curated news excerpts & citations
Nature: 7 basic science discoveries that changed the world
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.
Under President Donald Trump, the US government is gutting scientific research. The National Institutes of Health has cut almost US$2 billion of grants that were already approved, and the National Science Foundation has terminated more than 1,400 grants. And the president has even bigger plans to eviscerate science. His proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 would cut non-defence-related research and development by 36%.
“They have cancelled wholesale a wide variety of research efforts in midstream,” says John Holdren at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was the science adviser to former president Barack Obama during both his terms. “They intend to now solidify it with cuts in the budgets.”
The cancelled and threatened research is a mixture of ‘applied’ work that has stated applications, which can be commercial in nature, and ‘basic’ or ‘blue skies’ research, intended to develop new knowledge.
(Nature more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – November 3, 2025
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O’Donnell noted that the Trump family has thrown itself into cryptocurrency ventures, forming World Liberty Financial with the family of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East. In that context, she asked about billionaire Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder and former chief executive officer of Binance. Zhao is cryptocurrency’s richest man. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to money laundering, resigned from Binance, paid a $50 million fine, and was sentenced to four months in prison.Trump pardoned him on October 23.
O’Donnell noted that the U.S. government said Zhao “had caused ‘significant harm to U.S. national security,’ essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around.” She asked the president, “Why did you pardon him?”
“Okay, are you ready?” Trump answered. “I don’t know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt. And what I wanna do is see crypto, ‘cause if we don’t do it it’s gonna go to China, it’s gonna go to—this is no different to me than AI.
“My sons are involved in crypto much more than I—me. I—I know very little about it, other than one thing. It’s a huge industry. And if we’re not gonna be the head of it, China, Japan, or someplace else is. So I am behind it 100%. This man was, in my opinion, from what I was told, this is, you know, a four-month sentence.”
After he went on with complaints about the Biden administration—he would mention Biden 42 times in the released transcript—O’Donnell noted, “Binance helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase of the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin. And then you pardoned [Zhao].” She asked him: “How do you address the appearance of pay for play?”
Trump answered: “Well, here’s the thing. I know nothing about it because I’m too busy doing the other….” …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)Judd Legum: Medicare freeze beneficiary secretly donates $2.5 million to Trump ballroom
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Bloomberg: Alaska permafrost put at risk by climate change
On a blustery day in August, a team of five scientists watched with perverse fascination as saltwater from the Arctic Ocean lapped over the tundra of Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay. They’d spent more than a year studying the phenomenon that’s increasingly common as land ice melts, but had never witnessed it firsthand.
The thrill of catching the moment belied the planetary stakes of the scene. The Arctic tundra beneath the researchers’ feet — specifically, the frozen layer known as permafrost — is a crucial part of the Earth’s delicate climate balance. Over thousands of years, this permanently frozen band has locked away 1.4 trillion tons of carbon, roughly twice what’s currently in the atmosphere. Frozen, that carbon poses no threat. But after millennia of stability, global warming is raising the risk that the store turns into a source of emissions instead.
(Bloomberg more…)
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Terrence Goggin: Trump’s racist origin is in the battle over “reconstruction” in the post Civil War South; General Grant and President Johnson fought over it. Johnson lost. It reverberates to this day
Part 3. General Grant refused a direct presidential order to disobey the Reconstruction Act setting a profound precedent and lighting tinder that still enflames
(Terrence Goggin more…)
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James Eagle: We only call it a bubble after it bursts
We only ever see the outlines of a bubble when we’re already inside it. The signs are there, the language softens, the optimism feels rational – until it doesn’t. The dot-com boom offered a clear example: journalists spoke of a “bubble” only after it burst. Today’s market, buzzing with AI-fuelled euphoria, may be setting the stage for another lesson in hindsight.
(James Eagle more…)
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Your Local Epidemiologist: Fall back, quiet respiratory season, SNAP expiration and good news
This week, we’re talking about falling back (literally and figuratively). From SNAP beneficiaries missing payments on November 1, to falling back on our broken health care system as open enrollment begins, to the time change messing with our health, a lot is shifting. We’re also flying a bit blind when it comes to respiratory disease data, but I’ve pieced together the best snapshot I can from different sources. There’s also always some good news to share!
(Your Local Epidemiologist more…)NewsNation: Trump admin says it will provide partial November SNAP benefits
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Liz Dye: Another Day, Another Fake MAGA Prosecutor
On Friday, the Trump Justice Department got a very unwelcome treat from Judge Lorna Schofield. No, not a Bit-O-Honey! It was an unsealing order in federal court in New York. The DOJ tried every trick in the book to hide its harassment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, but the judge unwrapped the case anyway.
(Liz Dye more…)
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BBC: Israeli military’s ex-top lawyer arrested over leak of video allegedly showing Palestinian detainee abuse
The former top lawyer in the Israeli military has been arrested, as a political showdown deepens over the leaking of a video that allegedly shows severe abuse of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli soldiers.
…“I approved the release of material to the media in an attempt to counter false propaganda against the army’s law enforcement authorities,” she said.
That is a reference to efforts by some right-wing political figures in Israel to claim that the allegations of severe abuse of the Palestinian detainee had been fabricated.
She added: “It is our duty to investigate whenever there is reasonable suspicion of acts of violence against a detainee.”
(BBC more…)
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Allison Gill: A Step Closer to the Release of Volume II of Jack Smith’s Final Report
Sarah Jones & Jason Easley: Republicans Have A Massive Jack Smith Problem
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Al Jazeera: Israeli air strike kills four in Lebanon, straining fragile ceasefire
Israel has carried out regular attacks on southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreed with Hezbollah last November.
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Decoding Fox News: Trump – CBS 60 Minutes Interview – What Was and Wasn’t Included in the Broadcast
This includes the full transcript – including questions and answers that did not appear on “60 minutes”
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Borowitz: How Hardcore is Pee-Wee German?
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America – The Jesuit Review: JD Vance’s immigration comments are an insult to our Catholic faith
Trump Action Tracker
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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