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shadowmonk.bsky.social

@shadowmonk.bsky.social
280 followers 22 following 600 posts

Ethical humanist. Critical thinker. Embarassed American.

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Reposted by @shadowmonk.bsky.social
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
A friend shared this photo from outside an NIH building this morning. The signs refer to four former NIAID staff members who were recently forced out. 2 are retiring and 2 have been reassigned to the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities. A travesty and 🙏 for their service.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
This is one of the most disturbing actions by this nascent autocracy... a move to punish lawyers who challenge his illegal actions in court.
washingtonpost.com
New Trump memo seen as threat to lawyers, attempt to scare off lawsuits
Experts fear the move will allow the administration to make claims against litigators for defending immigrants or challenging the constitutionality of actions.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
FOIA template for DOGE
jamieraskin.com
DOGE Privacy Act Requests
U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin is encouraging all U.S. citizens to join him this week in filing formal demands for access to their personal data obtained by the Department of Government Efficiency (...
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
This is what we really need to fear. #Musk is working to take over the court system along side his assault on the government, leaving him or his proxy free rein.
nytimes.com
Opinion | This Election Will Be a Crucial Test of Musk’s Power
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Randi Mayem Singer @rmayemsinger.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
If Musk and his Technoboyz can't stop a cyber attack at X, maybe they shouldn't have access to our Social Security? Just brainstorming.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
"We don’t know what the risk profile is for these products." Unbelievable unscientific ignorance from the leader of HHS. These vaccines have one of the best characterized safety profiles in existence.
nytimes.com
Without Offering Proof, Kennedy Links Measles Outbreak to Poor Diet and Health
In a recent interview, the health secretary also suggested that the measles vaccine had harmed children in West Texas, center of an outbreak.
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Reposted by @shadowmonk.bsky.social
Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
This is deeply illegal, violating appropriations law, authorizations law, and the Impoundment Control Act. It is also deeply immoral, condemning people to die.
Marco Rubio v @marcorubio
Follow
After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID.
The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.
In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department.
Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform.
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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Louder for those in the back saying "but they can't do that." They CAN and WILL do whatever they want if being in contempt of court is no longer treated as a crime, which is apparently where we are.
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Reposted by @shadowmonk.bsky.social
George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Some Democratic member of Congress should propose a bill saying that a POTUS may golf at government expense no more than, say, once every 14 days, and must reimburse the Treasury for anything beyond that.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Hmm, I though DOGE wasn't firing anyone...
govexec.com
NIH faces renewed DOGE directive to cut staff, putting thousands in line for RIFs
The Elon Musk-backed group is calling the shots even after President Trump’s edict that they let individual agencies take the lead.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
@raskin.house.gov @vanhollen.senate.gov @alsobrooks.senate.gov Why is DOGE dictating layoffs at NIH without the input of the agency heads?
govexec.com
NIH faces renewed DOGE directive to cut staff, putting thousands in line for RIFs
The Elon Musk-backed group is calling the shots even after President Trump’s edict that they let individual agencies take the lead.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
@altnih4science.bsky.social What did I do this week? Well, spent a bunch of time trying to rescue a grant because the PIs decided to use the word "gender" instead of "sex" because it sounded more polite. 😒
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Paying back the crypto bros with taxpayer money... a "strategic reserve" of something with no inherent value is worthless. Utterly stupid... it's just payback to the people who bought the election for him.
bbc.com
Bitcoin reserve: Why has Trump set up a US crypto stockpile?
The reserve will hold cryptocurrency forfeited to the government in criminal or civil proceedings, said the White House.
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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Kind of seems like a straight up First Amendment violation here?
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Tina Smith @smith.senate.gov · 27/02/2025
This is corruption in plain sight. Musk is getting sweetheart deals for his companies, DOGE is helping him do it, and the President is cheering him on. This isn’t about government efficiency, but making him richer.
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PoliticsGirl @politicsgirl.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Pathetic. Spineless. Self-serving. Cowards. What are they even doing there?
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Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
He said he was “deporting criminals” but he’s actually importing them…
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 22/02/2025
NEW: The email went out about 30 minutes ago.
