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Kev Abazajian

@abazajian.net

780 followers 420 following 260 posts

Father, husband, particle astrophysicist, Professor of Physics & Astronomy. In public service as Chair of the City of Irvine Sustainability Commission & through the Democratic Party. Views are my own. repost ≠ endorsement https://physics.uci.edu/~kevork

physics.uci.edu

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · Jun 10

Let’s be clear: federal attacks on science and higher education aim to silence and remove communities with open discourse and critical thought—aiming to replace them with structures of political compliance, like those in the authoritarian regimes of China and Russia. ⚛️ 🧪 #highered #research

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 2d

I hope Ezra Klein will restrain himself from saying Bari Weiss is doing journalism the right way

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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 2d

Hopefully the whole Bari Weiss thing and Ezra Klein thing starts waking people up to the fact that corporate media is mostly populated with mediocre people who have made millions and gained unbelievable influence because they threaten nothing and tell wealthy people exactly what they want to hear.

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TPM @talkingpointsmemo.com · 2d

Funders or groups that promote 'anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity' could be treated as domestic terrorists, under recent directives from the Trump administration.

The Trump Admin’s Mostly Unnoticed Move to Crack Down on the Opposition

Last month, the White House issued two executive orders that direct federal...

talkingpointsmemo.com

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 2d

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Neferast 🦉 @neferast.bsky.social · 6d

Book Talk: Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social and Peter J. Hotez @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social — Science Under Siege #ClimateCrisis www.youtube.com/live/-foS1FI...

Book Talk: Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Hotez — Science Under Siege

YouTube video by Politics and Prose

www.youtube.com

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d

This from Murphy on Trump seems inarguable:

"The more corrupt and lawless he gets, the stiffer my spine gets. Because at this point, if I give in and consent to these kinds of tactics, then it just normalizes it all, makes it become standard fare."

Tons more like that in here:

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 5d

Everyone should listen to Chris Murphy's extraordinary warning about Trump on our pod. First, he says the logic must be that the more lawless he gets, the stiffer the resistance.

"If I give in and consent to these kinds of tactics then it just normalizes it all." 1/

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 5d

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

Trump’s proposed “compact” with nine major universities “is extortion, plain and simple,” Erwin Chemerinsky writes in a guest essay. “It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it.”

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

There seems to be no limit to the president’s odious attempts to control higher education.

nyti.ms

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 6d

Duterte is in the Hague for this

Patrick De Klotz @patdeklotz.bsky.social · 6d

Is it our government’s position that if an American commits a drug crime with a cartel (or they allege that) it can just kill that person without trial even if not an immediate threat? I am genuinely trying to understand what if any lines they believe exist. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 7d

⚛️ 🔭 🧪

Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 7d

Thousands of NASA employees to bid farewell to the NASA they knew

Yes, NASA science is being destroyed, and the NASA we know is actively in the process of being gutted.

Here are the receipts.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #nasa #usa

Thousands of NASA employees to bid farewell to the NASA they knew

As October begins, thousands of longtime NASA employees are leaving the agency. 4000+ will exit by January 9, 2026, changing NASA forever.

bigthink.com

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 8d

The Hubble tension may connect to short-baseline neutrino anomalies. Work led by #UCIrvine grad fellow Helena García Escudero shows baryon acoustic oscillations allow extra massive neutrinos—relaxing constraints and linking both puzzles. #cosmology #neutrinos ⚛️ 🔭

arxiv.org/abs/2509.25478

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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 9d

Key employees at Tesla and xAI have recently departed, as the billionaire’s relentless demands and political activism accelerate turnover among his top ranks on.ft.com/3Kl1F3d

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Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · 9d

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. Except it doesn’t bend on its own—it bends because we pull it in the direction of justice. What keeps me hopeful during times like these is being surrounded by people who are doing just that.

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Rep. Dave Min @congressmin.bsky.social · 9d

This is dangerous. We cannot normalize threats of political violence.

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus @capac.house.gov · 10d

CAPAC Chair Meng’s Statement on Death Threat Against Rep. Pramila Jayapal:

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Chuck Schumer @schumer.senate.gov · 9d

This shutdown is in Trump’s hands.

He admitted in the room today that the president gets the blame for a shutdown.

Americans are facing a crisis of rising health care costs. If the government shuts down, it’s because Republicans would rather shut it down rather than help people afford health care.

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 9d

It ties into why baryon acoustic oscillations nontrivially allow for simultaneous increase in relativistic energy density and neutrino mass. The paper will appear tomorrow on the arXiv, following up on a lead in our previous work arxiv.org/abs/2412.05451

The Status of Neutrino Cosmology: Standard $Λ$CDM, Extensions, and Tensions

We examine the performance of the six-parameter $Λ$CDM model and its extensions in light of recent cosmological observations, with particular focus on neutrino properties inferred from cosmology. Usin...

arxiv.org

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 9d

Fun to work out with #UCIrvine graduate fellow Helena García Escudero the details of why extra, sterile neutrinos are preferred (!!) by cosmology when adopting the local Cepheid measurement of the Hubble expansion rate. ⚛️ 🔭 #cosmology #neutrinos #particlephysics #hubbletension

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 12d

Thank you for sharing!

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 15d

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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 16d

Speaking as an astrophysicist, I would not take scientific advice from a guy who stared directly at a Solar eclipse. YMMV.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16d

Q: Outlets are reporting you plan to tie Tylenol to autism

TRUMP: It's a big factor, but you'll see tomorrow. We want things to take effect immediately

Q: Links between vaccines & autism?

T: Children get these massive vaccines like you'd give to a horse. I've said spread them out over 5 years

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Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · 17d

Destroying universities is a goal.

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 19d

To be clear, this is wildly illegal and will be paused within 24 hours. But it's an incredibly clear example that the administration just hates all immigration. H-1B visas and OPT (also on the chopping block) are central to how international students stay in the US after graduating. 🧪⚛️

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 19d

Holy shit 🧪⚛️

wapo.st/4nJSE26

Trump levies $100k yearly fee on H-1B visas in clampdown on legal immigration

The Trump administration also plans to launch a $1 million gold card visa for wealthy foreigners in a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s paths to legal immigration.

wapo.st

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Ryan Comes @rbcomes.bsky.social · 19d

It is also the primary vehicle for hiring international faculty members at US schools. No company and few schools can justify a $100k annual tariff on each international employee. Nuclear bomb across the bow for STEM hiring in the US, pending how the legal system and Trump's SCOTUS decide. 🧪⚛️

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 18d

This is so bad.

www.iop.org/about/news/q...

Quarter of UK university physics departments risk closure as funding crisis bites

Institute of Physics warns “perfect storm” could damage world-leading UK physics research and jeopardise our future defence, technology and growth.

www.iop.org

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Rep. Dave Min @congressmin.bsky.social · 17d

The President, in a now deleted post, made clear his intent to have his DOJ prosecute his critics, just days after his FCC Chair illegally abused his authority to try to get Jimmy Kimmel fired.

Trump and his cronies are trying to dismantle our democracy. We must stand up and fight back.

‘We can’t delay any longer’: Trump urges Bondi to prosecute his rivals

In a Truth Social post Saturday, the president specifically called out Sen. Adam Schiff, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James for prosecution.

www.politico.com

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