Sam Porter
@samporter.bsky.social
Postdoc at the University of Michigan.
Dengue/Zika virologist.
Dengue/Zika virologist.
Reposted by Sam Porter
Defunding scientists for the nationality of who they co-author with or who they train.
One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.
One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Defunding scientists for the nationality of who they co-author with or who they train.
One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.
One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.
Reposted by Sam Porter
okay the kids are off to school so
I filed dozens of FOIAs to learn what programs were selling the most booze
the answer is obviously Wisconsin (by a LOT lmao) but here's who else cracked the top of the list. raw sales data and per capita data here:
www.extrapointsmb.com/p/who-is-sel...
I filed dozens of FOIAs to learn what programs were selling the most booze
the answer is obviously Wisconsin (by a LOT lmao) but here's who else cracked the top of the list. raw sales data and per capita data here:
www.extrapointsmb.com/p/who-is-sel...
Who is selling the most booze at football games this year? We FOIA'd to find out.
SURPRISE! Wisconsin football fans enjoy adult beverages, film at 11.
www.extrapointsmb.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:55 PM
okay the kids are off to school so
I filed dozens of FOIAs to learn what programs were selling the most booze
the answer is obviously Wisconsin (by a LOT lmao) but here's who else cracked the top of the list. raw sales data and per capita data here:
www.extrapointsmb.com/p/who-is-sel...
I filed dozens of FOIAs to learn what programs were selling the most booze
the answer is obviously Wisconsin (by a LOT lmao) but here's who else cracked the top of the list. raw sales data and per capita data here:
www.extrapointsmb.com/p/who-is-sel...
Reposted by Sam Porter
Banning “dangerous gain-of-function” pathogen research is actually just banning pathogen research. TB causes chronic disease, the supposed cornerstone of the MAHA movement. Hard to see ending TB research on treatments as anything but another targeted attack on science in service of destroying it.
Ditto. Thanks for this Sarah. www.statnews.com/2025/10/06/g...
The NIH ordered me to stop my ‘dangerous’ gain-of-function research. It isn’t dangerous at all
Safe gain-of-function research is necessary to identify new treatments for diseases like for tuberculosis — but the NIH has imposed unfounded stops.
www.statnews.com
October 8, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Banning “dangerous gain-of-function” pathogen research is actually just banning pathogen research. TB causes chronic disease, the supposed cornerstone of the MAHA movement. Hard to see ending TB research on treatments as anything but another targeted attack on science in service of destroying it.
Reposted by Sam Porter
Not to belabor a "I told you so", but it's been clear for years that the whole "lab leak" discourse has absolutely nothing to do with a potential lab leak and everything to do with a broader anti-science agenda.
I really, and truly, hope more scientists will realize this and take corrective action.
I really, and truly, hope more scientists will realize this and take corrective action.
Atlantic: Why RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vaccine Campaign Is Working
The Trump administration’s COVID-revenge campaign has laid the groundwork for Kennedy’s larger agenda.
by Katherin J. Wu
bit.ly/4mfxk3S
The Trump administration’s COVID-revenge campaign has laid the groundwork for Kennedy’s larger agenda.
by Katherin J. Wu
bit.ly/4mfxk3S
Why RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vaccine Campaign Is Working
The Trump administration’s COVID-revenge campaign has laid the groundwork for Kennedy’s larger agenda.
bit.ly
August 13, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Not to belabor a "I told you so", but it's been clear for years that the whole "lab leak" discourse has absolutely nothing to do with a potential lab leak and everything to do with a broader anti-science agenda.
I really, and truly, hope more scientists will realize this and take corrective action.
I really, and truly, hope more scientists will realize this and take corrective action.
Reposted by Sam Porter
This Executive Order is a gross overreach of Presidential power and undermines democracy. It steals from taxpayers, will destroy science and the economy, and ultimately, America.
Congress must act now.
open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...
Congress must act now.
open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...
Federal Grantmaking Gets a Christofascist Glow-Up
Read my zero star review of the new Executive Order
open.substack.com
August 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM
This Executive Order is a gross overreach of Presidential power and undermines democracy. It steals from taxpayers, will destroy science and the economy, and ultimately, America.
