~~~ National Guard troops, guarding (I guess) the Department of Labor building, which is draped with a huge propaganda banner featuring the Dear Leader.
Marie: Honest to Pete, the following is a real story on the front page of the New York Times. I expect the lede will change soon, but we must remember that this is the way the Trump administration "works": ~~~
~~~ Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Sheryl Stolberg, et al., of the New York Times: “The White House and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were engaged in a tense standoff on Thursday after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to fire the director, Susan Monarez, and multiple high-ranking agency officials resigned. The White House said that she had been dismissed. But her lawyers, who said she had chosen “protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” insisted that she remained C.D.C. director until ... [Donald] Trump fired her personally. The dispute now appears to be in the hands of Mr. Trump, who has not weighed in publicly.” ~~~
~~~ Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: “As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reeled from the ousting of its director, senior leaders who resigned in protest told The Washington Post they were asked to participate in an unscientific vaccine recommendation process that they believe could harm the health of Americans. The officials spoke shortly before security officials escorted them off the CDC’s Atlanta campus Thursday morning. Staff and leaders of the agency are openly revolting against the Trump administration and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of the CDC and anti-vaccine activist after months of tension over vaccine policy and staffing cuts.... Kennedy, for his part, criticized the CDC Thursday on Fox News, describing it as a source of misinformation during the covid-19 pandemic and suggesting bigger changes were to come.”
Andrew Ackerman & Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: “Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook on Thursday sued to prevent ... Donald Trump’s attempt to oust her from office, setting up a legal clash that could determine the Fed’s ability to continue operating outside White House control. In her complaint, Cook asked the U.S. District Court in Washington to issue an injunction to block the dismissal, which her lawsuit characterized as 'unprecedented and illegal.' She also stated the allegations of mortgage fraud cited by the White House fall short of the legal standard for her removal.... Cook has yet to respond substantively to the allegations. The Justice Department says it has opened an investigation into the matter, but no charges have been filed publicly.” ~~~
~~~ Politico's report is here. A non-firewalled copy of Cook's complaint is here.
Katie Robertson of the New York Times: “The [Atlanta] Journal-Constitution will stop publishing a print newspaper at the end of the year, [its president and publisher Andrew] Morse said, and divert all of its resources into the digital news operation. The company has published in print since 1868.... The Journal-Constitution is one of the largest daily newspapers yet to completely abandon print.”
~~~~~~~~~~
As you read through today's news highlights, I think you'll see that Akhilleus -- in his commentary below -- did quite an accurate job of articulating the theme o' the day: "Jesus. We are well and truly fucked."
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: Donald “Trump held a lengthy Oval Office meeting on Wednesday about the postwar future of the Gaza Strip, even as a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas remains elusive and residents of the territory face a humanitarian crisis. Mr. Trump met for more than 90 minutes with his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, as well as with Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and former White House adviser Jared Kushner.... Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, was there for portions of the meeting, as was Tony Blair, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom who has since begun a global institute....”
Dan Rather & Team: “Trump has inserted himself into just about every aspect of American life — beyond politics and governance. He is staging a cultural revolution reminiscent of the one in China in the 1960s and ‘70s that destroyed much of the country’s heritage and suppressed intellectual thought. Trump wants to fundamentally change the culture of our country to reflect not America as it is today, but as it once was, controlled by an old, white, conservative patriarchy. He is attempting to turn back the tide of what he calls left 'woke' messaging in everything from university curriculum to Hollywood movies to elementary school reading lists.” Thanks to akaWendy for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Lena Sun, et al., of the Washington Post: “Susan Monarez was ousted Wednesday weeks into her tenure as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after she faced pressure to change vaccine policy. Several senior CDC officials announced their resignations shortly after, plunging the public health agency into turmoil. Monarez was pressed for days by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., administration lawyers and other officials over whether she would support rescinding certain approvals for coronavirus vaccines.... Kennedy and other officials questioned Monarez Monday on whether she was aligned with the administration’s efforts to change vaccine policy.... Monarez, who was a longtime federal government scientist before ... Donald Trump nominated her to lead the CDC, declined to commit to support changing coronavirus vaccine policy without consulting her advisers, two people said. That prompted Kennedy to urge her to resign for 'not supporting President Trump’s agenda.'...” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Erika Edwards & Berkeley Lovelace of NBC News: “'Dr. Monarez has neither resigned nor received notification from the White House that she has been fired, and as a person of integrity and devoted to science, she will not resign,' [said her] attorneys.... The White House fired back shortly afterward, formally terminating Monarez.” ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "A CDC official who resigned following the announcement that agency director Susan Monarez had been ousted shared a post Wednesday on why he's stepping down that accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of ignoring experts.... Demetre Daskalakis, who was director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said on X that recent policy changes threatened lives and there had been an 'intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines.'"