This is a screenshot of a tweet from Musk that says: Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump's instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.
Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.This is an email from OPM that says: Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.
Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments.
Deadline is this Monday at 11:59pmEST.
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Sam Stein @samsteindc.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
I'm not sure it's actually set in that the Trump administration has done an end run to effectively grind to a halt new scientific research. They're not pausing the money. They're pausing the meetings needed to sign off on the $ www.thetransmitter.org/funding/fede...
thetransmitter.org
Federal Register hold makes ‘end run’ around court pause on NIH funding freeze
NIH-related updates to the Federal Register, which are required for the scheduling of study sections and advisory councils, are on hold indefinitely, according to an email reviewed by <i>The Transmitt...
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Art Candee 🍿🥤 @artcandee.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Elon Musk is a robber baron.
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
This is a five-alarm fire 🔥 for US science 🧪. (We keep saying that, but it keeps being true 😭.) Trump and Musk are blocking *ALL* NIH grants ‼️ by "exploiting a loophole in the process"—stopping study sections & council meetings. Every biomedical researcher in the country should be screaming. 1/
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Dear scientists at US universities: Trump/Musk continue to freeze your grants. NIH is not reviewing grants nor funding them in council. This is a backhanded, legal method to effectively stop NIH grants. See thread and linked article. Are we going to “keep our heads down” about this?
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
www.nature.com/articles/d41... #NIH
nature.com
Revealed: NIH research grants still frozen despite lawsuits challenging Trump order
The Trump administration is exploiting a loophole to keep a funding freeze in place, leaving researchers in limbo.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
@raskin.house.gov @vanhollen.senate.gov @altnih4science.bsky.social NIH funding is effectively suspended, using the FRN as a tool. Review meetings must be posted 30 days prior, and no notices are being posted. No meetings, no review, no funding.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Why the hell is the US advocating on behalf of Andrew Tate? Our envoy says he's a supporter...??? Of misogyny, sex trafficking, and slavery?
bbc.com
Andrew Tate: US must not interfere in case, say alleged victims
Reports say US officials asked Romania to relax travel restrictions against Andrew Tate and his brother.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Before running opinion polls on whether the US spends too much on things like aid, science, education, participants should also have to answer how much we *actually* spend. It's meaningless to tell me you think we spend too much on foreign aid when you think we spend 10X what we actually do.
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
"People who like to sound tough reflexively back the guys with guns over the guys in jeans with sacks of grain or the guys in suits with papers. But take it from someone who spent nearly 1,500 days downrange over the course of 20 years: USAID is worth every penny." www.thebulwark.com/p/usaid-kept...
thebulwark.com
USAID Kept My Troops Safe in Afghanistan
If not for American aid, we would have faced more enemies and won fewer friends.
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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
The closure of CFPB highlights the grand lie at the heart of DOGE. CFPB is cheap to run & delivers billions to victims of corporate scams. It’s the definition of value for money. But X & Meta hate it because it targets big tech fraud. DOGE is not about waste. It’s about enriching the oligarchy.
npr.org
Musk's team takes control of key systems at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the latest target of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
"In his 2024 campaign, Trump ran against inflation, immigration, and allegedly woke social policies. You know what Trump didn’t run against? National Institutes for Health." Why Trump's assault on NIH is a political opportunity for liberals--if they'll seize it." www.thebulwark.com/p/the-most-d...
thebulwark.com
The Most Dangerous DOGE Cut
Also the most unpopular.
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George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
“Mark my words. … They are going to basically tell the U.S. Marshals Service, do not enforce any of these orders, we will not obey them, … and, once that happens—I hope it doesn't … but I know in my heart that it will—our 236-year experiment … in American constitutionalism, is over.”
rawstory.com
'Mark my words': George Conway predicts alarming showdown that could 'end' U.S. democracy
George Conway predicted that Donald Trump would engage in a constitutional showdown that could spell the end of U.S. democracy.Vice President J.D. Vance argued Sunday that federal courts “aren’t allow...
