Revenge of the nerds: Teachers, professors sue to undo Trump science funding cuts Two academic organizations sued the Trump administration Tuesday for the allegedly unlawful withdrawal of $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University and associated demands for policy changes. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) filed a complaint [PDF …
So far, the Trump administration has been very careful to target lawyers (or firms) individually, not collectively: they're much easier to pick off that way.
It appears to be tackling its other targets in the same way. The pending appeals to the Supreme Court are inviting the court to make it impossible for judges to make broad rulings on classes of people (for example, the employees of a Government department) and instead limit cases to specific named individuals claiming harm.
If that argument is accepted, the law will be largely defanged: Trump can turn his guns against specific individuals or institutions who will be forced to defend themselves alone whilst the chilling effect spreads amongst their peers who can only guess which of them will be next.
We're only in the first few skirmishes of the war - it's probably premature to be claiming victory.
" ... of 'getting Trump' ... "
But it's not about that. It's about upholding the law. It just happens to be Trump that is violating the law and the Constittution. About someone who thinks that he's above the law. And Trump has a long history of breaking them.
Law firms can only pursue a case on behalf of a client and obviously bogus or frivolous cases get kicked out of court by judges who have better uses for their time. If you have an example of one of the "sheer number" of law firms filing cases without being instructed by a client, I'd be fascinated to see the evidence.
However, I suspect what you're complaining about is the sheer number of people negatively affected by potentially illegal actions by the administration who are daring to mount a challenge.
This has never been a thing before.
Probably because all previous presidents were less blatant in violating the law.
He is exceeding his authority.
He is doing actual harm to US institutions, relations with allied nations, the american people themselves - the entire perceived value of the USA.
People are opposing Trump in an attempt to save America.
So how come when people are polled that record numbers are saying the US is on the right track?
Joe Biden harmed relations between the US and its allies as well.
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-damaged-usa-europe-relations-more-donald-trump-uk-australia-spat-1631870
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1662416/joe-biden-news-uk-relationship-latest-poll
https://www.politico.eu/article/joe-biden-ira-inflation-reduction-us-ignores-eu/
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-charles-michel-biden-disloyalty-allies-aukus/
As for exceeding his authority let us not forget that the Dems were overjoyed when Biden ignored judges rulings about student loans.
Many people are saying that this is the best government ever and that the president is a very stable genius. They even want the brilliant president's face in a 100 dollar bill! Anyone who disagrees is a loser. SAD!
/s just in case...
criminal conman elected as the president, has never been a thing before.
and the supreme court hasn't been bought like it is now, supreme court needs jailing.
Some honest judges need putting in place, then they need to jail the orange criminal for good.
no, they just need to find some good ones, though some of them may be finding themselves in no win situations. Unlike the rest of the trump administration who can lie like rugs, the lawyers are constrained in court with what they can say if they want to keep practicing law.
Well... Elongated Muskrat can afford to hire every lawyer in the USA (and beyond) but that won't be needed.
Trump will sign an executive order dictating that all court orders are to be ignored and that all judges are to be sent to Gitmo. No one talks back to Trump. The supreme leader must be obeyed.
Anything that slows down the Pumpkin Hitler and his buddy, Muscolini, is a good thing. I'd rather the impeachment and charges of treason came sooner rather than later, but these two psychotic toddlers might be on stage until the midterms unless more Republicans remember what actual patriotic behavior is, and sprout spines.
Heandline changed from: Revenge of the nerds: Boffins sue to undo Trump science funding cuts
To: Revenge of the nerds: Teachers, professors sue to undo Trump science funding cuts
Soon: Will include Scientists and so on, and then as fourth change, switch to a "most-non-offensive-but-most-including" term. What was that about TheRegister biting anything with British humour and directness?
Maybe Herr David Kreisel (a German) need to redo his "Spiegel Mining" for TheRegister. (Info: On 33C3 he showed what internal statistics you can deduct from he news-website Spiegel. Yes, that is THE David Kreisel who uncovered the Xerox JBIG2 encoder problem, which is even visible on Obamas scan of his birth certificate)
(English translation of his "Spiegel Mining", made by humans not AI so it is correct and not weird HERE)
Boffin is an inoffensive term used by the UK tabloids when describing anyone with university level research expertise to their ignorant readership.
Boffins work in the academic sector or industry.
In the UK, lecturers teach in universities and may be considered boffins, whilst teachers work in schools teaching children and are not regarded as or termed boffins.