~~~ Rachel Roubein & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: “The Food and Drug Administration signed off Wednesday on coronavirus vaccines for those considered higher risk, narrowing approval for shots once routinely provided to nearly all Americans. The agency cleared shots manufactured by Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax. Companies were working to reformulate their vaccines to better target new strains of the virus. The move comes as the country is in the midst of a midsummer wave of coronavirus cases. The FDA limited approval of the new vaccines to those at 'higher risk,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in an X post announcing the approvals.
“Trump administration officials previously described those at higher risk as being ages 65 and older or having an underlying condition that increases the risk of severe disease. An HHS spokesman pointed to a New England Journal of Medicine article written by top FDA officials in May that listed covid risk factors, including asthma, smoking, physical inactivity and obesity. That article accompanied an announcement from the Trump administration that it would take a new targeted approach to coronavirus vaccines, rejecting universal recommendations for all Americans ages 6 months and older to receive annual shots.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times: “The F.D.A. decision creates a fractured and confusing landscape. Healthy adults under 65 may have to jump through hoops to get a shot, if they are able to get one at all. The same is true for healthy children, the youngest of whom are at high risk of Covid complications simply by virtue of their age. Here is where things stand, and what you can do.” This is a gift link. A related Axios post is here. ~~~
~~~ Anumita Kaur of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration is urging West Virginia to offer religious exemptions from school vaccine mandates, alarming public health advocates who see it as part of a broader campaign to undermine an effective immunization strategy. West Virginia, which has one of the nation’s strictest vaccine mandates, has been embroiled in a dispute over Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s demand to let parents decline shots for their children by invoking their religious beliefs. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services backed the governor’s efforts last week by sending a letter to West Virginia officials warning that the state may be violating civil rights laws. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a critic of vaccine mandates who founded an anti-vaccine organization, followed up with an X post supporting Morrisey and vowing to 'defend every family’s right to make informed health decisions.'”
Let's check in to see how Trump's takeover of "crime-ridden" D.C. is working out (related WashPo story also linked yesterday): ~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson: "The image of National Guard troops, some of them from as far away as Louisiana and Mississippi, in Washington, D.C., spreading mulch around the cherry trees at the Tidal Basin and picking up trash, illustrates that ... Donald J. Trump’s insistence that he needed troops to crack down on violent crime in the nation’s capital was always a cover for an authoritarian takeover." Read on. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Despite his false claim to be a "law and order" president*, I expect Felonious Don has the same regard for police officers as he does for soldiers: they're all "suckers & losers," willing to lose their lives in service of their communities and their country. Trump probably has a particular animus for D.C. cops because it was their critical assistance to the Capitol Police on January 6, 2021, that prevented Trump's revolutionary mob from taking over the Capitol. The Capitol Police (and other law enforcement on scene) did not have the manpower to hold the line without help from the Metropolitan Police.
Hana Kiros of the Atlantic: “One of the more surreal knock-on effects of the gutting of USAID is that the U.S. government is now holding a massive fire sale for mosquito nets, water towers, printers, iPads, chairs, generators, defibrillators, textbooks, agricultural equipment, motorbikes, mobile health clinics, and more. Until recently, these items supported the 5,000-plus foreign-aid projects that the Trump administration has now canceled.... Federal and humanitarian workers have scrambled to run a mass closeout before their own termination or their project’s bankruptcy, with little guidance from leadership at USAID or the State Department. The result is that millions of dollars’ worth of equipment that the United States has already purchased is being auctioned off, likely at an extreme loss, or simply abandoned.” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link.
Jasper Craven in Politico Magazine: “In his 2024 book The War on Warriors, [Pete] Hegseth ... agitates against America’s bedrock constitutional doctrine of civilian military control, casting this class of martial outsiders as weak, privileged, radically left. During his confirmation hearing in January, Hegseth pledged to 'rip, root and branch the politics and divisive policies' out of service academies like West Point by ridding them of civilian faculty, some of whom, he wildly alleges in his book, had responded in the weeks after 9/11 with a ‘we deserved this’ narrative. Days after Hegseth’s hearing..., Donald Trump co-signed his quest via an executive order pledging to overhaul the 'leadership, curriculum, and instructors' at the military service academies.... [In a teleconference, Hegseth ordered ] service academy leaders ... to focus on history, warfighting and engineering, and hobble much of the rest [of their curricula. West Point has instituted] a new draconian policy requiring military approval for all 'journal publications, conference presentations, media interviews, podcasts, opinion editorials, blog posts, social media posts, etc.'... [Many professors at the academies] have left under pressure....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I surmise that the goal here is to make officers less knowledgeable and less able to think for themselves -- and therefore less likely to have the background and inclination to question illegal or unconstitutional orders.