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Russell Vought, the far-right extremist appointed to run CFPB, has closed the building this week and told employees not to come to work or do any work. They are illegally ending government agencies. NSF and NIH will be next.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
They don't think the presidency has these powers, a democrat was president less than a month ago and they didn't think he had them. They just think America should be a dictatorship where they rule forever bsky.app/profile/jame...
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Fred Wellman @fpwellman.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
I realized today that Trump, Musk, DOGE, Vance, Miller, Vought and their many collaborators have broken so many laws already that they know they have to destroy our government and entire way of life to stay out of jail. This is all or nothing. We should respond accordingly.
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Yes, this is exactly the question that we all need to be asking right now. One of the IGs that Trump fired was the one at the Defense Department, and he was examining Musk's breach of national security reporting protocol for Pentagon contractors. Now Dems tell me they fear this probe is dead:
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Michael McDonald @electproject.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
to be fair, ketamine is now cheaper than coffee
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Mikel Jollett @mikeljollett.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Everyone understands that Russia basically got the United States to dismantle the CIA through Trump and is infinitely stupid followers, right?
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
talks about how it is a textbook definition of “arbitrariness and capriciousness.” Bagenstos is the ex-top lawyer at HHS. He’s reliable on the law. But he’s right to focus on the big picture: even if science and universities win this battle, Trumpers are on a mission to destroy us.
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
THAT is the real lesson today from the indirect cost cut. If you’re not already working to stand up for science and fight back against Trump’s Republican Party, the time to do so is now. Talk to your colleagues and see what you can do together. /end
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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
“It’s important to see the big picture... [The cut in indirect costs] came directly from a Project 2025 proposal that was explicitly designed to “reduce federal taxpayer subsidization of leftist agendas.” This whole piece by @sbagen.bsky.social is excellent. 🧪
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News Breaking LIVE @newsbreakinglive.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
"The NIH announced it will slash billions of dollars of support to universities and research centers. "This is one of the biggest attacks on science we have ever seen. It could dismantle the biomedical research system, shut down clinical trials, and halt development of treatments" - Dr. Lucky Tran
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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
US farmers sold $2 billion of food to USAID. Not any more. - US farmers provided 41% of food delivered by USAID - $340M of purchases/shipments are now paused. Over 680,000 tonnes. - Food stranded in Houston - Aid stopped in transit. The world’s poor starving, food rotting & US farmers screwed.
washingtonpost.com
Gutting USAID threatens billions of dollars for U.S. farms, businesses
U.S. businesses that sold goods and services to USAID are in limbo, including American farms dealing in rice, wheat and soybeans.
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JPN @niland2024.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Those who follow him are cruel and clueless.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
@drugmonkey I am hearing that despite the court stay on the funding freeze, NIH grantees are unable to draw on awarded funds. The funding freeze appears to be in place, despite the court ruling against it.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
#NIH I am hearing that despite the court stay on the funding freeze, NIH grantees are unable to draw on awarded funds. The funding freeze appears to be in place, despite the court ruling against it. If you are impacted, call your representatives ASAP.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
@vanhollen.senate.gov @raskin.house.gov I am hearing that despite the court stay on the funding freeze, NIH grantees are unable to draw on awarded funds. The funding freeze appears to be in place, despite the court ruling against it.
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Politics In The Wild @politicsinthewild.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Around 35% of SpaceX’s revenue comes directly from the federal govt. Less than 1% of NPR’s budget comes from the federal govt.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
@marcelias.bsky.social It would be irresponsible for Dems to agree to a CR longer than a month. It's the only leverage we have left. Give them a month and hold them accountable if they want an extension. We have to play like absolute bastards.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
@vanhollen.senate.gov @aoc.bsky.social @raskin.house.gov It would be irresponsible for Dems to agree to a CR longer than a month. It's the only leverage we have left. Give them a month and hold them accountable if they want an extension. You have to be utterly ruthless to save the country.
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shadowmonk.bsky.social @shadowmonk.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
You'd think that such a weaponized deep state bureaucracy would be better able to stop a Musk... Unless that was all a lie??
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