Congress must act now.
open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...
Congress must act now.
open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...
Reposted by Sam Porter
Like science integrity researchers denounced distortion of their work by the Trump administration, I'd like to hear academic lab leakers call out the destruction of US science under the pretext of the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
Great to read this: "Sleuths “should call out” when their work is used out of context to “advance agendas that harm science”" 🧪
Some sleuths fear that the business of cleaning up flawed studies is being weaponized against science itself
go.nature.com/3TwCNXA
go.nature.com/3TwCNXA
August 8, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Like science integrity researchers denounced distortion of their work by the Trump administration, I'd like to hear academic lab leakers call out the destruction of US science under the pretext of the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
Reposted by Sam Porter
BREAKING: Watchdog government agency finds the NIH and the Trump administration have illegally withheld funds in violation of the Impoundment Control Act, and rips into HHS for failing to justify its slow-walking of funds.
www.gao.gov/products/b-3...
www.gao.gov/products/b-3...
Department of Health and Human Services—National Institutes of Health—Application of Impoundment Control Act to Availability of Funds for Grants
Congress appropriated amounts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to carry out various research objectives for fiscal year 2025. In accordance...
www.gao.gov
August 5, 2025 at 5:17 PM
BREAKING: Watchdog government agency finds the NIH and the Trump administration have illegally withheld funds in violation of the Impoundment Control Act, and rips into HHS for failing to justify its slow-walking of funds.
www.gao.gov/products/b-3...
www.gao.gov/products/b-3...
Reposted by Sam Porter
At some point, the Republican project shifted from attacking scientific consensus on particular subjects that ran counter to their political interests to trying to shut down all scientific inquiry wherever it might be headed.
July 30, 2025 at 12:20 AM
At some point, the Republican project shifted from attacking scientific consensus on particular subjects that ran counter to their political interests to trying to shut down all scientific inquiry wherever it might be headed.
Reposted by Sam Porter
Our research has been engulfed by an endless torrent of lab leak conspiracy theories about the origin of the pandemic - even as the evidence for zoonosis has only grown stronger.
This fuels anti-science agendas and erodes public trust.
Now, we respond 👇
theconversation.com/how-conspira...
This fuels anti-science agendas and erodes public trust.
Now, we respond 👇
theconversation.com/how-conspira...
How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic
The COVID pandemic likely began when the virus jumped from animals to humans, and didn’t start in a lab. But false narratives continue to circulate.
theconversation.com
July 30, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Our research has been engulfed by an endless torrent of lab leak conspiracy theories about the origin of the pandemic - even as the evidence for zoonosis has only grown stronger.
This fuels anti-science agendas and erodes public trust.
Now, we respond 👇
theconversation.com/how-conspira...
This fuels anti-science agendas and erodes public trust.
Now, we respond 👇
theconversation.com/how-conspira...
Reposted by Sam Porter
Shocking Video Captures Calm Police Officers Handling Situation Nonviolently
July 23, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Shocking Video Captures Calm Police Officers Handling Situation Nonviolently
Reposted by Sam Porter
More out of #NIH today, announcing termination of anything they call gain-of-function. I can only imagine this will be used as an excuse to kill all manner of virology and immunology programs. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
Please REPORT any such termination: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h...
Please REPORT any such termination: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h...
NOT-OD-25-127: Implementation Update: Terminating or Suspending Dangerous Gain-of-Function Research in Accordance with the Executive Order on Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Implementation Update: Terminating or Suspending Dangerous Gain-of-Function Research in Accordance with the Executive O...
grants.nih.gov
June 18, 2025 at 8:14 PM
More out of #NIH today, announcing termination of anything they call gain-of-function. I can only imagine this will be used as an excuse to kill all manner of virology and immunology programs. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
Please REPORT any such termination: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h...
Please REPORT any such termination: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h...
Reposted by Sam Porter
Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.
June 11, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.
Reposted by Sam Porter
I think the targeting of scientific advisory boards—vaccine panel, the NCI scientific board, etc—is instructive. They are easier to fire than gov employees, and RFK et al can claim they need to eliminate or get "fresh eyes" or whatever on the issue. And then they can construct an alternate reality.
