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Reposted by Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they)

Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) @autisticadvocacy.org · May 9

Last week, the President released a budget preview — and it’s bad news. It would cut or change programs people rely on. But we can fight back. Our new guide breaks it down and shows how you can take action: autisticadvocacy.org/2025/05/asan...

autisticadvocacy.org

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UMSOM Program in Neuroscience @umsomneurosci.bsky.social · May 1

Neuro Networks Day is May 16th, designed to celebrate and elevate our vibrant neuroscience community. Art submissions are due Monday May 5, any and all creativity welcomed!

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Reposted by Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they)

Thanh Neville, MD, MSHS @thanhneville.medsky.social · Apr 18

This damage will be irreparable. www.thetransmitter.org/funding/prop...

Proposed NIH budget cut threatens ‘massive destruction of American science’

A leaked draft of a Trump administration proposal includes an approximately 40 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health’s budget and a major reorganization of its 27 institutes and centers.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Reposted by Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they)

Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) @autisticadvocacy.org · Apr 17

ASAN, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, the Autistic People of Color Fund, Autism Society of America, Autism Speaks, The Arc, and others stand united: Autistic people deserve respect, support, and science-based policy, not dangerous disinformation. autisticadvocacy.org/2025/04/lead...

Leading Autism Organizations Release Joint Statement on Upholding Scientific Integrity and Supporting the Autism Community - Autistic Self Advocacy Network

April 17, 2025, Washington, D.C. – As national organizations dedicated to advancing the well-being of Autistic individuals, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Autism Society of America, Autism…

autisticadvocacy.org

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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · Mar 20

2. Pressure Senate Dems to do maximum obstruction and bring the Senate to a halt
3. Push Chuck Schumer out of leadership for his great failure last week
4. Get on local TV across the country
5. Use social media to talk about the Trump attacks on cancer cures.

There are more. This is a start.

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Reposted by Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they)

Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · Mar 20

We are NOT saying we’re giving up. There is still time to stop Trump and Musk. But great damage has already been done and the grants program is highly unstable and could collapse if more people leave.

What can we do? Some ideas:
1. Pressure university presidents to speak out

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Reposted by Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they)

Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · Mar 20

"Effective March 10th, I will assume the role of Acting Deputy Director of Extramural Research." - Memoli, the Trump-selected NIH acting Director.

This is bad- centralizing control over the grant program. He delegates authority, but it brings grants under closer Trump control.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Public Health Service

National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland 20892

www.nih.gov

DATE:

March 7, 2025

TO:

Office of Extramural Research (OER) Staff

FROM:

Matthew J. Memoli, M.D., M.S., Acting Director, NIH

SUBJECT:

Office of Extramural Research Leadership Updates

I am writing to inform you of important changes within the Office of Extramural Research (OER) leadership team. Effective Monday, March 10, 2025, I will assume the role of Acting Deputy Director for Extramural Research. To ensure efficient continuity and support of this integral NIH leadership position, Dr. Ray Jacobson, Dr. Tara Schwetz, and Dr. Jon Lorsch have graciously agreed to oversee certain responsibilities. I am delegating authority to them to act on behalf of the Deputy Director for Extramural Research and lead the following areas.

Ray Jacobson, Ph.D.

Office of eRA

Office of Reporting and Analysis

Strategic Management and Contracts

Review Policy

Tara Schw

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Baltimore Banner @thebaltimorebanner.com · Mar 19

‘It’s scary right now’: ICE holds detainees for days in bedless Baltimore cells

No beds, lack of food and medicine: The struggles inside Baltimore’s ICE holding room

Immigrants and their attorneys claim there are no beds, little food and medicine at Baltimore’s ICE holding room.

buff.ly

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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · Mar 18

It’s sad to see faces eaten by leopards, certainly, but it’s also worth remembering that people who believe they are surrounded by “DEI and extreme wokeness” are pretty much by definition the proverbial people trying to push their colleagues out of the pipeline (knowingly and on purpose or not)

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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · Mar 17

How a University Fights an Authoritarian Regime:

By speaking out to the public, especially about NIH and the loss of medical research.
From @chronicle.com yesterday. See thread in quote for more.