The BlueSky post used the original headline 5 minutes after publishing here.
Perhaps there is an overnight Perl script to merkinize articles before the UK wakes up so the UK commentariat doesn't notice and make vexatious complaints, or maybe the Australians have already capitulated to US demands (so much for El Reg targetting the lucrative US market, in 4 years time they'll be banging rocks together).
Nah, we're not that organized or cynical. It's as simple as this: I wrote boffins as the headline at the office. I got home, went to the gym, had dinner, relaxed a little, and looked at the site to make sure things were ticking over OK.
And it just felt on reflection that teachers and professors would work better there, because we already have a revenge of the nerds reference, and teachers (and a lot of professors) aren't boffins. Plus it's educators v the White House. That seemed more striking to me than wrapping it all up in boffins.
I wouldn't read into tweaks and editorial choices too much; we're regular joes who are lucky enough to get paid to poke fun at the tech world, get people to lighten up, and explain stuff along the way. We make decisions and change our minds on gut feeling a lot.
C.
That Xerox JBIG2 business is rather interesting imho.
It seems they successfully introduced AI pattern matching into the phtocopy process, right down to the production of hallucinations, resulting in what are essentially genAI "creative" outputs from the machines -- though I guess that's not what their original intended use was ...
As for the headline change, that could be what the (very long) 33c3 refers to as headline testing (or click testing?) ... which seems par for the course for News websites (eg. Der Spiegel, ElReg, ...) -- should we worry about this practice? (asking for a friend)
Hi - it's pretty simple. We love the word boffins and we use it every week, but sometimes we over-use it and it loses its impact. We try to reserve it to specifically to scientists, particularly those in traditional sciences such as physics and chemistry as well as strong computer science.
Also this is a story that ought to appeal to a wider tech-interested audience, and hitting them with our boffin slang right out of the gate along with a Revenge of the Nerds reference seemed like it would be off-putting for some for such an important issue.
We bite the hand that feeds us, but we don't hack our own wings off either. Sometimes we have to balance humor with audience accessibility in order to maintain or grow our reach, influence and impact. That means headline tweaks from time to time on reflection. This is online, it's not print. It's also all a long battle, not short skirmishes.
More analogies as they come.
C.
The point? The headline was changed, similar to The Spiegel does corrections. Watch the English version or AI-subtitled German version of the youtube link, it is fun to watch, informative, but harmless as well. But if the Chaos Computer Club does not ring any bell with you, why are you on IT news centered The Reg anyway?
As reported by that bastion of woke, lefty liberalism Forbes 12/3/25 @1:52
Some context. The FOCF is in a meeting with the Taoisearch of Ireland (one of the few nations that formally recognises Gaza and the Palestinians) and plays his "girls killed by migrants" script, then pivots to Chuck Schumer (who helped prevent a govt shutdown, stopping Leon from making even more free with the USG budget).
In case you're wondering the right to decide who is (or is not) a member of any kind of racial or religious group is a sign of a fascist.
Any normal person who had an aged relative who rambled s**t like this to a relative stranger would be begging them to go to a doctor and be looking at assisted living places.
Just a reminder America, by your actions (like voting for weak, thin-skinned, needy and easily manipulated man-child because "They're eating the DOGS!" or voting third-parties with zero chance of winning the Electoral College) and your inactions (like staying home, or not voting for the only actual functioning human being on the ballot) you did this to yourselves
But hey it was worth it wasn't it? Now the price of eggs has dropped soooo much, and you're purging your country of all those immigrants who you don't think do anything of importance and just cause more crime. Not to mention that smaller, more efficient government you all wanted.
How's that working out for you?
"girls killed by migrants"
ILLEGAL migrants who had prior convictions and had been released by the previous admin.
"who helped prevent a govt shutdown"
LOL! The dems wanted a shutdown to cause a crisis so they could attack Trump. Chuckie's party is really upset that he caved in like he did. What is even funnier is the dems screech and wail about how awful a shutdown would be when they are in power.
"voting third-parties" "and your inactions"
Ah, blame the voter! Don't blame the dems for putting forward the most toxic candidate in history and faking her campaign at every level. Don't blame the party that has no policies except being anti-trump. Don't blame the party with an all time low popularity. Don't blame the party that votes against women's rights.
" ... been released by the previous admin. ... "
So you mean like the "previous" Administration that released 5000 Taliban in Afghanistan?
