Archive for Executive Order

cont[rump]inuing [mag]attacks on reproductive rights

Posted in Kids with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 26, 2025 by xi'an

[From the Center for Reproductive Rights:]

Cancelling the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which was requiring hospitals to provide life-saving abortion care

Blocking funding from Title X, a federal program dedicated to providing family planning and preventive reproductive health care services

Supporting the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 21)

Removing information on reproductive health and rights from government websites, like ReproductiveRights.gov

Abstaining from enforcing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, that protects reproductive health care patients and providers from violence and harassment, by ordering prosecutors to ignore violations, and pardoning individuals convicted of violating the Act

Joining a global anti-abortion pact, along with Uganda, Saudi Arabia and Belarus

Reinstating the global gag rule, denying aid to overseas health centres that provide or support abortion services and counselling

Joining a case against Planned Parenthood

Cutting funding to the United Nations Population Fund

Overturning the previous regulation that prohibited states from defunding abortion facilities as part of their family planning programs

Enforcing a separate payment requirement for abortion coverage in Obamacare

Stopping federal funding of fætal tissue research

Prioritising healthcare entities and individuals’ conscience rights

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[fool’s] gold standard science

Posted in Books, pictures, Travel, University life with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 11, 2025 by xi'an

In this new presidential order of 23 May 2025, Trump pretends to

“restore the scientific integrity policies of my first Administration and ensures that agencies practice data transparency, acknowledge relevant scientific uncertainties, are transparent about the assumptions and likelihood of scenarios used, approach scientific findings objectively, and communicate scientific data accurately”

repeating his goal in

“restoring a gold standard for science to ensure that federally funded research is transparent, rigorous, and impactful, and that Federal decisions are informed by the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available”

where

““Weight of scientific evidence” means an approach to scientific evaluation in which each piece of relevant information is considered based on its quality and relevance, and then transparently integrated with other relevant information to inform the scientific evaluation prior to making a judgment about the scientific evaluation. Quality and relevance determinations, at a minimum, should include consideration of study design, fitness for purpose, replicability, peer review, and transparency and reliability of data.”

While the order that

“science [in a federal agency should be] conducted in a manner that is:
(i) reproducible;
(ii) transparent;
(iii) communicative of error and uncertainty;
(iv) collaborative and interdisciplinary;
(v) skeptical of its findings and assumptions;
(vi) structured for falsifiability of hypotheses;
(vii) subject to unbiased peer review;
(viii) accepting of negative results as positive outcomes; and
(ix) without conflicts of interest”

sounds nice and dandy, incl. even a Popperian item!—while I highly doubt the Agent Orange has ever read anything from the author of Open society and its enemies—as well as an assessment of uncertainty and a critical look at the role of models—as if we were not, as a whole, following or trying to follow these tenets!—, the true intent of this order is to submit all research produced by federal agents and federally funded researchers to a vetting by political appointees before submission to a (vetted) scientific journal. As already been put into practice in some Departments. The rosy terms that set how science should be done are turned tupsy-turvy to the Trump administration Newspeak, while the purges in said administration render quality control more illusory than ever… Even the use of the term Gold Standard in a US policy declaration shows how little Trump understands about the term, given the USA abandoned at least twice the gold standard, in 1933 and 1978.

A few days after I wrote this piece, the New York Times published an article pointing out the above (in better terms) and reporting on an open letter from Stand Up for Science signalling the dreadful consequences of the executive order. With a primary correction to the above picture. And the central message that

We view this Executive Order as an escalation of the ongoing assault on science. The first six sections employ common scientific language to spell out a “gold standard” for science that would not strengthen science, but instead would introduce stifling limits on intellectual freedom in our Nation’s laboratories and federal funding agencies. Notably, the order comes from an administration that has already defunded areas of research they do not agree with, pushed vaccine misinformation despite widespread evidence,  lied about the impacts of climate change, and incorrectly defined sex determination as binary, when biology proves it is not, in their own Executive Order. Throughout the document, scientific language is hijacked, and ideas are turned on their heads.

And then Andrew decided to discuss its ridiculness on 03 June and again on 03 June. (Which made me realize polygraphs are still used by US law enforcement agencies!)

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so many issues…and it’s only the second day!

Posted in Books, Kids, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , on January 23, 2025 by xi'an

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and it only gets worse…

Posted in Kids, Travel, University life with tags , , , , on January 28, 2017 by xi'an

“President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order (EO) proposing a 90-day suspension of visas and other immigration benefits to all nationals of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia. The unrealistic conditions required for discontinuing the suspension make it very likely that this EO will turn into a permanent ban. We, the undersigned academics and researchers from a variety of fields of study, backgrounds, and personal convictions, would like to voice our concern and strongly oppose this measure on three grounds:

1.  This Executive Order is discriminatory. The EO unfairly targets a large group of immigrants and non-immigrants on the basis of their countries of origin, all of which are nations with a majority Muslim population. This is a major step towards implementing the stringent racial and religious profiling promised on the campaign trail. The United States is a democratic nation, and ethnic and religious profiling are in stark contrast to the values and principles we hold.

2.  This Executive Order is detrimental to the national interests of the United States. The EO significantly damages American leadership in higher education and research. US research institutes host a significant number of researchers from the nations subjected to the upcoming restrictions. From Iran alone, more than 3000 students have received PhDs from American universities in the past 3 years. The proposed EO limits collaborations with researchers from these nations by restricting entry of these researchers to the US and can potentially lead to departure of many talented individuals who are current and future researchers and entrepreneurs in the US. We strongly believe the immediate and long term consequences of this EO do not serve our national interests.

3.  This Executive Order imposes undue burden on members of our community: The people whose status in the United States would be reconsidered under this EO are our students, friends, colleagues, and members of our communities. The implementation of this EO will necessarily tear families apart by restricting entry for family members who live outside of the US and limiting the ability to travel for those who reside and work in the US. These restrictions would be applied to nearly all individuals from these countries, regardless of their immigration status or any other circumstances. This measure is fatally disruptive to the lives of these immigrants, their families, and the communities of which they form an integral part. It is inhumane, ineffective, and un-American.

These bans, as proposed, have consequences that reach beyond the scope of national security. The unethical and discriminatory treatment of law-abiding, hard-working, and well-integrated immigrants fundamentally contravenes the founding principles of the United States.

We strongly denounce this ban and urge the President to reconsider going forward with this Executive Order.”

Academics against immigration executive order

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