June 9, 2025 at 9:48 PM
I think the targeting of scientific advisory boards—vaccine panel, the NCI scientific board, etc—is instructive. They are easier to fire than gov employees, and RFK et al can claim they need to eliminate or get "fresh eyes" or whatever on the issue. And then they can construct an alternate reality.
Reposted by Sam Porter
It's being portrayed as an attempt to wipe out US crops, but the disease is already there which is why it needs to be researched.
They may have broken import rules, but this would be a weird form of bioterrorism.
www.ars.usda.gov/midwest-area...
They may have broken import rules, but this would be a weird form of bioterrorism.
www.ars.usda.gov/midwest-area...
Fusarium head blight in the U.S. : USDA ARSResearch : USDA ARSLock
www.ars.usda.gov
June 4, 2025 at 11:35 AM
It's being portrayed as an attempt to wipe out US crops, but the disease is already there which is why it needs to be researched.
They may have broken import rules, but this would be a weird form of bioterrorism.
www.ars.usda.gov/midwest-area...
They may have broken import rules, but this would be a weird form of bioterrorism.
www.ars.usda.gov/midwest-area...
Reposted by Sam Porter
A potent mixture of bio-scare and yellow-peril here, so far as I can tell.
Foreign scientists take Fusarium graminearum spores to a lab where they've been studying Fusarium graminearum for decades.
To find ways of tackling the crop disease.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Foreign scientists take Fusarium graminearum spores to a lab where they've been studying Fusarium graminearum for decades.
To find ways of tackling the crop disease.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk
June 4, 2025 at 11:35 AM
A potent mixture of bio-scare and yellow-peril here, so far as I can tell.
Foreign scientists take Fusarium graminearum spores to a lab where they've been studying Fusarium graminearum for decades.
To find ways of tackling the crop disease.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Foreign scientists take Fusarium graminearum spores to a lab where they've been studying Fusarium graminearum for decades.
To find ways of tackling the crop disease.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Sam Porter
This month's bonus episode is about the rise of the lab leak theory from an unfounded theory promoted by right-wing cranks to an unfounded theory promoted by prominent liberal journalists.
The Lab Leak Goes Mainstream | If Books Could Kill
Get more from If Books Could Kill on Patreon
www.patreon.com
May 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM
This month's bonus episode is about the rise of the lab leak theory from an unfounded theory promoted by right-wing cranks to an unfounded theory promoted by prominent liberal journalists.
Reposted by Sam Porter
Nation Adds Second Memorial Day To Honor Brats Eaten In The Line Of Duty
May 31, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Nation Adds Second Memorial Day To Honor Brats Eaten In The Line Of Duty
Reposted by Sam Porter
This from the NYT ed board after they platform unqualified cranks who push discredited gain of function/lab leak conspiracies or in other cases give false equivalency to them. They need some self reflection here and understand that they’ve been part of the problem
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/o...
Opinion | 13 Ways to Save Health and Science
www.nytimes.com
May 19, 2025 at 12:18 PM
This from the NYT ed board after they platform unqualified cranks who push discredited gain of function/lab leak conspiracies or in other cases give false equivalency to them. They need some self reflection here and understand that they’ve been part of the problem
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/o...
Reposted by Sam Porter
It's hard to see this as anything other than a Washington Post columnist willingly laundering the Trump administration's conspiratorial talking points into the mainstream with no evidence.
www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/09/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/09/1...
May 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM
It's hard to see this as anything other than a Washington Post columnist willingly laundering the Trump administration's conspiratorial talking points into the mainstream with no evidence.
www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/09/1...
www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/09/1...
Reposted by Sam Porter
NIH funding has collapsed by 35% in just three months -- wiping out over a decade of growth in medical research investment
A $2.7 billion cut. The steepest drop in modern NIH history
If this isn’t a war on science, what is?
A $2.7 billion cut. The steepest drop in modern NIH history
If this isn’t a war on science, what is?
May 13, 2025 at 2:38 PM
NIH funding has collapsed by 35% in just three months -- wiping out over a decade of growth in medical research investment
A $2.7 billion cut. The steepest drop in modern NIH history
If this isn’t a war on science, what is?