Brianna Sacks of the Washington Post: “The Department of Homeland Security is now barring states and volunteer groups that receive government funds from helping undocumented immigrants.... The new rules also require groups to cooperate with immigration officials and enforcement operations. Several disaster assistance groups, FEMA employees and emergency management experts said the new requirements ... would make it harder for nonprofits to help the most vulnerable people in the aftermath of a disaster. Some members of the national volunteer disaster group network also questioned whether the new requirements are constitutional and point out that they seem to violate some local and state laws that prevent asking about a person’s immigration status.... The affected contractors include faith-based groups and nonprofits such as the Salvation Army and the Red Cross, which states usually rely on to set up shelters and deliver basic assistance.”
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration wants to use a Navy base north of Chicago as a launchpad for federal law enforcement activity against undocumented immigration, defense officials said Tuesday, as the White House contemplates also deploying thousands of U.S. troops to the nation’s third-largest city amid rising tension with the Illinois governor. Officials at Naval Station Great Lakes on Wednesday acknowledged having received a request from the Department of Homeland Security that seeks 'limited support' for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose aggressive tactics under the current administration have drawn outrage from opponents of ... Donald Trump. The base, a hub for recruit training, would provide 'facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs' if the request is granted, defense officials said in a statement.”
Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: “Two months after it opened, the controversial immigrant detention center hastily erected in the middle of the Everglades is losing all of its detainees, a state official said in an email. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has 'increased the pace of the removals' from Alligator Alcatraz, but he did not comment on the facility possibly being emptied entirely of detainees after a federal judge ruled last week that the site must be dismantled by late October. In an email obtained by The Washington Post on Wednesday, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said that 'we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days.' 'I think he was just referring to they’re deporting them very quickly, and that’s a good thing,' DeSantis said of Guthrie’s email.” The AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Like Trump, Ron doesn't know when to shut up. Alligator Alcatraz was a disaster on a number of levels, so you can only lose by trying to defend it by conjuring up what you characterize as a positive reason for its demise.
Ha! U.S. Attorney Boxwine Can't Indict a Ham Sandwich. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Federal prosecutors on Tuesday were unable to persuade a grand jury to approve a felony indictment against a man who threw a sandwich at a federal agent on the streets of Washington this month.... The grand jury’s rejection of the felony charge was a remarkable failure by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington and the second time in recent days that a majority of grand jurors refused to vote to indict a person accused of felony assault on a federal agent. It also amounted to a sharp rebuke by a panel of ordinary citizens against the prosecutors assigned to bring charges against people arrested after ... [Donald] Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and federal agents to fight crime and patrol the city’s streets. The rejection by grand jurors was particularly noteworthy given the attention paid to the case of the man who threw the sandwich, Sean C. Dunn. Video of the episode went viral on social media, senior officials talked about the case, and the administration posted footage of a large group of heavily armed law enforcement officers going to Mr. Dunn’s apartment.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: “The Transportation Department is planning to take over management of D.C.’s Union Station, Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced Wednesday, in another example of the White House exerting power over the District as National Guard soldiers and federal law enforcement officers continue to patrol the city.... Duffy said it will involve a cooperative agreement with the nonprofit Union Station Redevelopment Corp., which controls the station, and Amtrak, which leases space from the USRC.... The announcement came hours before Duffy was set to join an inaugural ride on one of the Acela trains going into service this week between D.C. and Boston. His agency also has taken control of renovations at New York’s Penn Station....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Laura Loomer, a far-right, anti-Muslim bigot who does not hold nor ever has held a position in the federal government, let alone in intelligence gathering or assessment, apparently has caused the unwarranted firing of another career intelligence officer. ~~~
~~~ Warren Strobel, et al., of the Washington Post: “In the days leading up to ... Donald Trump’s Aug. 15 Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the CIA’s senior-most Russia experts worked grueling hours, helping Trump and his team prepare for [the meeting].... Four days later, the CIA officer — whom The Washington Post is not naming for her protection — ... was informed that her clearance to look at classified material was being stripped. In a span of minutes, her 29-year career in public service was essentially over. The officer had been expecting an imminent move to Europe to take up a prestigious assignment approved by CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Instead, she became the latest casualty of a widening cull by Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, fueled at times by far-right activist Laura Loomer, targeting national security professionals whom they deem to have engaged in 'politicization or weaponization of intelligence to advance personal, partisan, or non-objective agendas,' according to Gabbard’s Aug. 19 memo.... The memo, posted on X, listed no specific infractions, but to many current and former officials it looked to be a revenge-driven loyalty purge. Among the 37 people whose clearances Gabbard publicly revoked were senior U.S. intelligence officials, including the CIA officer.”
