Unbreaking
@unbreaking.org
How the administration is breaking the government and what that means for all of us. All of our content is free to republish and remix. https://unbreaking.org/
If you’re interested in contributing to our work, you can learn more here: unbreaking.org/how-to-help/
How to help — Unbreaking
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
unbreaking.org
January 9, 2026 at 10:15 PM
If you’re interested in contributing to our work, you can learn more here: unbreaking.org/how-to-help/
In the coming weeks, we’re going to finish rolling out timelines for our existing topics and publish two new issue pages: Infectious Disease and Archives & Historical Records.
January 9, 2026 at 10:15 PM
In the coming weeks, we’re going to finish rolling out timelines for our existing topics and publish two new issue pages: Infectious Disease and Archives & Historical Records.
We are prioritizing context and curation instead of comprehensive descriptions of everything that is happening with a topic. We want to help you stay informed without overwhelming you (or, for that matter, us).
January 9, 2026 at 10:15 PM
We are prioritizing context and curation instead of comprehensive descriptions of everything that is happening with a topic. We want to help you stay informed without overwhelming you (or, for that matter, us).
Thank you for reading and reposting—we will return with more in 2026.
December 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Thank you for reading and reposting—we will return with more in 2026.
We put a lot of hours in, but our work only matters when it reaches people and helps them get grounded and orient themselves for action. We are so grateful for the support and reach folks have provided here. We hope you are safe and well, and we will see you in January.
December 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
We put a lot of hours in, but our work only matters when it reaches people and helps them get grounded and orient themselves for action. We are so grateful for the support and reach folks have provided here. We hope you are safe and well, and we will see you in January.
Our teams put topical shout-outs in their threads, but it’s worth repeating: All our gratitude goes out to the tireless (but actually very tired) reporters, editors, and analysts seeking clarity and sense in this chaotic year.
December 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Our teams put topical shout-outs in their threads, but it’s worth repeating: All our gratitude goes out to the tireless (but actually very tired) reporters, editors, and analysts seeking clarity and sense in this chaotic year.
And we’ve never actually said this before, but you can also make a year-end contribution to help us keep the server lights on and our media liability insurance coverage paid up:
opencollective.com/unbreaking
opencollective.com/unbreaking
Unbreaking - Open Collective
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
opencollective.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
And we’ve never actually said this before, but you can also make a year-end contribution to help us keep the server lights on and our media liability insurance coverage paid up:
opencollective.com/unbreaking
opencollective.com/unbreaking
December 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
December 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Unbreaking is taking two weeks of downtime and will return with our next briefing on January 8. In the meantime, you can subscribe to get our full-text briefings here:
unbreaking.org/newsletter
unbreaking.org/newsletter
December 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Unbreaking is taking two weeks of downtime and will return with our next briefing on January 8. In the meantime, you can subscribe to get our full-text briefings here:
unbreaking.org/newsletter
unbreaking.org/newsletter
Immigration:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Trans Healthcare:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Data Security:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Medical Research Funding:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Trans Healthcare:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Data Security:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Medical Research Funding:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
The administration has doubled down on two major parts of its immigration agenda: violent crackdowns in “blue” US cities and chaotic attacks on refugees and other people pursuing lawful immigration.
December 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Immigration:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Trans Healthcare:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Data Security:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Medical Research Funding:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Trans Healthcare:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Data Security:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
Medical Research Funding:
bsky.app/profile/unbr...
We have four big threads from four different teams, so we’re going to post each of them and then link them from this thread. You can also read our full-length briefing here:
unbreaking.org/blog/this-we...
unbreaking.org/blog/this-we...
This week at Unbreaking, December 19 — Unbreaking
Our final briefing of 2025 covers updates in immigration, data security, medical research funding, and brand-new material in trans healthcare—it’s an unusually long one, but we found some good news to...
unbreaking.org
December 19, 2025 at 11:46 PM
We have four big threads from four different teams, so we’re going to post each of them and then link them from this thread. You can also read our full-length briefing here:
unbreaking.org/blog/this-we...
unbreaking.org/blog/this-we...
@npr.org has also humanized the issue, as with their story on renowned cancer researcher Joan Brugge.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
After NIH grant cuts, breast cancer research at Harvard slowed, and lab workers left
Amid NIH funding delays, reversals and uncertainty, a scientist at Harvard who studies breast cancer has lost one-third of her lab employees and wonders if she can continue her research experiments.
www.npr.org
December 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
@npr.org has also humanized the issue, as with their story on renowned cancer researcher Joan Brugge.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
www.npr.org/sections/sho...
