Coming soon to the desired Project 2025 theocratic cesspool of America.
Clinician & scientist committed to helping older adults. Studies mechanisms & phenomenology of peri-op neurocognitive dysfunction and delirium. Frequent random musings. Comments =/= employer. Assoc Professor @DukePsychiatry / @DukeSurgery
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Coming soon to the desired Project 2025 theocratic cesspool of America.
The House bill, as currently written, would codify the withholding of funds to Harvard, Northwestern, and other institutions on grounds related to antisemitism, critical race theory, and DEI programs.
He needs to run for President. He would win in a landslide.
Final version of paper is out: www.cell.com/iscience/ful... "Bioelectric characterization of senescing human keratinocytes" #bioelectricity #aging
New Mexico has issued a public health order that removes federal restrictions to COVID-19 vaccine access so that pharmacies in New Mexico can vaccinate people of all ages and risk profiles. Every state need to do this!
"...despots over the ages devised a lopsided way of funding science that punished blue-sky thinkers and promoted gadget makers..." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/s...
Fun fact. Experts say malignant narcissists & sociopaths HATE for their beliefs & desires to be questioned.
It’s hard to predict behavior in those with frontal lobe damage.
Funny. He said the same thing to 14- & 15-yr-olds at his ‘private model parties’ w/ Epstein.
My sister is in a care home because she has dementia the carers looking after her are all races colours and religions, they are kind and caring. The care home is understaffed. If Farage had his way they probably wouldn’t be here and who would look after her then?
Inconvenient truth
He has a weird consistent tic or dystonia where his neck turns to the right. It’s worse when he becomes excitable.
We should be able to agree that funding research for pediatric cancer should be prioritized and expanded. Not canceled. Clinical trials that can be the last hope for kids with cancer stopping recruitment due to funding loss is heartbreaking 💔 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/w...
You just described a psychologist.
New article in Research Professional News on NIH and the SCOTUS ruling [Big thanks to the editors for putting this in front of their paywall] www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-usa-... 1/6
How are they going to operationalize "physical inactivity?" This single indication could apply to anyone sitting down.
Here's the deal. He will NEVER feel good about himself. This has been the main problem since he was very young.
When viewed as maintaining reinforcing & engaging outrage amongst members of a low information "grievance cult," it all makes WAY more sense.
Shelley said it best. "...Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Bluesky is now the platform of choice for the scientific community. From @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social on @arstechnica.com arstechnica.com/science/2025...
It’s grooming & desensitizing his ‘grievance cult’ to become more violent. This is no white trash entertainment accident. They are working their way towards a state-sanctioned ‘purge.’ Ignore at one’s own peril.
Karma. She’s just lucky they weren’t handing out pitchforks & torches.
And, as with the Newsom trolling, the irony of their statements completely escape them.
Many mental health professionals tried to warn about it, but Jeffrey Lieberman, former head of the APA & disgraced former head of Columbia Psychiatry, squashed any meaningful public education of the dangers. www.madinamerica.com/2020/04/muzz...
Okay, whatever. Just keep on doing the same things and expecting a different outcome. It's worked so well for the country up to this point, right? Right? The inability of the left to introspect (when it is hard) and course-correct on messaging will serve us well against tyranny.
Then, he should have raised this point in his rebuttal to Joe. I get it, but in politics it isn’t necessarily about being correct but how one appears to the public. Evasiveness on the crime issue (whether warranted or not) does not help.
I get it wrt Joe, but Johnson needs a better response for this sort of questioning in the future b/c he came off as evasive.
Then, he could have just said, ‘yes, more cops on the streets would be helpful, but I don’t know about 5000.’ Seriously, Johnson’s inability to answer the question or deflect it without appearing soft on crime should be a concern. It is exactly the kind of squirrelly response that turns off voters.
How hard is it to say, "Yes, more cops on the streets would help." I thought Johnson looked like a typical squirrelly politician incapable of answering a question simply and with commonsense.
neurosciencenews.com/aging-cognit...
What rules? Isn't that the problem?
The orange piñata market has to be very hot right now.
Who is "we?" I seem to remember ~75 million voters heeding those warnings. The failure of the democracy rests NOT in those ~75 million, but in the other ~77 million who for one reason or another (typically racism & bigotry) were hell-bent on burning it all down.
Walz: "It boggles my damn mind that in the midst of a military takeover of our cities, the flaunting of the rule of law, that the press finds the need to talk about, 'Oh, there's a division in the Dem Party.' There's a division in my damn house & we're still married and things are good. That's life"
Gut punch of truth
How do we get congress to see this?
Where & when on the right-wing networks can I catch the latest episode of "Ouch! My Balls!?"
Looks like newer Stickley furniture. Major score.
The Brain Draining of North Carolina www.wral.com/story/triang...
Those who are weak of mind & spirit are the most easily manipulated.
When our Christianity makes the ultra wealthy and powerful feel safe and supported and the poor and powerless feel unsafe and unsupported, that is when we can be sure we are following someone other than Jesus.
Because they know it is effective.
For the cruelty kicks.
In a most weird way, I thank Donald Trump for modeling to the world the stereotypical profile of all authoritarian cult leaders: malignant narcissism. freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-co...
It’s very difficult to engage with ICE and DHS, even as a lawyer representing immigrants—because the government isn’t following the law.
They will just threaten to do so for 3.5 yrs, yet do nothing. This is Merrick’s way.
Today, these were the NIH news & funding opportunities emailed out to the listserv. When will it sink in, I wonder?
TGIF youtu.be/CXtnFanowBk?...
May this portion of the dissent by Ketanji Brown Jackson haunt John Roberts forever and be the final word on his tenure as Chief Justice.