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the New York Times: “The investigation into ... [Donald] Trump’s former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, began to pick up momentum during the Biden administration, when U.S. intelligence officials collected information that appeared to show that he had mishandled classified information.... The United States gathered data from an adversarial country’s spy service, including emails with sensitive information that Mr. Bolton, while still working in the first Trump administration, appeared to have sent to people close to him on an unclassified system.... While ... searches [of Mr. Bolton's home and office last week] have raised fresh questions about the extent to which Mr. Trump may be using the Justice Department and F.B.I. to try to punish those he dislikes, the new details of the case present a more complex chain of events. The disclosures suggest that a long-running investigation into Mr. Bolton’s activities changed over time, with some of the issues echoing past inquiries into the handling of national security secrets.... No charges have been filed against Mr. Bolton.”
Paul Krugman: “... the most remarkable thing about the number of people insisting that large-scale reliance on renewable [energy] is impossible is that such reliance is already happening in many places around the world, including large parts of the United States.... Iowa gets 65 percent of its electricity from renewables, mostly wind; California ... gets 38 percent, mainly from solar. The renewables revolution is, in short, well under way, and it’s one of the great technological success stories of modern times. And the Trump administration is trying to kill it.... While it was predictable ... that Trump and his party would try to eliminate Biden-era subsidies for renewable energy, and even throw up obstacles to new green energy projects, even I didn’t think Trump would try to destroy already existing renewable generation capacity. Yet here we are[.]... .... Never underestimate the power of irrational prejudice.” Read on.
All That Glitters.... Philip Kennicott of the Washington Post: “Recent photographs show the entire [Oval O]ffice has been gilded, including the paneled doors and the pediments above the main entrances.... Curators and conservators who have worked on 18th-century interiors were unanimous in their mockery of the decor.... The Oval Office gilding is especially out of character with the architecture, history and spirit of the building, which is a refined mix of simplicity and grandeur, a democratic space with a few imperial touches.... Several of [the experts] were more alarmed about the recent announcement that Trump will add a massive ballroom to the White House — which will apparently be highly gilded, as well.... Although a White House spokesman said the ballroom will be vetted by the two main oversight bodies, the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission (which Trump took control of by appointing loyalists without substantial design or planning experience), nothing has yet been submitted to either group, for a process that can take months and sometimes more than a year.”
Kat Lonsdorf, et al., of NPR on how the Biden administration failed to ensure humanitarian assistance to Palestinians living in Gaza: There were "strong, sometimes bitter arguments within the administration on how far the U.S. was willing to go to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow more aid into Gaza. U.S. officials were left frustrated by hours-long, heated exchanges with their Israeli counterparts. The effort ... was complicated by a president who felt a deep responsibility to Israel and its security, and the question of whether or not to openly confront Israel or use punitive measures, like withholding military aid.... [The] humanitarian situation in Gaza ... has only deteriorated since ... [Donald] Trump came into office." This is a long, damning report, well-worth the reporters' efforts.
Aimee Picchi of CBS Money Watch: "The individuals who make up the Forbes 400 list, topped by Tesla CEO Elon Musk with a fortune of $244 billion, paid an average effective tax rate of 24% from 2018 to 2020, compared with a 30% rate for all other U.S. taxpayers, the researchers said in a new paper published in the National Bureau of Economic Research. The research comes as ... [Donald] Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' signed into law on July 4, delivers its largest benefits to the highest-earning Americans through a mix of new and extended tax breaks. Those include raising the estate-tax exemption to $15 million per person, up from about $14 million." (Also linked yesterday.)
A Crack In Fox's Armor? Lydia O'Connor of the Huffington Post: “Fox News host and former Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy questioned stricter gun control legislation when he was in office and took money from the National Rifle Association. But live on air Wednesday, in the wake of the deadly shooting in Minnesota, he appeared to have a change of heart. 'We’re going to have a conversation of freedom versus protecting children,' he told the hosts of Fox News’ 'Outnumbered' after a gunman fired bullets into a back-to-school Mass, killing two young children and injuring 17 others.”
