Cara Exten
@caraexten.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at Penn State University. Infectious disease epidemiologist interested in STIs, HIV, COVID-19. Health disparities are my passion. Alum at ETSU, Emory University, Ohio State.
Pinned
Cara Exten
@caraexten.bsky.social
· Apr 11
The thing that I’m
not sure I’ll ever get over is the realization that I’ve been living among monsters my entire life. Working, celebrating milestones, watching kids’ sports, chatting in the grocery store…all with monsters.
not sure I’ll ever get over is the realization that I’ve been living among monsters my entire life. Working, celebrating milestones, watching kids’ sports, chatting in the grocery store…all with monsters.
Reposted by Cara Exten
Congress approved the money. The Trump administration canceled the grants anyway. The GAO says what many of us already knew: canceling NIH grants was illegal. This was a direct breach of checks & balances - a textbook case of authoritarian meddling in science.
zurl.co/mbX9W
zurl.co/mbX9W
Trump administration violated impoundment law by canceling NIH grants, slowing new awards, GAO finds
The Government Accountability Office found that the Trump administration, by abruptly canceling NIH grants, had violated a 1974 federal law
zurl.co
August 6, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Congress approved the money. The Trump administration canceled the grants anyway. The GAO says what many of us already knew: canceling NIH grants was illegal. This was a direct breach of checks & balances - a textbook case of authoritarian meddling in science.
zurl.co/mbX9W
zurl.co/mbX9W
Reposted by Cara Exten
10 years from now at the start of a Zoom meeting: “Y’all doing anything fun for No Kings?”
June 15, 2025 at 3:45 AM
10 years from now at the start of a Zoom meeting: “Y’all doing anything fun for No Kings?”
Reposted by Cara Exten
Prof Stanley slaying it here calling out mainstream media for enabling the Trump regime's fascist dismantling & privatizing everything: science, academia & public health.
Dont let the bastards win. Stand up, fight back & join us to kill his #BigBadUglyBill !
#StandUpForScience
zurl.co/t7mEE
Dont let the bastards win. Stand up, fight back & join us to kill his #BigBadUglyBill !
#StandUpForScience
zurl.co/t7mEE
The mainstream media has enabled Trump’s war on universities | Jason Stanley
For the past decade, the US press has fueled a moral panic over leftists on campus while failing to report on the right’s assault
zurl.co
June 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Prof Stanley slaying it here calling out mainstream media for enabling the Trump regime's fascist dismantling & privatizing everything: science, academia & public health.
Dont let the bastards win. Stand up, fight back & join us to kill his #BigBadUglyBill !
#StandUpForScience
zurl.co/t7mEE
Dont let the bastards win. Stand up, fight back & join us to kill his #BigBadUglyBill !
#StandUpForScience
zurl.co/t7mEE
Reposted by Cara Exten
Every hour that Kennedy remains Secretary puts lives at risk. We stand with our patients, and Congress must as well.
Doctors for America Calls for the Resignation or Removal of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is unfit to serve as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary and must be removed. The health of our nation depends on it.
doctorsforamerica.org/statement-re...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is unfit to serve as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary and must be removed. The health of our nation depends on it.
doctorsforamerica.org/statement-re...
Statement - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Unfit to Serve as HHS Secretary
STATEMENT RELEASE: Doctors for America Calls for the Resignation or Removal of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. DFA General -
doctorsforamerica.org
April 15, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Every hour that Kennedy remains Secretary puts lives at risk. We stand with our patients, and Congress must as well.
Reposted by Cara Exten
🧵1-Attention #B1G alums & supporters. #Rutgers University Senate has resolved to adopt a Mutual Defense Compact for the Universities of the Big Ten Academic Alliance in response to the attacks on higher ed, research funding, academic inquiry and student safety.
senate.rutgers.edu/wp-content/u...
senate.rutgers.edu/wp-content/u...
senate.rutgers.edu
April 1, 2025 at 5:49 PM
🧵1-Attention #B1G alums & supporters. #Rutgers University Senate has resolved to adopt a Mutual Defense Compact for the Universities of the Big Ten Academic Alliance in response to the attacks on higher ed, research funding, academic inquiry and student safety.
senate.rutgers.edu/wp-content/u...
senate.rutgers.edu/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Cara Exten
Making a big deal about sending an all women team “to space” on Blue Origin, in full glam, while defunding programs that support women scientists and stripping DEIA from NASA…is something else.
Science for me, but not for thee!
#standupforscience
Science for me, but not for thee!
#standupforscience
April 14, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Making a big deal about sending an all women team “to space” on Blue Origin, in full glam, while defunding programs that support women scientists and stripping DEIA from NASA…is something else.
Science for me, but not for thee!
#standupforscience
Science for me, but not for thee!