How a University
Fights an Authoritarian
Regime
Viktor Orbán came for me. Donald Trump is coming for you. Here's what to do.

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Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · Mar 13

BREAKING

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University says it has expelled or suspended some students who took over a campus building during pro-Palestinian protests last spring, and had temporarily revoked the diplomas of some students who have since graduated.

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Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Mar 13

F-31D applicants who submitted their grant proposals at the Dec 8th deadline have been removed from study sections, again, over the course of the last 48 hours. @altnih4science.bsky.social #NIH

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Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Mar 6

unfortunately, science and medicine will always be political and require active defense.

Anyway, check out @standupforscience.bsky.social to find your local 3/7/25 rally!

www.nature.com

Reposted by Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they)

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · Feb 12

Welcome to the Bluesky account for Stand Up for Science 2025!

Keep an eye on this space for updates, event information, and ways to get involved. We can't wait to see everyone #standupforscience2025 on March 7th, both in DC and locations nationwide!

#scienceforall #sciencenotsilence

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · Feb 24

Wondering if your study section cancelled? I update this sheet daily. As of today, 56/124 study sections that should have met since Jan 2, 2025 have "not met as scheduled." docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

2025 Study section tracking

docs.google.com

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Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Feb 26

we know that exposure to adversity has a dose-dependent effect on health outcomes and that there are common biological consequences associated with this, including increased risk for psychiatric conditions link.springer.com/article/10.1...

2/

link.springer.com

Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Feb 26

They are not making mental health a research priority out of care for people. They are making it a priority because it is USEFUL to their agenda. Because it gives “evidence” for people being inherently “less than”. This extends to when we talk about our OWN cognition and ability

Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Feb 26

As brain scientists, it is also imperative for us to be conscious of and work against our internal biases when it comes to cognition and what is “normal” or “proper” cognition. Our science can be easily weaponized, and it will be.

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Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Feb 26

This is a perfect example of how concepts of ability (e.g. IQ) can be used to perpetuate racism in addition to ableism.

We need to be taking ableism more seriously. Historically, it has been used in eugenics as a starting point for sweeping violence and oppression

(please see whole thread)

Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · Feb 26

Like this truly morally repugnant character, now (appallingly) the Trump administration's Acting Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs www.newsbreak.com/share/380315...

Trump State Department official has repeatedly called for mass sterilization of ‘low-IQ trash’ - NewsBreak

A Trump State Department official has, on a number of occasions, called for the sterilization of “low-IQ trash,” a new report has revealed. Secretary of S

www.newsbreak.com

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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · Feb 20

The thing about destroying NIH is NIH’s scale in medical research just dwarfs everyone else.

For ex, in 2023 the American Cancer Society gave out $64.5 million worth of grants. Sounds big, right?
But NIH’s budget was $49 billion. With a B.

Kill NIH and the floor drops out of US science.

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · Feb 20

HHS might as well be wrapping a wire around a piece of metal and running a current through it and see what happens.

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Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Feb 18

(*ND = neurodivergent, abbr. for space)

Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Feb 18

and Elon Musty, but that’s a given

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Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Feb 18

this user hates RFK Jr

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Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they) @watsonlakota.bsky.social · Feb 18

a meme to interrupt the doom

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Reposted by Lakota Watson 🍉 (she/they)

Megan Zahneis @mzahneis.bsky.social · Feb 10

We @chronicle.com reported on Friday that applications for F31 diversity fellowships had been withdrawn.

Now, multiple scholars tell me their applications have been re-assigned to their original study sections, in a reversal of instructions NIH officials gave reviewers last week. #AcademicSky

‘We’re Being Punished’: NIH Tosses Some Grant Applications From Minority Researchers

The sudden withdrawal affects early-career scholars who applied for a prestigious federal grant with a diversity notation — flagging that they came from underrepresented backgrounds.

www.chronicle.com

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