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Minnesota. New York Times: “A gunman fired a rifle through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis where students were celebrating their first Mass of the new school year on Wednesday, killing an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old in the pews and injuring 17 others, the police said. The attacker then shot and killed himself in the rear of the church, the Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, said at a news conference. Of the 17 people injured, 14 were children, the chief said. Two were in critical condition, he said. The shooting, at about 8:30 a.m. Central time, took place at the Annunciation Catholic Church, which has a school for children from prekindergarten through eighth grade. Monday was the first day of school, and the all-school Mass on Wednesday is an annual tradition.” This is a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday.)
New York/Florida. Dirty Looks Work! Rachel Dobkin of the Independent: “Fox News’ Sean Hannity said he left New York City for the Sunshine State because he got too many mean looks from people at restaurants, among other personal reasons. Hannity, a prominent figure on the conservative network and ally of ... Donald Trump, announced in January 2024 that he packed his bags and moved to 'the free state of Florida.' 'I am out. I am done. I’m finished,' Hannity said on his iHeartRadio show he hosts in addition to his primetime Fox News show, Hannity.”
North Carolina. Another Insane Republican Official Is Arrested & Charged. WRAL (Raleigh) News: "The [Republican] chairman of the Surry County Board of Elections was charged after Wilmington police said they found evidence he placed illegal narcotics in his granddaughters' ice cream. On Aug. 8, James Edwin Yokeley Jr. told an officer that his two juvenile granddaughters found two pills in ice cream purchased from Dairy Queen.... Investigators discovered video footage that showed Yokeley was responsible for placing the pills into the ice cream for both girls, police said. The pills tested positive for MDMA and cocaine, according to an arrest warrant.... The girls did not consume the pills.... Yokeley was charged with contaminating food or drink with a controlled substance, felony possession of schedule 1 narcotics and felony child abuse, records show. He was transported to the New Hanover County Detention Center and posted a $100,000 secured bond."
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Ukraine/Russia. Maria Varenikova of the New York Times: “A barrage of Russian missiles and drones killed at least ten people in Ukraine’s capital, including a child, early on Thursday, officials said. The authorities reported that more than 30 other people were injured in the strikes on Kyiv, the capital, and that residents were trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building. A five-story apartment building was destroyed and other houses damaged. A missile also struck a shopping mall in central Kyiv, the authorities said. Fires were reported in several parts of the city, and missiles and drones could still be heard flying overhead at dawn.” ~~~
~~~ Zoya Sheftalovich & Nette Nöstlinger of Politico: “The pressure being put on Vladimir Putin by Donald Trump and European leaders to end the war in Ukraine shows no sign of having an effect. Early Thursday, Russia launched a deadly attack on Kyiv that killed at least 12 and damaged buildings housing the EU and British delegations. There were no injuries to EU staff in the attack.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, less than two weeks ago, Trump told French President Macron that he thought Putin wanted to make a peace deal just as a favor to Trump. Not only that, he had previously said that he would know "within two minutes" of seeing Putin whether or not Putin was willing to deal, and he had a lot more than two minutes to gauge Putin's inclinations. So either (a) Trump's assessments of Putin were 100% wrong or (b) Putin has little control over his armed forces. I choose (a).
20 comments:
That Worm is Still Alive and Still Chowing Down
So here we have yet another actual scientist, a serious and professional health administrator at the CDC, forced out by an incompetent ignoramus, all because she, like every other scientist and doctor who isn't an idiot or a MAGA-MAHA shill, refuses to go along with RFKJ's preposterous and seriously dangerous and debunked theories. And Fat Hitler is letting it happen.
MAHA, in my mind, immediately translates to Mwah-ha-ha...the vile laugh of a malevolent conniver whose evil plans are succeeding.
See, here's the thing. Say you had a strong feeling that vaccines were the cause of all manner of bad outcomes (I'm not sure anyone can seriously say that all outcomes without vaccines are good....polio? Smallpox?). Okay, fine. So let's do the research, get some real world tests and see what's what. Years of research later, dozens and dozens of carefully constructed tests, and you have the answer. Vaccines do not cause autism or mitochondrial disease, or blindness, crotch rot, or cooties. A reasonably intelligent person would have to conclude that vaccines were not a serious problem. But if you are an ideologue, someone wedded to a belief system untroubled by facts or real world testing results, then you are not a reasonably intelligent person. You're a moron, or simply a slave to faulty and dangerous dogmatic thinking. And if so, should you be allowed to make health decisions for millions of people, threatening an entire generation of children with diseases that have already been conquered? Should you be allowed to let life threatening conditions revive and blossom into waves of death that had plagued humanity for millennia before medical science developed vaccines?