" ... The dems wanted a shutdown ... "
Or when the Republicans wanted to do it several times and actually DID shut it down? To fuck with Biden and blamed Democrats for it?
" ... Don't blame the party that has no policies ... "
So unspecified "concepts" are better? And there were policies. You just weren't paying attention.
" ... Don't blame the party that votes against women's rights. ... "
< furrows brow confused look > We did. We blamed Republicans, because they are the ones that took away a woman's right to decide their own reproductive healthcare. In Texas, in the 2 years fallowing the over turning of Roe, infant mortality rates rose 25%, and maternal mortality rates rose 50%. And I forget where it was, that 200+ women were being investigated for having miscarriages because they were suspected for purposely causing them. So yea, we know who to blame for that.
You missed out the most telling statistic: in the 18 months following the repeal of Roe, of roughly 588,000 pregnancies recorded in Texas, 26,813 were the result of rape. So, one in every 22 babies born in Texas was conceived by rape. Every pre-natal or ante-natal class in the state will on average contain a minimum of one victim.
Perfectly reasonable. The source for the number of rape-induced pregnancies in Texas is an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on 24th January 2024 and quoted by Scientific American the following day. The number of pregnancies is extrapolated from the Texas state health board's own statistics for 2022 and 2023.
"Taliban in Afghanistan?"
If they'd been released into the US that would have been an issue.
"You just weren't paying attention"
32 days! ha-ha-ha-ha! 32 days! They had nothing except populist claptrap and drunken cackling.
"reproductive healthcare"
Killing a baby is not healthcare.
"rates rose 25%"
Citation needed, a quick search says 10-12%.
If it had been kept as 'safe and rare' rather than idiotic people posting on social media about how many abortions they've had and people wanting it up until birth for any reason then it would never have been an issue.
I'm sure that most USA-ians would have been happy with European limits. But the 'progressives' had to push the limit again and again and unsurprisingly there was a kickback.
Actually I have heard a person (and only one person) advocate this position.
Step forward former Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jnr originally during something called the Sage Steel show on YT.
Other than this SEL I've found no other US politician advocating this position but boy was he a gift to the FOCF, who duly rewarded him.
No, the colour of someone's skin or what type of underwear they wear or what they have for breakfast doesn't make someone toxic. However Harris is a California 'progressive' Democrat and they ARE toxic. The political left always focus on things like skin colour and race and ignore the contents of a person's character. HRC was also toxic due to her 'its my turn' entitlement and pandering to her donor class.
Let us not forget that the UK Tory party has had 4 female leaders in the last 50 years.
@Jou (Mxyzptlk)
"Huh? The last news I had was that US imported a lot of eggs from Germany due to shortage. Is the rebound already rollin'?"
I suspect the drop in prices is due to importing what the US cannot provide itself. This is a fair problem with the tariffs idea where importing these things would end up more expensive than it needs to be.
From my point of view: Why did they import anyway? I mean, it's not like anyone is dying if there is a shortage of eggs for a few weeks. Importing eggs from Germany is a 110% 1st world luxury-convenience problem. I simply saw that news, shaked my head, then face-palmed, and moved on to the next news.
@Jou (Mxyzptlk)
"From my point of view: Why did they import anyway? I mean, it's not like anyone is dying if there is a shortage of eggs for a few weeks. Importing eggs from Germany is a 110% 1st world luxury-convenience problem. I simply saw that news, shaked my head, then face-palmed, and moved on to the next news."
It is a first world problem that became a political football as the symbol of inflation. Such is the way with politics. I am assuming importing was actually just private business getting on which is fine, hopefully not government going out of its way to buy them.
Eggs must be very cheap in Germany if they can be exported across the Atlantic to the USA, have a 20% tariff applied on arrival and STILL be cheaper than local ones. On the other hand, US style capitalism where the suppliers are price gouging due to a reduction in local supply is probably the prime reason for the price rises.
Sarcasm and irony must be marked as such since, for the last ten years, way too many stupid funny weird strange predictions, which were never expected to come true, came true. So my irony and sarcasm detectors are seriously broken. And given the current situation in west-pondian, I see no way they could heal in the next four years. I simply enjoy being on the other side of the pond, and watch the strangest comedy show ever.
Yes but mommy, isn't the trans woke muslim jew migrant fentanyl tunnel burrowing pet dog-and-cat BBQ cabal, and its illegal professor friends, out using its scary magics again to keep the Gulf of Ameristan out of Orangeland's very large and manly hands!?!?!? We can't have that mommy, something's gotta be done! We'll send 'em all to GITMO, to build a great big wall, and Mexico will pay for it ...
