Abraham Palmer
@abepalmer.bsky.social
290 followers 180 following 100 posts
Behavioral geneticist, dad, cyclist, reluctant dog owner, formerly young, allegedly irreverent, unlike most people my age, I was raised in the Great Depression.
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Reposted by Abraham Palmer
corybooker.com
“Censorship and the suppression of reading materials are rarely about family values and almost always about control.”
— Stephen King
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
altcdc.altgov.info
Reduction in force (RIF, I.e. firing) email and page 1 of the RIF memo.

CDC, this is absolutely illegal and our union (AFGE) will be suing.

afge2883ga.org

The union is asking that you send your RIF notice to: [email protected] with

Name
CIO/division/branch
FTE status & tenure
Dear [name redacted],

I regret to inform you that you are being affected by a reduction in force (RIF) action. Please find attached a notice memorandum explaining the RIF and next steps. This RIF action does not reflect directly on your service, performance, or conduct. It is being taken solely for the reasons stated in the memorandum.

After you receive this notice, you will be placed on administrative leave and will no longer have building access beginning Friday, October 10, unless directed otherwise by your leadership. Additionally, please save this email and its attachments, or forward them to a personal email address, for your records.

Leadership at HHS appreciates your service.

Sincerely,
Tom Nagy The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is executing this Reduction in Force (RIF) to maximize efficiency and funding priorities. This memorandum constitutes a specific notice of a RIF.

I regret to inform you that you are being affected by a RIF action. This RIF is necessary to reshape the workforce of HHS.

This is your specific notice of the RIF. In accordance with the RIF procedures specified in Chapter 35 of Title 5 of the United States Code and Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 351, and HHS policy, you are being released from your competitive level based on your retention standing. Consequently, you will be separated from the Federal service effective December 8, 2025. In the event you are qualified and have assignment rights to a position that becomes available during the notice period, you will be informed via a specific, subsequent notice. Should the circumstances of the RIF notice change, this notice will be updated.
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
sherylnyt.bsky.social
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
virginiagewin.bsky.social
Journalist here

I’m interested in talking to a federal agency scientist who was fired, then rehired. I can keep you anonymous. I’m on Signal ginnyg.04

Reposts are appreciated!
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
donmoyn.bsky.social
The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.
MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
chrismurphyct.bsky.social
We aren't on the verge of an authoritarian takeover. We are in the middle of it.

But I worry people don't see the whole scheme. They just pay attention to each new daily outrage. So I went to the Senate floor to explain Trump's plan.

Here's a 🧵of the speech. It's important.
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
ishmailsaboor.bsky.social
Congrats to the winners! Its notable that Omar Yaghi was a refugee. Refugees and immigrants once again making American science great!
nature.com
BREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal-organic frameworks”

Stay tuned for more.
#NobelPrize
A Nobel medal
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
daylab.bsky.social
Excited to share this new work from the lab, in collaboration with @jtuscher.bsky.social & Rob Sorge! Here, we used single cell transcriptional profiling to define molecular adaptations induced by chronic pain and opioid experience, which often occur in conjunction.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
indivisible.org
“Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.”
Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr.
We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.
wapo.st
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
patriotprogressive.bsky.social
RFK Jr. insanely moves MAHA to end animal testing, with NIH securing $87M for a center shifting to 3D tissue models. An 80% poll backs the phaseout. PETA applauds. A research group warns of risks. Grants can fund the rehoming of lab animals.
RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement focuses on animal welfare
Last week, the National Institutes of Health announced it had secured $87 million for a new research center.
www.newsnationnow.com
abepalmer.bsky.social
The pedestrian and bicycle bridge at the edges of that photo happens to be the site of the worst bicycle accident I’ve ever had. Aug 9, 2013.
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
jeremymberg.bsky.social
The fiscal year is over.

So how was the NIH appropriation committed?

A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
ALT: a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
media.tenor.com
abepalmer.bsky.social
Does anyone understand how NIMH is using RF1 and UF1s?
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
chrismurphyct.bsky.social
He's telling us what he's doing. Using the military to suppress protest. At some point the opposition needs to listen to him and adjust strategy.
atrupar.com
Trump: "The ones that are run by radical left Democrats -- what they've done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. They're very unsafe places & we're gonna straighten them out one by one. This is gonna be a major part for some people in this room. That's a war too. It's war from within"
abepalmer.bsky.social
Consistent with this, I’ve heard (secondhand) that program officers from NIGMS are telling applicants who got outstanding scores that their R01s that they won’t be funded because they’re not MIRAs.
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
niedermeyer.online
*banjo picking and sporadic musket fire* dearest martha, the horrors of war-torn portland cannot even be described
Yellow roses and city buildings, a classic Portland view from in front of the art museum The Hawthorne bridge looking downtown, under perfect blue skies A classic car and old craftsman homes in late summer light on Portland's east side A woman cycling down a rainbow painted street in front of a condo building on Portland's east side
abepalmer.bsky.social
Yes, in five years, it would reach equilibrium, where universities were getting the same overhead as before, but it would be a very painful transition.
abepalmer.bsky.social
Trying again: instead of awarding 5 grants that spend all of their year 1 money that year, they award only 1 grant which will only spend a 1/5th of its money that year. So the total overhead collected by universities is 1/5th. (Overhead is only collected when universities submit invoices).
abepalmer.bsky.social
Another consequence is that although the same amount of money is committed, only 20 or 25% (4 or 5 year grants) of the money will be spent in year 1. Thus the overhead flowing to universities will drop dramatically, even if the overhead rate stays the same.

I believe that is the intended purpose.
a red wrench is attached to a gear with a red flame coming out of it
ALT: a red wrench is attached to a gear with a red flame coming out of it
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Here is a plot of 4-year multi-year funded new R01s for 2015-2025. NIH has made some 4-year R01s late in the fiscal year to invest the last of the appropriation, but what is happening this year is quite different.

I estimate that these new R01s are ~25% of the multi-year funding since July 1.
A graph showing nearly 500 million dollars of NIH investment in 4-year R01s since July 2025.
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Here is a word cloud of the words that were missing from the noncompetitive renewal awards but had been present in the parent award.

3/4
A word cloud with dominant words "equity", "disparity", "diverse", and similar words.
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
strngwys.bsky.social
Important to remember that everyone involved in renaming the DoD to the Department of War is afraid to take the subway.
Reposted by Abraham Palmer
abepalmer.bsky.social
becasue if you do, you will be condemned to repeat it