- Executive Order: Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking. Trump signed an executive order this week that gives the executive branch approval control over research grants disbursed by the NHS, NIH, and other agencies.
This will add an unnecessary extra layer of bureaucracy and censorship, in which scientists will have to defend their projects to people have no scientific knowledge, rather than a peer-review process by fellow experts.
The order also puts grants that work in fields that focus on or support marginalized populations at risk due to the administration’s anti-DEIA rhetoric–research that mentions disability, examines race or ethnicity-based prevalence of specific diseases or conditions, highlights race, gender, or class disparities or other biases, will be eliminated on the basis of ideological warfare rather than scientific value. - RFK Jr. cancels 22 programs, $500 million in vaccine funding. RFK Jr. announced the revoking of $500 million dollars in funding, specifically for mRNA projects. RFK has spoken about his distrust for mRNA technology re: the covid vaccine, but the methodology is actually the latest frontier in a wide variety of vaccine and medical tech, including in customizable cancer treatments.
In the same week, the FDA also floated plans not to renew approval for the Pfizer pediatric 0-5 covid vaccine, the only one for this age group.
Misinformation kills in more than one way: Shortly after RFK’s anti-mRNA speech, Patrick White opened fired on CDC headquarters in Atlanta, believing himself to be injured by a covid vaccine. White and a police officer were killed. - Good news: Deaf Mongolian Man Released from ICE Detention. Avirmed, a Deaf immigrant who turned himself in at the California-Mexican border to seek asylum, had been detained by ICE for months, after DHS failed to process his written request for asylum, perform the credible fear screening, or provide him a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter. At one point they attempted to communicate via Google Translate, getting basic case facts wrong. He also had no accessible way to contact his sister, who is a resident of Virginia.
On July 9, a judge ordered that he be provided with an interpreter. Once communication was established, he was able to present his case and has since been released. He is currently living with his sister. Avirmed is just another of many disabled people held illegally by ICE in squalid conditions without accommodations or information. - Big Pharma joins race to profit off measles as cases surge to 33-year high. With cases at a 33-year high, pharmaceutical companies are hoping for “investor interest” on a potential measles cure. Previously broad uptake of the vaccine had eradicated the disease in the US.
Several pharmaceutical companies are working on synthetic monoclonal antibodies that could be used to treat the infected, who are mostly unvaccinated. (In contrast, a vaccine teaches the body to make its own antibodies upon contact with the disease so the person can avoid serious illness).
In the Wellness arena, grifters continue to make money on the outbreak, though with no guardrails–one popular recommendation of large doses of vitamin A left several poisoned and hospitalized with overdoses.
The original anti-MMR rhetoric was also a grift–Wakefield wrote a fraudulent paper linking MMR and autism so he could sell his own version of the vaccine. Subsequent studies with sample sizes totaling more than half a million children worldwide have disproven any link between vaccines and autism, a developmental difference present from birth and believed to be largely genetic. - They’re messing with the elections, continued. The Texas legislature continues its pursuit of illegal redistricting after Trump asked the state to find him five more red seats. Texas Dems fled the state to break quorum and are now threatened with arrest and bomb threats. (If you have a Democratic rep. or Senator, tell them to support their Texas colleagues!)
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has taken up Callais v. Landry, a Louisiana-based redistricting case that is poised to destroy Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Trump also asked for a new mid-season census in order to remove noncitizens from the data. Legal precedent has already decided that noncitizens should be counted during census-taking, which is about overall resource distribution per capita, not citizenship status. Voting rights advocates worry this is an attempt to take up large scale redistricting efforts. - Administration tightens grip on public information via censorship. The Library of Congress was caught deleting portions of the online copy of the U.S. Constitution, specifically protections against detention without due process. When called out, they blamed a “coding error,” though computer scientists broadly agree this is unlikely.
Meanwhile, a Paramount/Skydance merger has resulted in new levels of capitulation, including the placement of a government-sanctioned “truth arbiter” to oversee journalism at CBS. The FCC commissioner (a Dem), slammed the deal, saying it allows for. “never-before-seen forms of government control over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment-actions that violate both the First Amendment and the law.”
Removing access to news and civic info, especially via low-cost access points like local news or government websites, is a key tenet of authoritarianism.
Action Items:
Share this info! Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.
Hit the streets if you are able, for ex: look out for ICE detention center protests, a We are America march, town halls, or other local actions. If you can’t attend in person, you can donate to carpool or bus ticket funds for larger marches.
Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.
Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.
Call your Senators: YES to the Appropriations Committee’s push back on budget cuts. NO to illegal redistricting and RFK’s vaccine cuts.
Make sure you’re up to date on your vaccines. Ditch the wearable tech if possible.
Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.