In case you're wondering the right to decide who is (or is not) a member of any kind of racial or religious group is a sign of a fascist.
Generally I think it's up to members of groups to decide who else is a member. So Jews get to decide who is Jewish (and different groups of Jews may have different views), Muslims get to decide who is Muslim (same caveat), Scots get to decide who is Scottish (ditto) and so on. The one exception seems to be women, who are no longer permitted to decide for themselves who counts as a woman.
He doesn't believe in science, a man of God he think this will serve him enough to get the world by, oh and of course he has "common sense" as he put it
Science has given us much greater understanding of the almost everything today and this Piece Of Totally Useless Shit is going backwards with these and other draconian measures. The US Universities are well respected around the world for Science and many other areas of research and has an excellent reputation with innovations etc and this is a severe dumbing down.
The people in the US voted for improved standards of living and less (or none at all) migrations but it looks like what you're getting is something radically extreme and along with tariffs and recent remarks regarding freeloading europeans, Canada 51st state ? Greenland, Panama Canal. it may not be long before the US will start alienating itself from almost everyone else. Who know's they might even end up with the commies/north koreans. Governed by idiocracy, greed and control of , and abuse of power.
This is what happens when you put children in charge of a nation, maybe cruel, yeah , should be even a group of school kids could do a better job
"freeloading europeans"
So here is the thing, we ARE freeloading off the US for defence.
The red sea and suez affects Europe far more than the US yet who has the most warships there? Who has an aircraft carrier group there? Does the UK even have a working aircraft carrier right now with working aircraft? Where is the French carrier?
The quid pro quo for the freeloading was stability, trade with the US dollar as the currency of trade, the European nations didn't ramp up their defence industries (which just after WW2 was seen as a bad thing) and what they did buy they bought from the US, and in the main support for the US' jollies around the world as European nations didn't want to scupper their trade or defence.
If that's not good enough now and the US wants to throw its relationship with western European countries away and instead tie its future to one country with the GDP of Italy and its leader which is openly taking the piss but POTUS and the cabinet are too dumb to see it, so be it.
"European nations didn't ramp up their defence industries"
The UK and France both did. Both nations developed the bomb, built supersonic aircraft, nuclear subs, missiles, long range bombers (ok, not the French).
"what they did buy they bought from the US"
France doesn't. The UK did eventually as it was a lot cheaper but now we are buying more French missiles.
Yes, and? The UK trident missiles have UK designed and built warheads and sit in UK designed and built subs.
I never said we didn't buy anything, I said that we DID ramp our defence industry post WW2, which lasted quite some time, rather than simply going straight to buying from the US.
Actually starting with Duncan Sandys, a Conservative Minister of Defence in 1957, in which he predicted the airforce would be missiles all the way, no aircraft at all.
Backed up by civil servants who force merged virtually every UK military aircraft company into what would eventually be BAE as the UK needed a "National champion."
Fu**wits the lot of them.
So when did fighter aircraft actually do anything useful? Launching missiles doesn't really count.
Having fighter aircraft is a bit like having paratroopers ... who have not jumped into action since Suez, almost seventy years ago.
Ditto Japan. Trump and Co are denigrating Japan because of their "lack" of defence. Except it was the US administration that ran Japan that made sure Japans military was (rightfully at the time) severely hobbled and wrote into Japanese law that they could ONLY use their military for their own immediate defence if actually directly attacked.
"The red sea and suez affects Europe far more than the US"
And yet, in the "leaked" Signal conversation, the US seemed especially careful to make sure nothing happened to any Saudi oil facilities. Would the US simply pull out and not care about Saudi oil any more? I think not. They have enough at stake to justify being there, It's definitely NOT just a "European problem". If they want to withdraw a percentage of their forces to match the percentage of trade passing the Suez Canal with no thought for the value or importance of that trade, then let them do so. I'm sure the various European navies will take almost as much care to the defend US cargo ships as they do for everyone else.
The only reason the US has a smaller volume of traffic through the Suez Canal is because they get their cheap Chinese crap via the Panama Canal. And we know what Trumps attitude is to that canal.
It was so predictable:
The Radical Free Speech Activists would install Censorship the moment they were in power.
What you are seeing is the current administration in the process of installing complete censorship.
Even foreigners who criticized the Great Leader in their private posts are expelled.
