Merit-based, rigorous reviews are the last thing in the world Republicans want. Funding streams that can be diverted to their own pockets or those of political allies will be. Those that can’t will be terminated under the guise of fighting fraud or government efficiency.
And then after they’ve seized the funding levers and sent $75 million to Liberty University to research Edenic ecological health and $150 million to shady nutritional supplement providers and alternative medicine scam artists, they’ll snark about “following the science” when Democrats object.
This is an almost guaranteed outcome. The current junta has absolutely zero interest in effective governance or the public good. Ideology and hatred of political opponents are their primary motivations, and there is no damage to the country they won’t countenance if it serves those ends. Facts and science are lethal enemies to the medieval religious world view that motivates much of the party, while the “libertarian” plutocrats don’t care about immiserating the population in order to remove governmental regulation and tax burdens on themselves and their companies. They can buy their way out of the consequences of turning the US into a dysfunctional shithole country.
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I agreed to participate in a review panel for NIH SBIR/STTR proposals. Was supposed to receive copies of the proposals in a week or two but hadn't heard anything from the SRO since early January.
I received an email from the SRO last night saying that they had changed the review process and outside reviewers were no longer needed.
No big deal to me because this is a lot of work for not much pay but it looks like the times they are a changing.