#standupforscience
Reposted by Cara Exten
"You don't deserve due process if you're a criminal" has got to be among the least "American" arguments the government has put forward in a century
April 14, 2025 at 9:25 PM
"You don't deserve due process if you're a criminal" has got to be among the least "American" arguments the government has put forward in a century
Reposted by Cara Exten
If the U.S. government is going to take the position that, once removed from the United States, folks can’t be brought back, then it sure seems to me that federal courts should be reflexively and categorically barring *all* removals until they’re 100 percent certain that the removals are lawful.
April 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
If the U.S. government is going to take the position that, once removed from the United States, folks can’t be brought back, then it sure seems to me that federal courts should be reflexively and categorically barring *all* removals until they’re 100 percent certain that the removals are lawful.
THIS is the take. Due process is a constitutional right.
Bring them all home.
Bring them all home.
Bring ALL the people our government illegally renditioned to a foreign prison without habeas corpus.
Not just one obviously innocent man. Bring them back for due process in THIS COUNTRY. That is the law.
Not just one obviously innocent man. Bring them back for due process in THIS COUNTRY. That is the law.
An innocent man, picked up by “mistake,” must not be allowed to rot in an El Salvadorian jail.
Mr. President. Obey the courts. Obey our Constitution. Bring him home immediately.
Mr. President. Obey the courts. Obey our Constitution. Bring him home immediately.
April 13, 2025 at 8:31 PM
THIS is the take. Due process is a constitutional right.
Bring them all home.
Bring them all home.
Reposted by Cara Exten
Disappearing people without any due process is fascism — full stop. I’m sick to my stomach and we all should be.
April 13, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Disappearing people without any due process is fascism — full stop. I’m sick to my stomach and we all should be.
Reposted by Cara Exten
April 11, 2025 at 5:14 PM
The thing that I’m
not sure I’ll ever get over is the realization that I’ve been living among monsters my entire life. Working, celebrating milestones, watching kids’ sports, chatting in the grocery store…all with monsters.
not sure I’ll ever get over is the realization that I’ve been living among monsters my entire life. Working, celebrating milestones, watching kids’ sports, chatting in the grocery store…all with monsters.
April 11, 2025 at 5:32 PM
The thing that I’m
not sure I’ll ever get over is the realization that I’ve been living among monsters my entire life. Working, celebrating milestones, watching kids’ sports, chatting in the grocery store…all with monsters.
not sure I’ll ever get over is the realization that I’ve been living among monsters my entire life. Working, celebrating milestones, watching kids’ sports, chatting in the grocery store…all with monsters.
Reposted by Cara Exten
The courage of @APHA needs solidarity. Do you run or sit on a board of a professional organization? #StandwithAPHA. Join the call. RFK Jr. must resign or be fired. Speak out now before he does more damage to the nation's health and future. apha.org/news-and-med...
Secretary Kennedy and his policies are a danger to the public’s health
apha.org
April 11, 2025 at 9:25 AM
The courage of @APHA needs solidarity. Do you run or sit on a board of a professional organization? #StandwithAPHA. Join the call. RFK Jr. must resign or be fired. Speak out now before he does more damage to the nation's health and future. apha.org/news-and-med...
Reposted by Cara Exten
Sending anyone from this country to a foreign gulag, particularly without a court hearing, should rightfully end a presidency. Full stop.
April 8, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Sending anyone from this country to a foreign gulag, particularly without a court hearing, should rightfully end a presidency. Full stop.
Reposted by Cara Exten
If the Supreme Court decides that the government can "erroneously" disappear you off the street to a foreign torture prison, and that federal courts have no power to do anything about it, that is, in a meaningful way, Pretty Much It www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
April 7, 2025 at 4:12 PM
If the Supreme Court decides that the government can "erroneously" disappear you off the street to a foreign torture prison, and that federal courts have no power to do anything about it, that is, in a meaningful way, Pretty Much It www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
Reposted by Cara Exten
If one of us stands up, they can pick that person off. If ten or a hundred or a thousand, they can pick those people off. And they're picking off people--immigrants, dissidents--to make an example of them. But if ten million people stand up, they cannot stop us all.
Millions Stood Up: April 5 Hands Off Day of Action
I was the closing speaker at the ebullient San Francisco Hands Off rally, and when I got home later I scoured the news for reports on the more than one thousand other rallies. Of course people would ...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
April 6, 2025 at 5:06 PM
If one of us stands up, they can pick that person off. If ten or a hundred or a thousand, they can pick those people off. And they're picking off people--immigrants, dissidents--to make an example of them. But if ten million people stand up, they cannot stop us all.
Reposted by Cara Exten
The problem is: they've mistaken correlation for causation. They think their parents and grandparents had a good life *because* of manufacturing jobs. When, in reality, their parents and grandparents had a good life *despite* manufacturing jobs, because of unions, high taxes, and social policies.
