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The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

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Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#271

Post by jaybrendansmith »

saghm wrote: post #167
D13Fd wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I give it 50/50 they do that. Do they even need to, though? If the president cannot be prosecuted for any official acts, and has the power to pardon any subordinate for ignoring the law, and to fire (and then prosecute) anyone who insists on following the law, what does the law matter?

For one thing, the Supreme Court are the ones that ruled that the president has some form of immunity in the first place, and it wouldn't be that unprecedented for them to rein that in a bit if it comes to them again; see the follow-up to Bruen in Rahimi where basically all of them other than Thomas seemed to want to walk back their previous ruling a bit. Although it's hard for me to imagine how they could have been…

How about a complete economic collapse and great depression? They are FAFO on many critical pillars of our system, including biopharmaceuticals and research, heavy tariffs with major trading partners (you cannot instantly undo the last 50 years of globalization without a complete collapse, because the ecosystems simply do not exist anymore), the Federal Reserve (you cannot wish inflation away, you can only apply a brake that takes 18 months to have an impact), and oh so many other things. We are seeing a monkey pull the tablecloth out from under a fully set table of china and silver for 24. Apparently the majority were so deluded by propaganda that they wanted them to burn it all down. Buckle up everybody, get a go bag ready and find a safe place to keep your money.

Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#272

Post by jaybrendansmith »

nathanaldensr wrote: post #235
Ferret7446 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the facts in our current outrage and misinformation economy.

As do I. I was going to post the same thanks. Hacker News has become Reddit with these stupid political posts. It's crazy how far this site has fallen in such a short time.

I truly appreciate your viewpoint, but we are in strange times and we need a place to have a rational discussion about them. There are very few places on the Internet where this can occur that aren't completely polarized already. Since this current political situation impacts so many Hacker News topics, including science, research funding, employment, job postings, economy, startup culture, in my view it is worthy of a few posts.

Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#273

Post by zdragnar »

EdwardDiego wrote: post #207
zdragnar wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The director of the NIH testified to Congress that they funded gain of function research in Wuhan: https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-nih-repe... The OIG also made clear the NIH and EcoHealth did not have proper oversight: https://oig.hhs.gov/reports/all/2023/the-national-institutes... Edit: I missed the bit about the funding being specific to COVID 19. The CIA endorsed the lab leak hypothesis with l…

Cheers. I wish I could still quote the comment I was replying to, but IIRC, they stated that the NIH funded gain of function research on the virus that became known as Covid-19 after it escaped from the lab in Wuhan. Honestly, lab escape has always been plausible to me, but there's sadly so much politics in assessments of lab-escape by governmental non-scientific agencies, whether it be the "oil on troubled water to…

I think there's a lot of people who still remember Fauci telling Rand Paul "I am the science!" during his congressional testimony where he denied there was any gain of function research being funded by the NIH.

Edit: there was also a legal moratorium on GoF funding from 2014-2017, though I don't know when EcoHealth was funding Wuhan. I'm assuming it was during the moratorium, based on some hazy memories, but I wouldn't put money on it either way. End Edit:

He served as the head of NIAID (NIH institute of allergies and infectious diseases) from 1984 to 2022.

To play devil's advocate, the culture in place that allowed such poor oversight (per my previous links) and hubris can't be fixed by adding some new policies. It can only be removed by rebuilding the department under people who were not a part of the original culture.

What we're seeing now is part one of that without knowing what part two is. There might not even be a part two, though I personally think it'll be somewhere in-between what it used to be and the doom prophets who say this administration is the end of the US government.

Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#274

Post by jaybrendansmith »

nathanaldensr wrote: post #236
motorest wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I read the parent as saying that a plurality of voters voted to circumvent the constitution and dismantle the republic, and therefore, a resulting despotism would just be democracy in action, so to speak. From an outsider's point of view, that was not the people voted for. When repeatedly pressed on Project 2025, Trump distanced from it and reassured the American people those were just vicious rumors to denigrate h…

The people who oppose you disagree and see it exactly the opposite. That's why we vote--to see who wants what.