Even after the CDC shooting, immature disinformation government actors from Kennedy to Bhattacharya do what they do best- spread rage and doubt to inflame the mob against doctors who work in hospitals and clinics. My latest. sciencebasedmedicine.org/pickledbrain...
Good thing there are no significant racial differences in health and disease.
Russia, perhaps? #krasnov
The Trump administration, seemingly determined to hobble the NIH, continues to devise new and insidious ways to politicize what has long been considered the crown jewel of US research. My latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com (🎁 link):
USA or overseas? If you are seeking stability, then overseas appears to be the route.
Let me guess, Katy Tur has him on yet another panel, serving only to muddy the waters and both-sides-ism the discussion. The man is incapable of just playing it straight by just calling the balls and strikes.
When you know your battle techniques are working.
Satire & irony are wolfsbane for narcissists & authoritarians.
They can argue, dictate, bargain, cheat, deny, mold, and ignore, but they will never conquer impermanence or obscurity to time. Time is the great equalizer.
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away." -Percy Bysshe Shelley (1817).
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear:
I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
He left to look for his conscience.
Multiple GoFundMe efforts could have kept them well financed for years. They caved. No way to sugar coat it.
I can't wait to see Miller's cameo in the Judgment at Nuremberg sequel.
I wonder how the new ICE recruits feel about ‘taking down’ people, now armed with shotguns & assault rifles (aka. ‘hunting’ rifle)? Seems like this might not go the way they want, unless it is bloodshed they want?
But, some already did ‘flinch’ by returning to Texas.
My name is Graham Platner and I’m running for US Senate to defeat Susan Collins and topple the oligarchy that’s destroying our country. I’m a veteran, oysterman, and working class Mainer who’s seen this state become unlivable for working people. And that makes me deeply angry.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. ... History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” ―Orwell, 1984
An executive order isn’t a law.
Which never would have happened if (some) Democrats hadn’t stupidly returned to Texas. Don’t complain about the ‘loss of democracy’ when the willpower & fortitude isn’t there.
Open carry cuts both ways.
Yes, please.
❤️ COVID and blood vessels A global study of 2,390 people found COVID-19 linked to faster vascular ageing, especially in women. Effects eased after 12 months, unlike in controls. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/eurh... #SciComm #COVID19 🧪
You think an accurate headline is going to stop him? The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior (e.g., 1/6). He will NEVER leave peacefully.
The rest of America isn’t being blackmailed by Russia. Only one man.
Socialism or communism, even.
Ambition runs into the brick wall of mortality, every time for every one.
Gerunds need not apply.
'Irony blindness'
The "Sir" story thing is a long-running 'tell' that the next things out of his mouth will be complete and utter fabrications.
An explosion in open-neuroscience datasets has created a new generation of researchers with expertise in data science. But new restrictions put our research programs in jeopardy, writes Elvisha Dhamala @elvisha.bsky.social. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/open-neurosc...
Note to self: Prepare for USA to be at 'war' with someone, somewhere in 3 1/2 yrs.
Show me a sanctimonious 'religious' authority or politician, and I'll show you non-introspective persons with deep dark recesses in his/her closet. Like 100% of the time.
It's all about not giving people an option to vote without having to go to a heavily militarized and thuggish polling site in 2026 and 2028. It is planned voter intimidation & suppression in service of fascist goals.
He wants to end 'mail-in' ballots at the same time that he plans to post thugs at polling sites in 2026. If you want to vote in 2026, you will be forced to queue up at a heavily militarized and intimidating voting site. This isn't democracy. This is fascism.
Every congressperson should be at a 5 alarm 🚨 fire on the funding situation at NIH. There should be no daylight between parties that the US scientific enterprise should continue or be increased. Congress should work on a bipartisan bill that meticulously lays out funding mechanisms and allocations
The bedrock of my psychological health since Nov '24 has been an assumption that this will in fact be required. I don't work myself into a doomy state every other week with "oh no maybe rule of law is in peril." We are obvs on the road to this, and our job is to build solidarity and will.
ALERT: For the first time in the history of the survey, the Office of Personnel Management is CANCELLING the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). They don’t want you to know how they’re treating federal workers. I really want to create a shadow FEVS…
A leader for our time.
Toddler hits dog. Dog snaps at cat. Cat swipes at mouse. Mouse bites toddler.
“Small children from poor or middle-class families who watch ‘Sesame Street’ do better on cognitive tests and in first grade than children who do not watch it,” Renata Adler wrote, in 1972.
Oh, look. A NIH notice that they will stop posting funding opportunities in the NIH Guide. No big loss, I guess, given that there have been ZERO funding opportunities posted for months now...including today.
Today, Bhattacharya sent a document entitled "NIH Priorities and Internal Review of Intramural and Extramural Programs" to Institute and Center Directors and other leaders. I am trying to get a clean copy. These "Priorities" will likely be "Agency Priorities" for grant funding and termination.
Jesus is also dangerous to empire, which is why he’s been sidelined by ‘christian’ nationalists.
Newsom must have a psychologist/psychiatrist consulting for him now because he is boxing-in a malignant narcissist and is pressing his buttons with surgical precision.
There will never be peace with a dictator in power. Never.
Good cop / Bad cop routine to keep the mad king from trying to cancel their show.
In my capacity as a professional scientist, once again, I say to my colleagues:
Newsom: "He doesn't play by a different set of rules. He doesn't believe in the rules. As a consequence, we need to disabuse ourselves of the way things have been done. It's not enough to just hold hands, have a candlelight vigil, talk about way the world should be...we have got to meet fire w/fire"