April 3, 2025 at 3:22 PM
The problem is: they've mistaken correlation for causation. They think their parents and grandparents had a good life *because* of manufacturing jobs. When, in reality, their parents and grandparents had a good life *despite* manufacturing jobs, because of unions, high taxes, and social policies.
Reposted by Cara Exten
To friends and colleagues (and others) who were fired from NIH, CDC, and elsewhere in HHS in yesterday’s RIF: You deserved so much better from your country. The work you did made America and the world a healthier and all around better place. Thank you for your service.
April 2, 2025 at 2:40 PM
To friends and colleagues (and others) who were fired from NIH, CDC, and elsewhere in HHS in yesterday’s RIF: You deserved so much better from your country. The work you did made America and the world a healthier and all around better place. Thank you for your service.
Reposted by Cara Exten
We are excited to announce our official partnership with @indivisible.org for the National Day of Action on April 5th!
Stand Up for Science says: HANDS OFF OUR SCIENCE!
#standupforscience
#handsoffourscience
Find and register for an event near you: handsoff2025.com?utm_source=s...
Stand Up for Science says: HANDS OFF OUR SCIENCE!
#standupforscience
#handsoffourscience
Find and register for an event near you: handsoff2025.com?utm_source=s...
March 29, 2025 at 1:16 PM
We are excited to announce our official partnership with @indivisible.org for the National Day of Action on April 5th!
Stand Up for Science says: HANDS OFF OUR SCIENCE!
#standupforscience
#handsoffourscience
Find and register for an event near you: handsoff2025.com?utm_source=s...
Stand Up for Science says: HANDS OFF OUR SCIENCE!
#standupforscience
#handsoffourscience
Find and register for an event near you: handsoff2025.com?utm_source=s...
Reposted by Cara Exten
They should hang this in the MOMA.
March 28, 2025 at 1:49 PM
They should hang this in the MOMA.
Reposted by Cara Exten
Either you find this disgusting, or you are disgusting. There is no in between.
Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem making content in front of the imprisoned men of El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center mega-prison www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
March 27, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Either you find this disgusting, or you are disgusting. There is no in between.
Reposted by Cara Exten
Hi all! We are still looking for scientists who’ve been terminated from federal positions or who’ve had grants terminated to tell their stories for illustrated portraits at www.silencedsciencestories.com. Scientists will be able to approve any materials before we publish! Please spread the word.
Silenced Science Stories
Explore the people and groundbreaking science research affected by federal firings, budget cuts, and grant terminations. Featuring scientists via art.
www.silencedsciencestories.com
March 26, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Hi all! We are still looking for scientists who’ve been terminated from federal positions or who’ve had grants terminated to tell their stories for illustrated portraits at www.silencedsciencestories.com. Scientists will be able to approve any materials before we publish! Please spread the word.
Reposted by Cara Exten
Even if you think Paul Weiss and Columbia made the only choice available to them in the circumstances (and that's not what I think, to be clear), you have to recognize that there's no future for our democracy if every powerful institution approaches official extortion in this way.
March 23, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Even if you think Paul Weiss and Columbia made the only choice available to them in the circumstances (and that's not what I think, to be clear), you have to recognize that there's no future for our democracy if every powerful institution approaches official extortion in this way.
Reposted by Cara Exten
We've been tracking unlawful NIH grant terminations for 3 weeks. Spread the word👇!
Fellow PIs: what can you do upon termination?
✅ Email PO + document questions
✅ Submit FOIA
✅ Advocate to your OCG/OSP for appeal + litigation
✅ Consider outside litigation
✅ Donate to state AGs + legal orgs
1/🧵
Fellow PIs: what can you do upon termination?
✅ Email PO + document questions
✅ Submit FOIA
✅ Advocate to your OCG/OSP for appeal + litigation
✅ Consider outside litigation
✅ Donate to state AGs + legal orgs
1/🧵
Cancelled NIH grant information submission form
Please use this form to submit information identifying specific NIH grants that have been cancelled for any reason after January 20, 2025.
Data from this form will be used to update the Rescinded NIH...
docs.google.com
March 21, 2025 at 10:38 AM
We've been tracking unlawful NIH grant terminations for 3 weeks. Spread the word👇!
Fellow PIs: what can you do upon termination?
✅ Email PO + document questions
✅ Submit FOIA
✅ Advocate to your OCG/OSP for appeal + litigation
✅ Consider outside litigation
✅ Donate to state AGs + legal orgs
1/🧵
Fellow PIs: what can you do upon termination?
✅ Email PO + document questions
✅ Submit FOIA
✅ Advocate to your OCG/OSP for appeal + litigation
✅ Consider outside litigation
✅ Donate to state AGs + legal orgs
1/🧵