If I could be certain we can vote again in 2 and 4 years to undismantle the government, undo all the damage that these folks have done, I would be fine with that. For those of us who are educated and read history, we know these acts are stupid and will fail badly, leading to a recession, and pandemic, WWIII, perhaps all three at once. I will hold all of you personally responsible for your deluded vote if and when those things occur.

Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#275

Post by spiderfarmer »

esalman wrote: post #67
spiderfarmer wrote: post #23

The country is gripped by a fever, with 47.9% of the population basking in the heat. These individuals are indifferent to anything that doesn’t directly impact them. In fact, they quietly relish others’ complaints, seeing them as a sign that they’re somehow gaining the upper hand.

47.9% of those who voted, not the total population. I am not a US citizen myself and I did not vote, for example.

It’s the most recent approval rating, sadly.

Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#276

Post by spiderfarmer »

rezonant wrote: post #82
spiderfarmer wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing will change as long as his approval rating remains this high and protests consist of people writing angry blogs and comments.

What about his approval rating is high right now? Quite the opposite, in fact.

I read it’s still at 47.9%. The US is filled with terrible people who cheer him on.

Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#277

Post by [deleted] »

sega_sai wrote: post #269
scarab92 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, the article headline is deceptive clickbait. NIH budgets aren't being cut. The NIH is simply requiring that at least 85% of the grant value goes to the actual grant recipients, rather than being siphoned off by the university for administration expenses. At most universities this change has no impact, since they weren't taking more than 15% to begin with. This change mainly impacts Harvard and similar, a…

The fact that the budget is being reduced after it has been negotiated means a cut. And you obviously have no facts to back up your claim that this money was used for "adminstration expenses"

[deleted]

Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#278

Post by giardini »

alabastervlog wrote: post #14
bryant wrote: post #2

Practically speaking, when the majority of people who decided to vote voted for the person applying these policies, what mitigations are left? The courts are themselves slow and ultimately roll up to allies of the despot. People say that the midterms are crucial, but the midterms are only likely to be won if Democrats truly unify and apply winning strategies. Sadly the only winning strategies now seem to involve tell…

Many actions the administration has taken are illegal. Not sure if those related to NIH are, but if they’ve been firing people, odds are good, since they’ve been doing that wrong most of the time it seems like. Congress could change the laws, but they haven’t. Lots of this junk is simply against the law. The courts are moving relatively fast, as such things go, but it takes time. Congress is supposed to control spend…

alabastervlog says "Many actions the administration has taken are illegal. "

Not to pick on albastervlog specifically but HN is filling with posts like the one above, stating "this is illegal, that is illegal", posted by non-lawyers who have no idea whatsoever what is, and what is not, truly illegal.

Why state something is illegal when the statement is false or ambiguous at best? What does it contribute?

Why not instead state the simpler truth: "I don't like that!" or "I disagree with that!" and then get on with the rest of an argument?

This forum is losing relevance b/c posters have

- forgotten about manners and

- forgotten about the logical fallacies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies

Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#279

Post by giardini »

jaybrendansmith wrote: post #274
nathanaldensr wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who oppose you disagree and see it exactly the opposite. That's why we vote--to see who wants what.

If I could be certain we can vote again in 2 and 4 years to undismantle the government, undo all the damage that these folks have done, I would be fine with that. For those of us who are educated and read history, we know these acts are stupid and will fail badly, leading to a recession, and pandemic, WWIII, perhaps all three at once. I will hold all of you personally responsible for your deluded vote if and when tho…

[flagged]

Re: The NIH is being slashed and burned, not "reformed"

#280

Post by afavour »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #252
afavour wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d suggest your viewpoint is a pretty sheltered one. Many people (relatives of mine included, sadly) marinate in a stew of social media algorithms showing them things that confirm their priors and they aren’t exposed to any oppositional media. Perhaps they don’t deserve a vote. But if they don’t then a lot of voters don’t deserve a vote. And maybe we ought to be asking ourselves “what systems have we set up that hav…

Do you expect your relatives will learn anything from this experience? I expect not. Folks who get conned once are more likely to get conned again.

They didn’t learn anything last time so I doubt it. Part of me wants to say “screw them” but we’re all locked in this room together.
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