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Reposted by Ryan Comes

Douglas Natelson @nanoscaleviews.bsky.social · 8h

🧪⚛️ Just tragic. Remember, this kind of thing could happen to other parts of NSF or DOE or NIH, if OMB is resolved, agency leadership is wobbly or nonexistent, and Congress does nothing. Even if Congress is opposed, unless they're willing to sue the executive branch, the potential is still there.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

She won head-to-head vs Sullivan by 8 points in the primary. Hard to account for ranked choice effects, but I don't think it's nuts to have her up by 5+.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I'll take it a step further. I think Vought has been saving the worst of his stuff for after the election. He's played nice-ish with a GOP-led Congress while getting precedents set on pocket rescissions etc. If/when Dems take over he can go scorched Earth.

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Reposted by Ryan Comes

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 03/10/2026

Killed. NSF’s SBE was killed, in violation of law. The President does not have the power to choose to kill programs at a whim by defunding them. The imperial presidency was a mistake and we are in a separation of powers constitutional crisis.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Pretty much an indefensible choice. Gave them 3 points.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Good end-of-FY coverage by the Times. The amount of unspent funds has wiggled but it was pretty clear for some time now that NSF was simply not going to spend a substantial portion of its congressional appropriation this year.

nytimes.com

National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress

The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.

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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

As someone in a STEM discipline, I really abhor the kind of messaging that Mark describes. The messengers aren’t people who actually care about STEM. It’s really a shorthand for “do something practical, focus on your relation to the labor market”.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It's almost as if...universities have no plan at all for 1/4-1/6 of their funding suddenly disappearing (👇) due to federal budget cuts & foreign student restrictions, & perhaps chancellors & presidents should have done loud, public collective action on this 1.5 years ago bsky.app/profile/mcop...

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I'm going with a lot of both.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I can say from personal experience that just because they aren't saying it doesn't mean they aren't doing it.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I wish I could say I was surprised at my former administration and the board, but I'm not at all surprised. If you're thinking about a faculty job in a deep red state you have to take this kind of threat seriously.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Absolutely devastating for US research and for the thousands of students who will be harmed by this policy. ⚛️🧪

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

UVA kicker Bettridge with another doink FG make just now too. That's 3 made doinks in 2 games for him.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

He's getting his pockets lined with this stuff. That's all he cares about.

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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A must read--an infuriating read--from @Timodc. "Eissa is in an ICE processing center...The Kafkaesque nightmare we are putting this family through is hard to wrap your arms around. They are stranded there with no way out, no charges, no trial, no jury." www.thebulwark.com/p/marco-rubi...

thebulwark.com

Marco Rubio Is Punishing a Teenage Boy for His Grandmother’s Sins

America gave Rubio’s family a second chance. He gave this family a cage.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I'm a firm believer that university boards do far more harm than good. This is why.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I think the "If you like" part of the sentence is doing a lot of work for them. In their minds, people shouldn't have liked the policies that were getting cancelled. Thus, they probably didn't feel like they were lying (or at least could justify it).

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Reposted by Ryan Comes

Douglas Natelson @nanoscaleviews.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

🧪⚛️ NSF, NIH - when agencies spend (or do not spend) money in ways that seemingly defy congressional appropriations. Article I only means something if the majority in Congress wants it to mean something. nanoscale.blogspot.com/2026/09/nsf-...

nanoscale.blogspot.com

NSF, spending, and the end of the fiscal year

We are less than one month away from the end of the federal fiscal year, and traditionally there are internal deadlines for agencies to allo...

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Our government is run by racist, repugnant trolls.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Very good point here: A lot of university leaders will think, "the Trump administration just wants us to make some vague statements - we can live with that." They are not counting on the DOJ using those statements as the basis for legal investigations. Which this DOJ will be willing to do.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I'm done with Albernaz. How do you let Narvaez hit there? How do you go to DeLeon now? I'm just at a loss.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

