Science policy this week: Mar. 17, 2025

The courthouse in San Francisco where a judge ordered federal agencies to reinstate fired probationary employees. Sam Wheeler / CC BY-SA 3.0 Probationary employees reinstated at science agencies Last week, judges in California and Maryland ordered several agencies to immediately offer all fired probationary employees their jobs back, in some cases temporarily. The covered agencies […]

Government expert on Elon Musk and DOGE’s “slash-and-burn exercise”

It was a remarkable moment last Tuesday: President Trump standing beside a shiny electric car at the White House making a pitch for the car’s maker, Elon Musk: “This man has devoted his energy and his life to doing this. I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people.” For […]

Bessent Is Right: The Economy Needs A Detox

Via SchiffGold.com, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is right when he says that the economy needs a “detox.” To fix the problems created by decades of artificially-low interest rates, soaring deficits, out-of-control spending, a dying manufacturing base, and central bank meddling, there has to be a little bit (or a lot) of pain. Economic pain contributed […]

Protests continue at dealerships across Colorado during national “Tesla Takedown” protests

Protests against Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency are continuing to take place across the country, including multiple cities in Colorado. Since January, Musk’s DOGE has conducted mass federal layoffs at NOAA, the Department of Education, the National Park Service, and multiple other agencies. The department has recently terminated leases to federal agency […]

Heartwarming moment of Trump with Musk’s son ‘Lil X’ goes viral

Heartwarming photographs of President Donald Trump walking to Marine Force One with Elon Musk’s son are going viral, with internet users doting over the joyful moment.  The image, which was posted to X by the White House, shows Trump giving his signature thumbs up while Musk’s son, X Æ A-12, also known as “Lil X,” happily smiling at the […]

An Elon Musk Friend, Antonio Gracias, Joins His Effort on Social Security

A private equity investor who is one of Elon Musk’s closest confidants has taken a new role in the Social Security Administration, a development that could be politically combustible given the program’s popularity with voters and Mr. Musk’s apparent intent to make major changes at the agency. The investor, Antonio Gracias, who has served on […]