An important new lawsuit challenges the Trump admin practice of using visa denial -- and fear of visa denial -- as tools of censorship.
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/09/nx-s1-5741213/trump-censorship-visas-deportation-lawsuit
The Trumpists argue that fact checkers and people working against misinformation are "censoring Americans".
#Censorship #CITR #DefendResearch #Immigration #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics #Visas
Update. See the Open Letter to Congress Demanding the Restoration of the National Science Board.
https://www.standupforscience.net/nasem-letter-to-congress/
The letter is hosted by Stand Up For Science. It was initially signed by “elected members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine [#NASEM], in their personal capacities” and is open to supporting signatures from the public.
I just signed it and hope you will sign too.
"After #USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school."
https://www.science.org/content/article/after-usda-request-indiana-plant-biologist-locked-out-lab-school
"A faculty member at #IndianaUniversity, who has sharply criticized the government’s recent prosecution of several Chinese scientists accused of smuggling biological materials into the United States, has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders."
#Academia #AcademicFreedom #Censorship #China #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics
A federal judge just overturned the Trump admin termination of 1,400+ research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (#NEH).
The grants were terminated by #DOGE in April 2025, and amounted to more than $100 million.
* See the judge's ruling.
https://www.historians.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/291-Memo-opinion.pdf
* Also see the statement by the American Council of Learned Societies (#ACLS), American Historical Association (#AHA), and Modern Language Association (#MLA).
https://www.historians.org/news/federal-judge-rules-to-restore-national-endowment-of-the-humanities-funding-in-historic-case/
#DefendResearch #Funding #Humanities #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
"Trump administration cut funding to study #hantavirus behind the deadly cruise ship outbreak."
https://archive.is/Ik3Sl
"In 2025 the Trump administration eliminated funding for a pilot project aimed at studying the type of hantavirus that has been confirmed to be behind an ongoing outbreak on a cruise ship that is now believed to have caused the deaths of three people and sickened several more."
#DefendResearch #Funding #Medicine #NIH #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics
"During #Trump’s second term, the number of peer-reviewed studies authored by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (#EPA) scientists has dramatically declined…[reflecting] a steep reduction in the scientific research being conducted at EPA. So far in 2026, there have only been 61 peer-reviewed publications by EPA scientists, compared to 339 in 2024."
https://peer.org/sharp-dropoff-epa-scientific-publications/
#Climate #DefendResearch #Environment #Funding #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics
"#FDA Blocked Publication of Research Finding Covid and Shingles Vaccines Were Safe."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/us/politics/fda-covid-vaccine-studies.html
"Officials at the Food and Drug Administration have blocked publication of several studies supporting the safety of widely used vaccines against Covid-19 and shingles…The studies, which cost millions of dollars in public funds, were conducted by scientists at the agency, who worked with data firms to analyze millions of patient records. They found serious side effects to be very rare. In October, the scientists were directed to withdraw two Covid-19 vaccine studies that had been accepted for publication in medical journals."
#Censorship #Covid #DefendResearch #Medicine #Pharma #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics #Vaccines
"Before Nov. 19, 2025, the #CDC’s website was unequivocal on the topic: 'Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving #vaccines and developing #autism spectrum disorder,' it read. After Nov. 19, the guidance essentially reversed. 'The claim "vaccines do not cause autism" is not an evidence-based claim…Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.' That claim…is false. But new research published in the journal Science suggests that it’s affecting what Americans believe about vaccines."
https://time.com/article/2026/04/30/cdc-vaccine-autism-trust/
* primary source
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2026.128568
"Key US science panels are being axed — and others are becoming less open."
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01301-5
"A Nature analysis shows that the Trump administration has terminated more than 100 advisory committees to science agencies — and reduced the transparency and independence of those that remain… Researchers say that the elimination of panels and other changes seemingly contradict the Trump administration’s… executive order on ‘gold-standard science’ … to improve transparency in federally funded science."
#DefendResearch #GoldStandard #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics
"Democrats say #EPA head’s budget cut proposal ‘reads like climate change deniers’ manifesto’."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/30/epa-budget-cut-proposal
Dems "slamm[ed] agency leadership over a proposal to cut its budget in half…The…proposed $4.2bn EPA budget would sharply reduce support for state environmental programs and state-administered loans for water projects. It also would halt what it calls 'radical climate research' and cut resources for enforcement and compliance."
#Climate #DefendResearch #Environment #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics #Zeldin
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