Saturday night activity

Weigh in on the integrity of the civil service *tonight*

Today is the last day to make public comment on Schedule F (now called "Schedule Policy/Career"). This change would bring much of the federal government, including science policy, under more direct political control. I encourage you in the strongest terms to weigh in on this drastic change to the operations of our federal government. Make comment at regulations.gov here.

Schedule F is perhaps the largest change in government since the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883. I can’t say as clearly what the incomparable Don Moynihan, a highly informed scholar of government administration, has to say about this proposed rule.

This change is proposed by the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought. That name is more important for you to know than Elon Musk. Vought is the author of Project 2025, where many of the attempted actions of the last six months were first mentioned.

I see these changes through the lens of the integrity of science, and take some fairly specific views on that:

• Schedule F carries the risk of unwarranted intrusion on merit-based review of science;

• Peer review for NIH and other agencies is mandated by federal law;

• Program officers at NIH, DOD, NSF, and other agencies should not be made into Schedule F employees.

You may wish to express other views on this monumental change.

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No Kings Day is coming!

In other news, it’s just seven days until June 14, which is national No Kings Day. This is a chance to go counterprotest against the military parade that is being staged in Washington, D.C.

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“It must be embarrassing to drive a Tesla”

Here in local news, you may be interested in what some people in central Jersey are doing to bring down the value of the Tesla brand. I’ve seen a lot of these sticky notes in this area - they appear to be a New Jersey special.