@statnews.com has been an essential resource and we particularly appreciated their “American Science, Shattered” series on the threats posed to science funding, early-career scientists, and transgender and nonbinary researchers.
www.statnews.com/american-sci...
www.statnews.com/american-sci...
American Science, Shattered
An eight-decade partnership between universities and the federal government made U.S. science preeminent. It took Trump less than a year to shred that
www.statnews.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
@statnews.com has been an essential resource and we particularly appreciated their “American Science, Shattered” series on the threats posed to science funding, early-career scientists, and transgender and nonbinary researchers.
www.statnews.com/american-sci...
www.statnews.com/american-sci...
Our Medical Research Funding team is so grateful for the journalists who have published essential coverage of political interference with medical research funding.
December 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Our Medical Research Funding team is so grateful for the journalists who have published essential coverage of political interference with medical research funding.
And former NIH official Jeanne Marrazzo is suing the administration over her dismissal.
www.cbsnews.com/news/former-...
www.cbsnews.com/news/former-...
Former top vaccine official sues Trump administration over her firing
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo succeeded Anthony Fauci in leading the vaccine research division at the National Institutes of Health.
www.cbsnews.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
And former NIH official Jeanne Marrazzo is suing the administration over her dismissal.
www.cbsnews.com/news/former-...
www.cbsnews.com/news/former-...
Representative Haley Stevens (D-MI) has introduced impeachment articles against Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., citing his actions as a threat to public health:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
House Democrat files impeachment article against RFK Jr.
The impeachment push by Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., is almost certain to be blocked in the GOP-controlled House.
www.nbcnews.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Representative Haley Stevens (D-MI) has introduced impeachment articles against Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., citing his actions as a threat to public health:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
In response to successful legal challenges, the administration appears to be systematizing previously slapdash attacks on research it ideologically opposes. @statnews.com has in-depth coverage on what is changing:
www.statnews.com/2025/12/15/n...
www.statnews.com/2025/12/15/n...
NIH specifies how grant reviewers should ensure alignment with Trump priorities
In a memo obtained by STAT, the NIH gives specific steps on how grant reviewers can check for alignment with administration priorities.
www.statnews.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
In response to successful legal challenges, the administration appears to be systematizing previously slapdash attacks on research it ideologically opposes. @statnews.com has in-depth coverage on what is changing:
www.statnews.com/2025/12/15/n...
www.statnews.com/2025/12/15/n...
However, the administration’s manipulation of medical research agendas via funding control looks likely to continue or intensify in the coming year. We’re tracking it all on our Medical Research Funding page.
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
Medical Research Funding: Explainer — Unbreaking
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
unbreaking.org
December 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
However, the administration’s manipulation of medical research agendas via funding control looks likely to continue or intensify in the coming year. We’re tracking it all on our Medical Research Funding page.
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
We’ll see you next year, and in the meantime you can catch up with all the aforementioned mess in our timeline:
unbreaking.org/issues/data-...
unbreaking.org/issues/data-...
Data Security — Unbreaking
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
unbreaking.org
December 19, 2025 at 11:41 PM
We’ll see you next year, and in the meantime you can catch up with all the aforementioned mess in our timeline:
unbreaking.org/issues/data-...
unbreaking.org/issues/data-...
Finally, we’re excited about some new PRINT media: @404media.co’s ’zine on ICE surveillance and ways that people can fight back. It drops January 4 at a fundraiser for @chirla-org.bsky.social , but you can pre-order now!
404media.myshopify.com/products/pre...
404media.myshopify.com/products/pre...
Presale: ICE Surveillance Zine
**THIS ITEM WILL SHIP IN MID JANUARY** We are making a print zine about the surveillance tactics used by ICE, and the ways people are resisting this technology. It is 16 pages and printed on a risogra...
404media.myshopify.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Finally, we’re excited about some new PRINT media: @404media.co’s ’zine on ICE surveillance and ways that people can fight back. It drops January 4 at a fundraiser for @chirla-org.bsky.social , but you can pre-order now!
404media.myshopify.com/products/pre...
404media.myshopify.com/products/pre...
And local governments across the country are ending contracts for Flock’s AI-powered license plate surveillance system, which collects data that police have been sharing with ICE:
www.404media.co/ice-taps-int...
www.404media.co/ice-taps-int...
ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows
Flock's automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras are in more than 5,000 communities around the U.S. Local police are doing lookups in the nationwide system for ICE.
www.404media.co
December 19, 2025 at 11:41 PM
And local governments across the country are ending contracts for Flock’s AI-powered license plate surveillance system, which collects data that police have been sharing with ICE:
www.404media.co/ice-taps-int...
www.404media.co/ice-taps-int...