From what I have read the sciences are rightfully complaining and not wanting the funding cut. The arts and insanities are demanding the University should take a harder line against Trump and why wont other universities join them in their rebellion. Appeasing these protesters, some who are not even students, that have taken some illegal actions even has not worked. Apologising to them and promising not to call the cops if they will just behave please also isnt working.
Hopefully the University will start remedying the issue
the state is c(o/u)ming under totalitarian control, if they take it to the courts & justice systems and win, the dude will chuck his toys out of the pram, because there's one thing he does't like and that's losing. Instead he will take this personally and do what he can to replace the legal service with his assailants.
@ArrZarr
"Would you care to list your sources"
Fair question-
Same event cross reference for those who cry about sources-
https://freebeacon.com/campus/manhattan-da-drops-charges-against-30-columbia-protesters-arrested-over-campus-building-occupation/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/manhattan-da-drops-charges-against-most-of-the-columbia-university-protesters/ar-BB1oBfsI
https://nypost.com/2024/06/20/us-news/outrage-as-manhattan-da-braggs-office-drops-nearly-all-cases-from-columbia-universitys-anti-israel-protest/
The crackdown-
https://president.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/03.21.2025%20Columbia%20-%20FINAL.pdf
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14525195/columbia-university-trump-policy-changes-federal-funds-anti-israel-protests.html
Apologise to the protesters-
https://nypost.com/2024/09/19/us-news/columbia-universitys-interim-president-katrina-armstrong/
Science vs arts-
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/columbia-trump-faculty-meetings-38a65fff
https://x.com/Columbia_psc/status/1903991017868575131
https://www.thefp.com/p/columbia-president-says-one-thing
Of course this is only a few select bits, the issue has been much larger for some time.
*Edit-
Another one. Its funny how Columbia agrees to the terms and these groups try to undermine her (two faced) acceptance-
https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5212566-aft-aaup-sues-trump-administration-columbia/
@sabroni
"It allows you to post html links, make those actually clickable."
I am very happy to filter out the people too stupid to understand how to copy and paste or highlight, right click and open in new tab. What impresses me about your comment is such stupid people normally post as coward so people cant see who is so stupid.
I appreciate you standing up and owning it!
@AC
"Well that's a enjoyable past-time on mobile, just to entertain your millionth treatise on How US And Tufton-Street Neoliberalism Is Right And Everything And Everyone Else Is Wrong."
You dont seem to realise but I consider you to be one of those I am happy to exclude though your own inability, you may be a coward but your usual garbage identifies you as one of my pet trolls.
"You're going to have to meet people half-way or you won't win any converts."
Convert what? Is that why you troll so hard.
"millionth treatise on How US And Tufton-Street Neoliberalism Is Right And Everything And Everyone Else Is Wrong."
How very unfair. Just because someone is in the thrall of dark-money funded, shadowy organisations it may not be their fault. Perhaps thay are the real victims of fraud having been sold a tissue of lies?
We should not blame these victims of confidence tricksters.
" ... join them in their rebellion ... "
It's not a rebellion. <shakes head > They have a long history of being places that are known for protests. Viet Nam, a little place called Kent State. Pick a social or political issue, and these places have had protests. Something which is protected by the Constitution. Free Speech, also protected. Both sides have done it for decades.
Just this time it hurts the fee fees of a thin-skined, petty, hateful little man-child that thinks that he knows everything and has all the answers. So he throws a tantrum and tries to bully those that disagree with him.
Thanks for remembering Kent State.
Quick summary for those who weren't around at the time. Student protests on campus and they end up sending in the National Guard. Fleeing students shot in the back. Four dead. Check out Ohio by Neil Young to get a flavour of the times. My first year at University of Sussex (1970) I made friends with an exchange student from California, his school buddies were coming back from Vietnam in body bags.
Oh, it was only a matter of time until the extremists would show up. The world is not binary, and is way more interwoven than you currently see. Go to Europe, China, India and so on to open your mind. You should have watched IShowSpeed 's 6+hour (lag free, 4k) China livestreams, non staged. Open your mind, and listen to USA people which live OUTSIDE USA, there are tons of other channels, some at professionaly level, other at personal level. The last example channel I mentioned also shows how the people develop from being outside USA, can be measured by how often he says "And I'm guilty of it too, I said some unbelievable dumb things in the past" in his videos, for example the "Posts That PROVE Americans Think Only THEY Exist..." video.
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