Donald Trump sees nothing wrong with that. As long as his MAGA bullshit is allowed to flourish, who cares if a few million kids die? Ideology is everything. So sure, let's put a guy in charge who has a worm eating his brain. That fucking parasitic fluke is still alive and active.
And to add to the litany of weird, disturbing, dangerous things about Kennedy, here he is saying he can diagnose children just by looking at them.
Anyone who's a parent can tell when their kid is not feeling well. We all know the signs. But unless it's a recurring problem, even the most observant parents will take the kid to a doctor to find out exactly what's wrong. Not RFKJ. He just KNOWS.
Not only is this not a serious person. This a dangerous weirdo. And it's one thing if he's your uncle, the one who's been off for years, who claims he can tell the future by the way he farts, it's another thing if Uncle Crazy is put in charge of the health of millions of people.
And that's what's happening. Fat Hitler is responsible for a huge list, lengthening by the hour, of terrible and horrible stuff. But even ending democracy and installing himself as a dictator isn't as bad as the wanton revival of life threatening diseases. This shit is pure evil. Mwah-ha-ha Kennedy has to go.
It's really difficult to point out the stupidest thing about the Fat Hitler Reich, but having a lunatic like Laura Loomer making personnel decisions based on her Magic 8 Ball of Loyalty has to be right up there.
And as dangerous as it is having Mwah-ha-ha Kennedy dragging us back to medieval healing practices (leeches, anyone?), it's just as dangerous to have Wormtongue Loomer whispering dirty talk into Fat Hitler's ears (even the one miraculously undamaged by a high velocity bullet fired from an assault rifle) resulting in the canning of experienced, knowledgeable, and well trained intelligence experts.
It's like consulting with Joe the Plumber (not really a plumber) to make decisions about your aortic aneurysm. And just about as promising of a successful outcome.
Jesus. We are well and truly fucked.
Steve M. asks Democrats to Bring Back "Weird"
The amusing Kennedy advice about vaccine use is his injunction that people should be free to make their own "informed decisions." Just wonder how he defines "informed." However he does, it's proof he understands neither vaccines nor the "community" in community health. e
It is hard to get one's arms around all, as Krugman calls it, "The Crazy" coming at his from all directions.
Doesn't CDC stand for Center for Disease Confusion?
The outcome of the "confusion" is that millions fewer people will get the vaccine. It won't be free, and many healthy people won't even go to their doctors during the next year -- doctors who might urge them to pay out-of-pocket for the exam.
That is, you're going to have millions more "normal" people who don't get the shots. That's on top of the conspiracy theorists and fairly dumb people who already are disinclined to get the vaccines even when they're free. Fer instance, today I have a guy coming over to give me a bid on some work I need done; he volunteered to me the other day that he did not get the vaccine because his brother died of a massive heart attack after getting the Covid vaccine, and he thought it must be the vaccine that did in his brother. I'm going to make No-Shot Guy do his bidding outdoors because I don't want him leaving his beasties in my house.
But now there will be a lot more people carrying beasties around. And that means more of us -- including those of us who do get the shots -- will get the virus. And some of us will die. Because RFKJ & Trump.
Ahh…I’m not getting vaccinated because my brother got the Covid vaccine, had a heart attack and died.
The classic Post Hoc fallacy. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, after that, therefore, because of that.
I wore a red tie on Wednesday. It rained. The tie caused the rain.
It really is that stupid.
Over 800,000 people in the US alone have heart attacks. It’s the single biggest cause of death. The brother would have had that MI without the Covid vaccine, without wearing a red tie, without putting his left shoe on before his right shoe (on Tuesday).
I realize that even smart people can maintain certain superstitions. During my baseball playing days, even well into my thirties, I’d make the sign of the cross before going up to bat in big situations, but that was more a rather harmless holdover from a Catholic childhood than a belief that god would make me pop up to the shortstop if I didn’t perform that little action.
Critical thinking is at a critically low point in America. This is how we get a crook, a liar, racist, rapist, and traitor in the White House. It’s also why PoT hacks and the Hack in Chief hate educated people. It’s not for nothing that Fat Hitler goes after places like Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford. That, and his belief that highly educated people tend to be Democrats. Well, there’s a really good reason for that too.
