Episode 24 is live! We discuss the cyberattack on Stryker, a leading US-based medical device company, by pro-Iranian hackers. We also discuss Iran’s new “Supreme Leader” and the situation with the Iranian women’s soccer team.
The Present Illness is available wherever you get your podcasts!.
I really wanted to know more about Renee Good, killed by ICE in January. Fortunately, my editor allowed me to take some time to do a deep dive into who she was before she died. Read and listen to what I found out about her from her Colorado tribe here: www.cpr.org/2026/03/11/r...
"Little-man-ass-bodies" provided a much needed laugh. Thank you. And you're right.
A devastating indictment of current NIH leadership.
We now have a CDC grant tracker and are collecting information on CDC terminations. If your CDC grant was terminated, we need your help to gather data and documents! Please report!
grant-witness.us/submit-cdc.h...
important to add that studies of queer and trans health is also being censored - at rates comparable to work on vaccine hesitancy
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.
If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
Grapevine says University of Colorado legal is forbidding researchers from underrepresented groups to apply for funding from organizations where being a member of that group is a requirement to apply. They don't want to anger the fascists.
Not a lawyer, but this seems shady/discriminatory as fuck.
I'm sorry I didn't go far back enough in the history!
You're very welcome. This is f'n ludicrous. I work with researchers on proposals, and if I found out one of "my" PIs was experiencing this, I'd flip my lid. (And probably get fired. 😝)
Hang in there.💜🤗
What the hell, Arghavan?! Are they limited subs requiring institutional approval?! WTF rationale are they using to prevent you from submitting!?
FFS, this pisses me off.
I can't be here right now because my words are not safe for the public. Leaving this here, going to go donate and check on my friends.
www.standwithminnesota.com
That's heartening!
Thank you. It's always good to hear even if you know.
Message from the Vice Chancellor - "Happy New Year! Rejoice! The University of Colorado Boulder looks forward to collaborating with fascists by advancing their priorities!"
“Fuck ICE!” chants & a brass band performing “Which side are you on?” as hundreds march in Manhattan, NYC against ICE and in solidarity with Minneapolis.
This is age restricted so it wont auto play. Believe your eyes not the lies. www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9CJ...
Federal Appeals judge affirms prohibition of arbitrary cuts of research infrastructure rates (i.e., the IDC rate slash announcement of early Feb. 2025).
As the ruling explains, NIH's X/Twitter statements contributed to the federal government's loss in court (!!)
🧵
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/u...
A reminder - before Trump, MAGA, Musk and Fox rewrote history - that this is what the entire country agreed had happened five years ago today:
1. Trump's recent pending rule change and a letter from HHS Secretary Kennedy threatening hospitals is resulting in hospitals ending trans youth care.
Many trans youth are now forced to go without their medication.
The threats are having a real impact.
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“These viruses are serious, dangerous, and life-threatening. We are seeing children who are seriously ill, families grieving devastating losses, and hospitals under capacity strain.”
www.cnn.com/2026/01/05/h...
The parallels between the Red Scare of the 1950s and today’s assault on higher ed remind us of the need to join communities of resistance.
Read Joan Wallach Scott (former chair of AAUP’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure) on the stakes of defending higher ed as a public good.
Front pages of American newspapers after Jan. 6, 2021, with headlines like "Capitol Chaos," "Assault on Democracy," "Pro-Trump mob storms Capitol."
Five years ago.
*cocks head, furrows brow* Um...
“Disturbing… they had put in a ton of work and gone through every step of the process… they were pulled out of line steps away from swearing an oath to 🇺🇸…”
BOSTON’s @mayorwu.boston.gov on Trump/Miller blocking immigrants AT THEIR CEREMONIES
It was never just about illegal immigration
Friendly reminder: the administration is flooding the zone.
Pick a lane. Stay in it. Do not exhaust yourself.
The top line message: WE THE PEOPLE SAY “NO.”
No to destroying our science, healthcare, economy, government, judicial system, White House, etc.
It’s time to get loud!
"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."
"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Monstrous. I work helping research faculty submit proposals to NIH and DHHS. They are gutting health research. I can't even anymore with this ghoul, G.G.
