used > utilized

Washington Post article on STEM cuts at federal agencies. NSF tops it at -42%!

“Between January 2025 and February 2026, STEM and health employees at science-focused agencies saw nearly 15,000 jobs cut. The rate outpaced cuts among other federal workers.”

OPM data - Figure from Wash Post article 19 April. (Where US science has been hit hardest.)

NSF at -42%!

a beagle is always innocent!

A federal judge in Illinois today ruled that the Trump administration improperly coerced Facebook and Apple to remove ICE-tracking apps in violation of the First Amendment. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Cover of report "Mission Aborted: how NASA illegally implemented the president's budget request without congressional approval. Minority staff report, prepared by members of the committee on science, space, and technology, us house of representatives, April 2026

This report came out today by minority staff of the House science committee on how three NASA missions were aborted due to NASA illegally following the FY26 president's budget request instead of congressionally approved budget. Very important reading. 🔭🧪 democrats-science.house.gov/staff-report...

Orbán rode to power on resentment over the economic stagnation that developed under center-left governments. But he leaves office with Hungarians facing falling wages and higher inflation than similar countries are experiencing. Orbán’s sectarianism and intolerance have sparked neither a religious revival nor a fertility bump; Hungary’s population is shrinking and has become more irreligious, even as Orbán has demonized LGBTQ people, “Muslim invaders,” and Jews. Orbánism, in short, did not make Hungarians more rich, Christian, or free—unless you happened to be one of Orbán’s buddies, in which case you may have gotten rich. As most Hungarians felt their economic circumstances worsen, Orbán provided them with relatively powerless targets to hate.

Orban made grand appeals to “Christianity” and “Western Civilization,” but his “illiberal democracy” was just a scam, a way to make him and his buddies rich while subjecting Hungarians to stagnation and robbing them of their freedom. Sound familiar? (Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

I dream of a Prop 65-style requirement that every site with likely contaminated soil or groundwater to post a plain-language description of what likely caused it, and when. "There was a gas station here for 7 years 80 years ago and now you can't touch the dirt" would radicalize people.

It's bad here, but that's OK bc it's good for oil barons and worse in other places...

What traffic in the Strait of Hormuz looks like:

No state university is majority state funded - and none have been for decades

Great to see political scientists stepping up on this! Economists get 5-10x the budget of other social science disciplines at SBE/SES, hopefully their professional associations and members are also mobilizing

four cocktails of varying shapes and sizes

four gorgeous, affordable cocktails

Bologna: Eat at La Prosciutteria Bologna. Walk the San Luca. And while Mexican food should be avoided across Europe, there is an amazing Mexican cocktail bar in Bologna called Guero. Fantastic drinks for ~11 euro.

Nature article about the inequities of open science with an opening line that reads "nothing says 'you are an outsider' more than a paywall asking US$38 for one article." Below is a note barrier to reading further that notes access to Nature is $32.99 for 30 days.

"This is what you get when you elect Republicans."

Every Dem within 100 feet of a camera needs to be saying this repeatedly.

Every time we elect Republicans, we get dumbass wars, tax cuts for rich people, and financial crises. Every time.

Fucking say it!

Will Iran be charging a hefty toll on US & Israel owned ships and cargo passing through the Strait?

Is America's first car-free city a walkable utopia or a government-controlled prison? Grace visits Culdesac, AZ, to find out

a man in a top hat is standing in front of a window and says bah humbug ! Alt: a man in a top hat is standing in front of a window and says bah humbug !

I very much do not want automated birthday wishes from my dentist, car dealership, eye doctor, and bank

quelle surprise! - an econ paper that describes a phenomenon that is a core concept in another social science field

Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.

BREAKING: In response to huge cuts in Trump's budget request, NSF is shuttering its SBE directorate. Staff will be transferred to other parts of the agency and "grants that align with Administration priorities" will be maintained.

That & more w/ @maxkozlov.bsky.social & @edwrdchen.bsky.social

The NSF 2027 budget has noted that they will close out the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Program (SBE). This is not a good thing. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-202...

"MY" attorney general, not the attorney general of the United States

For those who might forget, Diana Diaz Harrison runs a series of schools in Arizona that secluded and restrained #ActuallyAutistic students (via @bethhawkins.bsky.social).
www.the74million.org/article/trum...

a person hangs a towel on a hook that has the letter u on it ALT: a person hangs a towel on a hook that has the letter u on it

Towel hooks in the bathroom - that I can reach from the shower. Why are there never any convenient hooks in the bathroom!!!!

Was it Ash Weds or are this administration's EPA officials required to smear oil on their foreheads as a sign of fealty?

New in the American Economic Review: migration doesn't hollow out the home economy — it builds it up.

More than 75% of the long-run income gains from migration are domestic. The home economy itself grows.

Here's what we found: 🧵

The dissertation is not meant to be your greatest work, it's the product required to get the qualification to go do great work!

It does not need to be perfect; it does need to be completed.

a man in a black shirt is playing a gong ALT: a man in a black shirt is playing a gong

What's that I hear? Is it a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal???

resounding gongs and clanging cymbals!

WNBA Players Had an Ace Up Their Sleeve in Pay Negotiations: A Nobel Laureate Harvard economist Claudia Goldin helped WNBA players win a nearly 400% raise. Starting this season, players’ average salary will top $580,000.

After Claudia Goldin became the first woman to win a solo Nobel in economics, she got hundreds of invitations.

She accepted three.

One was advising WNBA players on a labor deal. She helped players land the biggest % raise in US sports history.
www.wsj.com/economy/wnba...

Electric bikes can be fast and dangerous. Here's how to stay safe As electric-bike usage has risen, so have e-bike injuries, and regulations in cities and states throughout the country are rapidly changing.

The way to stay safe on or near an ebike is to stay away from people driving cars, who kill nearly 40k people annually in the US, and well over 1 million people worldwide.