And it has nothing to do with tie color.
More reason to bring back weird....
Gil Duran, at The Nerd Reich, reports that
Peter Thiel plans lecture on Biblical bogeyman
"Just when you thought it couldn’t get any weirder, Peter Thiel has announced plans to deliver a four-part lecture series on the Antichrist. These unusual events will take place at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on four days in September and October....
Here’s the thing: this isn't really about religion. It’s about power and politics, wrapped in theological language. Thiel has long been fascinated with political theorist Carl Schmitt's ideas about “political theology”—the notion that all significant political concepts are secularized theological concepts."
He also explains - in a 2 minute video - "how Trump’s fake emergencies are an embrace of the theories of...Nazi legal theorist Carl Schmitt, one of Thiel’s major inspirations."
Tell me...does Trump actually believe in the giant faucet that would solve all of CA's water problems? Does the cult?
Gavin provides a picture of the giant faucet
@Akhilleus: Of course you're right about all that. I would be more dismissive of the dumb guy if not for my long personal experience.
After about the 19th family story I heard about how some relative died because the surgeon left a sponge in his stomach or someone forced the relative to go get the cake out of the rain on a cold and windy night, I realized that no one in my entire family had ever died of natural causes. It was always somebody else's fault.
One of the family members who told this kind of story was my mother, who was a genu-wine scientist (a chemist), so she should have known better. But it turns out her knowledge of science only served to give her more inventive stories to make up about what had caused Uncle So-and-So to die. I knew there was no point in arguing, because there was no rational basis for the wild conspiracy theories.
I think death is so frightening to some people that they must assign some malevolent or careless outside force the blame for it -- and if they themselves are careful, that outside ogre will never get them!
There was a poem my father used to recite (in part) to us when we were children. It was James Whitcomb Riley's "Little Orphant Annie." The punch line to each stanza was, "And the goblin'll git you ef you don't watch out!" I think my family took that punch line to heart.
Sadly, they didn't watch out in the end, and the goblins did get them.
Another unexpected consequence of global warming.
Jonathan Wolfe, in The New York Times, describe the tiny marine mollusks, known as .
Blue Dragons
"The arrival of the tiny marine mollusks, known as Glaucus atlanticus or blue dragons, is raising concern across Spain. The animals have so far shuttered a handful of beaches across four regions, angering locals and spoiling vacations at the height of the busy summer tourist season.
....
While blue dragons are typically found in tropical waters in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, in recent years they’ve been spotted farther afield, in countries like Australia and South Africa, as well as in states including Florida, North Carolina and Texas."
^^gift link
Marie,
Goblins'll always git ya.
Wendy,
Ahh...okay. So regarding your comment on Peter (He hates everyone but himself) Thiel's ideology, it seems we have good news and bad news.
The good news is that, if Thiel is correct, Fat Hitler doesn't just fly off the handle operating on a chaotic spin cycle to make his seemingly random and barking mad decisions. He's influenced by a very specific political theory.
The bad news? The theory was constructed by a Nazi supporter of dictators.
I'd heard of Carl Schmitt before but never took much time to look into his actual works. Christ almighty, what a loony. No wonder Thiel loves him. I also see that he was influential in pointing Leo Strauss (another piece of work) towards a much more authoritarian tilt of mind. Strauss was a major figure in directing the thinking of the political right from the fifties on. One of his most treasured bits of advice (adopted wholeheartedly by Dubya's administration and his handlers and advisers) was the idea that it's necessary to lie to voters in order to keep them in line. Just make shit up. You're the boss. Fuck all those little people.
I'm thinking that Thiel only ascribes to Fatty an interest in Schmitt's fascist philosophy because it aligns with his own warped thinking. My sense is that Trump just reacts to stuff and bounces from one atrocity to the next with zero philosophy underpinning his lurches. His only mantra is "Me First. What can I get out of this?" He doesn't know Carl Schmitt from Gumby.
So...the good news is he's not taking his cues from a Nazi political theorist. The bad news is, he acts like it anyway.
Akhilleus - I dont think anybody would accuse FH of taking cues from Carl Schmitt, but FH very likely takes ideas from PT, just as the prez in waiting, JayDee, does.
So.l..maybe some clarity from the WH is in the offing. Kennedy has asked the Pretender to back him in the CDC standoff. Will the Pretender attach his name to Kennedy's anti-vax lunacy or not? So far he's let Kennedy take all the heat..
