusa...
Every accusation is a confession (or a statement of intent): MAHA’s new Tuskegee experiment
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s CDC just funneled a $1.6 million dollar grant to researchers to carry out an unethical and scientifically unjustified randomized clinical trial of the birth dose o
sciencebasedmedicine.org
December 23, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Guinea Bissau’s Hep B infection rate is ~20 %. Let that sink in.
Boasberg strikes again.
BREAKING: Judge James Boasberg rules for those deported under the Alien Enemies Act on March 15 — certifying a class, finding the U.S. maintained constructive custody over them at CECOT, finding they were not given due process, and ordering return or that such process be given by Jan. 5, 2026.
![ORDER
For the reasons stated in the accompanying Memorandum Opinion, the Court ORDERS
that:
1. Plaintiffs' [177] Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED;
2. Plaintiffs' [178] Motion for Class Certification is GRANTED;
3. Defendants' [182] Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED; and
4. The Government shall submit its proposal either to facilitate the return
of Plaintiffs to the United States or to otherwise provide them with
hearings that satisfy the requirements of due process by January 5,
2026.
1
Case 1:25-cv-00766-JEB
Document 214
Filed 12/22/25
Page 2 of 2
/s/ James E. Boasberg
JAMES E. BOASBERG
United States District Judge](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreieca4ukx2h54wbcpvlobarhijo2py237ojy3y7q7pgdpbffmalsoy@jpeg)
December 23, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Boasberg strikes again.
Lot of damning comments in here. Regulation by press release without policy docs is not normal. And Andrew Nixon would tell you a glass is half full if it was smashed and laying in a puddle on the floor.
www.statnews.com/2025/12/22/f...
www.statnews.com/2025/12/22/f...
3 key issues to watch at FDA as Makary struggles to stabilize the agency
3 key issues to watch at FDA as Makary struggles to stabilize the agency
www.statnews.com
December 23, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Lot of damning comments in here. Regulation by press release without policy docs is not normal. And Andrew Nixon would tell you a glass is half full if it was smashed and laying in a puddle on the floor.
www.statnews.com/2025/12/22/f...
www.statnews.com/2025/12/22/f...
This is becoming a trend. They will control battery technology. Solar technology. Biotechnology. And our politicians don’t understand batteries exist, since they seem to think solar and wind power only work in sun or wind. Big sigh.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
China's power reforms, global data centre buildout usher in battery boom
A revamp of China's electricity market is boosting the economics of storing power just as international demand surges.
www.reuters.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:39 PM
This is becoming a trend. They will control battery technology. Solar technology. Biotechnology. And our politicians don’t understand batteries exist, since they seem to think solar and wind power only work in sun or wind. Big sigh.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
In the hard copy the titles is” Second Term Looking More Like a Reign”. That’s more accurate.
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/u...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/u...
Trump Takes America’s ‘Imperial Presidency’ to a New Level
www.nytimes.com
December 21, 2025 at 2:40 PM
In the hard copy the titles is” Second Term Looking More Like a Reign”. That’s more accurate.
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/u...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/u...
Reposted
Nothing to see here, just a right wing hyper-nationalist government going to their party’s youth event sponsored by a group with a martyred leader they’ve pledged to avenge, recruiting people to join their masked police force devoted to removing auslanders from ze homeland.
December 21, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Nothing to see here, just a right wing hyper-nationalist government going to their party’s youth event sponsored by a group with a martyred leader they’ve pledged to avenge, recruiting people to join their masked police force devoted to removing auslanders from ze homeland.
Not only better access to healthcare, but Danes have parental leave policies that ensure that babies are not in daycare for the first year of life. Very different risk calculus.
Babies are going to die. This is what Donald Trump, Russ Vought, RFK Jr., Marty Makary, Vinay Prasad, Tracy Beth Hoeg, Jay Bhattacharya and Matthew Memoli have brought us. Avoidable child deaths from preventable infectious diseases. www.statnews.com/2025/12/19/d...
Why Denmark's vaccine schedule works for Denmark — but not for the United States
With its vaccine schedule, “Denmark has made a values choice to accept preventable hospitalizations and illnesses that other countries have chosen to prevent.”
www.statnews.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Not only better access to healthcare, but Danes have parental leave policies that ensure that babies are not in daycare for the first year of life. Very different risk calculus.
There are lots of abandoned cities. Our time is no different. Tikal… Tehran… Phoenix?
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Opinion | How Did a City of 10 Million People Nearly Run Out of Water?
www.nytimes.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:28 PM
There are lots of abandoned cities. Our time is no different. Tikal… Tehran… Phoenix?
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Reposted
CBS is planning a series of ideologically diverse, non-partisan town halls treating questions like "How has feminism failed women?", "Why are liberals so smug?", and "What makes poor people so lazy?"
December 19, 2025 at 3:02 PM
CBS is planning a series of ideologically diverse, non-partisan town halls treating questions like "How has feminism failed women?", "Why are liberals so smug?", and "What makes poor people so lazy?"
They were understaffed before this. A 20% loss is unmanageable. Kessler is right. It’s going to be hard to fix this.
My latest: Last month, RFK Jr.'s dep. sec. staged something of a coup against FDA boss Marty Makary. The White House waved it off.
But what a year: 4,000 staff out, a drop in foreign inspections and $$ restrictions that left lab staff sitting idle.
GIFT: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/h...
But what a year: 4,000 staff out, a drop in foreign inspections and $$ restrictions that left lab staff sitting idle.
GIFT: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/h...
F.D.A. Turmoil Keeps Spotlight on Its Commissioner
www.nytimes.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:15 PM
They were understaffed before this. A 20% loss is unmanageable. Kessler is right. It’s going to be hard to fix this.
Reposted
Armed mercenaries tied to Russia’s FSB and formerly linked to Wagner are now guarding Russian shadow fleet tankers. Hired through Moran Security, they wear camo, isolate themselves from crews, and often override foreign captains. Danish pilots say they act as the real authority on board
December 18, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Armed mercenaries tied to Russia’s FSB and formerly linked to Wagner are now guarding Russian shadow fleet tankers. Hired through Moran Security, they wear camo, isolate themselves from crews, and often override foreign captains. Danish pilots say they act as the real authority on board
A little guide to help you keep score.
🚨RFK Jr's horrifying year:
"...taken a sledgehammer to the country’s public health infrastructure, emboldened medical charlatans, and set government agencies on wild goose chases to support his pet theories, while downplaying actual threats to health."
gizmodo.com/the-worst-wa... via @gizmodo.com
"...taken a sledgehammer to the country’s public health infrastructure, emboldened medical charlatans, and set government agencies on wild goose chases to support his pet theories, while downplaying actual threats to health."
gizmodo.com/the-worst-wa... via @gizmodo.com
The Worst Ways RFK Jr. Has Harmed Public Health This Year
The return of measles, weakening vaccines, and the complete destruction of the CDC are just a few of Kennedy's ignoble accomplishments in 2025.
gizmodo.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:06 PM
A little guide to help you keep score.
“But the process is enormously complicated to initiate and control, and developing machines that can do it consistently and affordably enough to power a grid could require technological advancements that have yet to be made, and perhaps even materials that have yet to be invented.”
December 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM
“But the process is enormously complicated to initiate and control, and developing machines that can do it consistently and affordably enough to power a grid could require technological advancements that have yet to be made, and perhaps even materials that have yet to be invented.”