A $2.7 billion cut. The steepest drop in modern NIH history
If this isn’t a war on science, what is?
Reposted by Sam Porter
New EO banning “dangerous gain-of-function” experiments dropped Monday.
Allow me to break out my deranged anti-vax kakistocrat translator.
Will this improve the safety & security of biological research?
Hell yes, because biological research won’t exist anymore!
Allow me to break out my deranged anti-vax kakistocrat translator.
Will this improve the safety & security of biological research?
Hell yes, because biological research won’t exist anymore!
May 7, 2025 at 11:48 AM
New EO banning “dangerous gain-of-function” experiments dropped Monday.
Allow me to break out my deranged anti-vax kakistocrat translator.
Will this improve the safety & security of biological research?
Hell yes, because biological research won’t exist anymore!
Allow me to break out my deranged anti-vax kakistocrat translator.
Will this improve the safety & security of biological research?
Hell yes, because biological research won’t exist anymore!
Reposted by Sam Porter
The American Society for Microbiology is committed to ensuring that scientific research is conducted adhering to strict standards for biosafety and biosecurity, but pausing research is not the path forward. Read our statement: asm.org/press-releas...
Pausing Research Not a Path to Better Biosafety & Biosecurity
The American Society for Microbiology is committed to ensuring that scientific research is conducted adhering to strict standards for biosafety and biosecurity.
asm.org
May 6, 2025 at 9:08 PM
The American Society for Microbiology is committed to ensuring that scientific research is conducted adhering to strict standards for biosafety and biosecurity, but pausing research is not the path forward. Read our statement: asm.org/press-releas...
Reposted by Sam Porter
Our tax dollars poured down the drain, because obv we don't need to worry about infectious diseases anymore. This also sounds very Biosafety Now-ish, with the insults to the safety culture-- Connie Schmaljohn is a world-class scientist. The USG was lucky to have her.
www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...
www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...
RFK Jr.'s HHS Orders Lab Studying Deadly Infectious Diseases to Stop Research
NIAID's Integrated Research Facility is one of the few federal facilities charged with studying Ebola. Tuesday afternoon, all of its work was put on indefinite pause by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s departm...
www.wired.com
April 30, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Our tax dollars poured down the drain, because obv we don't need to worry about infectious diseases anymore. This also sounds very Biosafety Now-ish, with the insults to the safety culture-- Connie Schmaljohn is a world-class scientist. The USG was lucky to have her.
www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...
www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...
Reposted by Sam Porter
This is basically the entire budget of the NIH, just to put people in cages.
oh my god, there's another $45 billion for detention facilities. "family residential centers"
they are funding a deportation squad
in total, it's ~$9 billion more for salaries over 5 years plus $14.4 billion to deport people, plus $5 billion for other activities - for a total of $28 billion more for ICE over 5 years
ICE is a $10.5 billion agency, so they're doing a 50% increase in funding
in total, it's ~$9 billion more for salaries over 5 years plus $14.4 billion to deport people, plus $5 billion for other activities - for a total of $28 billion more for ICE over 5 years
ICE is a $10.5 billion agency, so they're doing a 50% increase in funding
April 29, 2025 at 1:31 AM
This is basically the entire budget of the NIH, just to put people in cages.
Reposted by Sam Porter
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies raided multiple homes in Michigan, reportedly targeting a number of student activists connected to Gaza solidarity protests at the University of Michigan.
mondoweiss.net/2025/04/fbi-...
#Palestine #Israel
mondoweiss.net/2025/04/fbi-...
#Palestine #Israel
FBI and police raid homes of Palestine activists in Michigan
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies raided multiple homes in Michigan, reportedly targeting a number of student activists connected to Gaza solidarity protests at the University of Michigan.
mondoweiss.net
April 23, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies raided multiple homes in Michigan, reportedly targeting a number of student activists connected to Gaza solidarity protests at the University of Michigan.
mondoweiss.net/2025/04/fbi-...
#Palestine #Israel
mondoweiss.net/2025/04/fbi-...
#Palestine #Israel