First, I was arguing for the mercy rule not the extra arms. 4 of them are starters, so you can throw them out. You need an average of 3-4 bullpen arms a game out of 8 with current usage patterns. If you burn 5 or 6 in a game the next one will be short on available arms. Ergo, our current situation.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I've felt that way for 20+ years, long before position players pitching became a thing. I'm sure it's a winning strategy over the course of the season. MLB won't let them do that as far as I can tell.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Easy call. I choose forfeit.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I do. "We can all go home" was a figure of speech. Sheehan was angry about position players pitching. I agree it's pointless. So just don't keep playing, because wasting relievers is also pointless.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

That's why I voted for the mercy rule. If you're down 10 in the 8th, do you want to burn your 5th bullpen arm just to finish the game and then option somebody out to cover the gap tomorrow? Carry a guy who's only allowed to pitch in those situations? Ending the game is the better option.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

MLB needs to either put a mercy rule in place or add a couple bullpen arms for mop-up duty. I vote for the former. 10 runs after 7, 8 after 8 and we can all go home.

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Reposted by Ryan Comes

Douglas Natelson @nanoscaleviews.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

🧪⚛️ 1/7 We are one month away from the end of the federal fiscal year. Right now, the NSF is on track to issue about 4000 fewer (!!) awards in FY26 than it did back in FY21-FY24, and 2000 fewer than it did in the tumultuous FY25 (with its government shutdowns and mass cutbacks in agency personnel).

Graphs from grantwitness.com of NSF award and obligations vs time during the last several fiscal years, showing drastic shortfalls in FY26 relative to prior responses.

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Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Pete Hegseth has failed in every mission except one: keeping his job. But firing or forcing out everyone else in the Pentagon will not make Pete Hegseth into the secretary of defense America and its men and women in uniform need. Me on Driscoll's resignation: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

theatlantic.com

Hegseth’s Pentagon Lurches Off the Rails

The resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is the latest sign of severe dysfunction in the Defense Department.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I think it's actually a bit more subtle. People have now internalized that the state of the economy affects the standing of the party in power. When they dislike the party in power, they WANT the economy to be bad so they say that it is.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Ah. Then I think arXiv is fine if that's your perspective. I generally lean towards green open access of arXiv plus closed society journals that are APC free. APS Open Science does have zero APCs until August 31, so that could be your answer. And sorry, wasn't trying to diminish the result.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Maybe PhysRevApplied? One of the IOP journals? I think editors would be interested in the novelty of the AI approach considering you're totally open about it.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Outside of their WRs, I think they're a decent team. My takeaway is we may be quite good.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I change from regular glasses to polarized sunglasses when I drive even in average sun. I'd love polarized glasses for night driving.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

It sure would be nice to be able to give him a breather and skip him once. Even when he was getting outs early yesterday he looked rough. Call up Povich to start next Monday, use the roster expansion Tuesday to cover the bullpen gap, and then bring Bradish back into the rotation in Baltimore.

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Reposted by Ryan Comes

Douglas Natelson @nanoscaleviews.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

🧪⚛️ 1/3 If you needed any more evidence that OSTP and OMB are out of step, here you go. Kratsios' "Golden Age" report talks about funding individuals not ideas, loves the GRFP. The report says:

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

And if he dives and knocks the ball down on the grounder up the middle he saves a run.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Is it just me or do these Birds give up an astounding number of infield singles?

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

You could see it coming for sure by 2012, when the GOP desperately searched for someone other than Romney. My assumption at the time was whenever they picked a loon that person would get crushed in the general election. When that didn't happen it was all over.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Scoop: For nearly a year, NSF has struggled to make new grants. Now we know that it will not catch up. In fact, NSF will award just 6,100 new grants—a 30% y/o/y decline, itself down from a previous avg. of 11,000+. In fact, the last time NSF awarded so few grants was in the early '80s.

nature.com

Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades

The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.

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Jeffrey Mervis @policyhound.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

NSF is touting a dozen new solicitations announced this week as evidence that basic research still rules. But that's not what's really going on. www.science.org/content/arti...

science.org

Is NSF’s new call for research proposals good news? Scientists and staffers have doubts

The long-delayed 12 solicitations only cover some disciplines—and promise to give them much less money

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Nigel Goldenfeld @nigelgoldenfeld.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Thanks for posting about this. My institution also. The list includes most of the top research universities in the US.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Nothing can compare to Pullman. Blacksburg is at least close-ish to Roanoke. Pullman is twice as far to *anything*.

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