Wendy,
Unfortunately, you're correct on that one. He's especially susceptible to the ideas of billionaires, and if those billionaires are assholes like him, he's all for their worst ideas.
Ken,
Fatty, at heart, is a coward. He has no principles. He makes a "stand" when he feels he's got Fox fools and MAGA morons on his side. He's only "tough" when looking tough is easy: tariffs, troops, build the wall, deport those people...backing someone up on principle (even a horrible one) is not his style. If WormBrain becomes too much of a problem and the MAGAts don't seen to care one way or the other, he'll throw him to the curb and blame him for all the horrible stuff that is sure go be coming.
MAGA Pedo-files (continued)
The number of holier than thou MAGA monsters increases daily. The more they screech about protecting the children, the faster we see reports of their best and brightest (worst and scummiest) diddling kids, spreading and collecting kiddie porn, while calling liberals and Democrats spawn of Satan (they should know)
So here's
Shelton Burkart, pastor of Zion Global Methodist Church (whatever the Christ that is):
"According to officials, 30-year-old Shelton Kelsey Burkart was charged with 5 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and 5 counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after NC SBI, along with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, seized his electronic devices at his church...
Search warrant documents revealed that Google forwarded information from Burkart’s email address and user profile that contained uploaded files of “potential child sexual abuse material.” From there, documents said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received the information and generated a Cybertipline to NC SBI to investigate."
He seems nice. Let's send the kiddies over to Paster Pedo for a few days. Their lives will be ruined before lunch on the first day. By lunch the second day, we're talking decades of therapy...if they survive.
But get a load of this fuckin' guy!
This turd from hell is Ray Holmberg. I missed this from a while back. Know why? These pricks dodge the national media. If this had been a Democrat, Meat the Press and the Both Sides Times would have been all over it. As it is, you really have to dig to find out horrible shit about the MAGAts.
"The longest-serving State Senator in the United States was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison today for traveling abroad to sexually abuse children.
North Dakota Democratic-NPL Communications Director Laura Dronen said, 'We will never know the full extent of the lives that were ruined by Ray Holmberg, but we hope that the survivors he’s left in his wake of depravity find some sense of healing in today’s just sentencing.
Holmberg showed no real remorse for his heinous crimes. He claimed his despicable text messages about assaulting minors were effectively just locker room talk. He said he was ‘bragging’ about raping children to a child rapist. Holmberg even tried to crack jokes. It’s that same man who for decades was one of the most powerful politicians in North Dakota. The current Grand Forks legislative districts were drawn up by that man. Committee heads were chosen by that man. That man held the purse strings for our state. This has to be the most egregious abuse of power and biggest political scandal our state has ever seen.''
Bragged about raping children.
Christ in a headlock. WTF!? Even if this is "locker room talk", like Fat Hitler's bragging about pussy grabbing (and kids, I've spent many years in locker rooms and I never once heard anyone say shit like that. Had that been the case, either that prick would be gulaged--ignored as if he weren't there--or he'd get the crap kicked out of him.)
So trying to say "Only kidding" doesn't cut it.
This is not to say that liberals-Democrats never do scummy things, but the number of MAGAts found guilty of child rape, kiddie porn, sexual abuse of minors, and other horrors, just pins the needle.
"Intelligence Chief Gabbard Slammed for Identifying Undercover CIA Officer
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has been condemned for sharing the name of an undercover CIA officer on social media.
On Aug. 19, Gabbard posted a memo on X that included a list of 37 current and former officials who had been stripped of their security clearances, including those who had supported Trump’s first impeachment trial or concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
Also included on the list was a senior CIA officer who had been working undercover, though Gabbard was unaware of this at the time, The Wall Street Journal reported. However, sources told the newspaper that Gabbard did not consult with the intelligence agency before posting the list of names to her 762,000 online followers."
"Senate Dems Launch Site To Track Rising Monthly Costs
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Thursday went live with GOPBudgetBuster.com, which allows users to input their monthly budgets and calculate projected costs next year. The website predicts increases in health insurance, electricity, food and car insurance, based on national averages and publicly available data.
Democrats are trying to directly tie the first year of Republican rule in Washington to rising costs ahead of a critical 2026 battle for control of the Senate."
ProPublica
"Trump’s Pick to Help Run the FBI Has a History of Prosecuting Influential Democrats
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s targeting of Democrats is legally questionable, experts say, but it’s helped to further his career nationally: “The more outrageous you are, the more you are going to attract the attention of Donald Trump.”"
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