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Posted
10 hours ago, Satchel said:

Texas has f’d around and is now about to find out:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/health/trump-state-health-grants-cuts.html

 

The Department of Health and Human Services has abruptly canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states that were being used for tracking infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment and other urgent health issues.

The cuts are likely to further hamstring state health departments, which are already underfunded and struggling with competing demands from chronic diseases, resurgent infections like syphilis and emerging threats like bird flu.

No additional activities can be conducted, and no additional costs may be incurred, as it relates to these funds,” the notices said.

 

For some, the effect was immediate.

In Lubbock, Texas, public health officials have received orders to stop work supported by three grants that helped fund the response to the widening measles outbreak there, according to Katherine Wells, the city’s director of public health.

But not to worry.  Sec’y Kennedy is on top of it:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/health/measles-kennedy-vitamin-a.html

 

Doctors in West Texas are seeing measles patients whose illnesses have been complicated by an alternative therapy endorsed by vaccine skeptics including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary.

Parents in Gaines County, Texas, the center of a raging measles outbreak, have increasingly turned to supplements and unproven treatments to protect their children, many of whom are unvaccinated, against the virus.

One of those supplements is cod liver oil containing vitamin A, which Mr. Kennedy has promoted as a near miraculous cure for measles. Physicians at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, say they’ve now treated a handful of unvaccinated children who were given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage.

Some of them had received unsafe doses of cod liver oil and other vitamin A supplements for several weeks in an attempt to prevent a measles infection, said Dr. Summer Davies, who cares for acutely ill children at the hospital.

Sure, kids will die, but how can we know if they are dying of measles or with measles?

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Posted
11 hours ago, Satchel said:

Texas has f’d around and is now about to find out:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/health/trump-state-health-grants-cuts.html

 

The Department of Health and Human Services has abruptly canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states that were being used for tracking infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment and other urgent health issues.

The cuts are likely to further hamstring state health departments, which are already underfunded and struggling with competing demands from chronic diseases, resurgent infections like syphilis and emerging threats like bird flu.

No additional activities can be conducted, and no additional costs may be incurred, as it relates to these funds,” the notices said.

 

For some, the effect was immediate.

In Lubbock, Texas, public health officials have received orders to stop work supported by three grants that helped fund the response to the widening measles outbreak there, according to Katherine Wells, the city’s director of public health.

But not to worry.  Sec’y Kennedy is on top of it:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/health/measles-kennedy-vitamin-a.html

 

Doctors in West Texas are seeing measles patients whose illnesses have been complicated by an alternative therapy endorsed by vaccine skeptics including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary.

Parents in Gaines County, Texas, the center of a raging measles outbreak, have increasingly turned to supplements and unproven treatments to protect their children, many of whom are unvaccinated, against the virus.

One of those supplements is cod liver oil containing vitamin A, which Mr. Kennedy has promoted as a near miraculous cure for measles. Physicians at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, say they’ve now treated a handful of unvaccinated children who were given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage.

Some of them had received unsafe doses of cod liver oil and other vitamin A supplements for several weeks in an attempt to prevent a measles infection, said Dr. Summer Davies, who cares for acutely ill children at the hospital.

I feel bad for the children that have morons for parents. As for the parents themselves, I have zero sympathy for their feelings if their child is sick or even dies. It's their fault. I would have no problem if they were arrested for endangering a child if not manslaughter but since this is Texas, Abbott will pin a freedom medal on their chest.

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Posted
I feel bad for the children that have morons for parents. As for the parents themselves, I have zero sympathy for their feelings if their child is sick or even dies. It's their fault. I would have no problem if they were arrested for endangering a child if not manslaughter but since this is Texas, Abbott will pin a freedom medal on their chest.

The dead kids are what tells you the freedom is working!
Posted

My wife got to intubate a kid with measles the other day. Our youngest is still a few weeks shy of being able to get the vaccine, so that's fun.

It really fucking sucks that Trump has been the dominant political figure for most of my post-graduate life. How much faster have we all aged this last decade? 

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Posted
There are no words.

We would rather poison our kids to death than give them a vaccine that has been proven safe for 50 years.

Sorry, but if your unvaxed kid dies from measles, you need to to be charged with murder. No exceptions.

It’s time to end the stupidity.
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Posted

Saw a brief snippet of RFK Jr. eating burgers with Sean Hannity. On the issue of vaccines, I think just in general, RFK pretty much listed off all the terrible things that can happen to you if you're vaccinated. And then finished it off with mumbling something about how we will still encourage it. We're all going to die.

Posted

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/27/trump-elise-stefanik-nomination-un
 

The Trump administration will leave Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) in the House, just days before the Senate was finally ready to move on her nomination as UN ambassador.

Why it matters: Stefanik has waited for months on her nomination due to the House GOP's tiny margin. The Florida special elections are Tuesday, but the administration has gotten cold feet about its margin ahead of crucial votes. 

  • Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair James Risch (R-Idaho) told reporters Thursday that Stefanik's nomination would be pulled, shortly before President Trump confirmed the news on Truth Social. 

Zoom in: President Trump will do tele-town halls Thursday in the special elections to replace former Reps. Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz. 

  • In FL-1, Republicans look on course to replace Gaetz with nominee Jimmy Patronis.

But in FL-6, GOP nominee Randy Fine has underperformed to the extent that the state and national parties have had to intervene. 

  • Public polling shows Fine within the margin of error in the district, which Trump won by 30 points in November. 
  • Private GOP polling is even scarier for Republicans: A recent survey by Tony Fabrizio, who was a chief strategist for Trump in 2024, has Fine with just a three percentage point lead, according to a person familiar with the data.

Between the lines: Stefanik's nomination was expected to move forward on Wednesday, April 2 — the day after the Florida specials, Axios reported just last week. 

  • "Congresswoman Stefanik is a great ally to President Trump, and we look forward to her confirmation as the next ambassador to the United Nations," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios last week.
 
  • Stefanik's seat would have been filled by a special election in New York, where Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has given signs she'd slow-walk the replacement.

The bottom line: Stefanik has worked hard for years to raise her stature in Trump's orbit.

  • The pulled nomination leaves her stranded in the House — with no leadership position after serving as No. 4 and a reduced committee workload that was planned around her forthcoming administration role.

 

Oh they scared

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Posted

image.png.87f3e9a648dcdc7a5a77dd13035ec03c.png
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/overdraft-fees-limit-cfpb.html?smid=url-share

Quote

 

The Senate voted Thursday to strike down a rule capping most bank overdraft fees at $5, a measure adopted late last year by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that had been expected to save Americans billions of dollars per year.

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, was the lone Republican to oppose the resolution, which passed on a nearly party-line vote, 52-48. It will now move to the House, where Representative French Hill, the Arkansas Republican who leads the Financial Service Committee, introduced a parallel resolution last month.

The rule would have limited the fees banks and credit unions could charge when customers spend more than they have in their accounts, typically $35 per overdraft. The bureau estimated it would save American households $5 billion a year. It was immediately challenged in court by banking trade groups.

The resolution was done through the Congressional Review Act, a 1996 law that permits lawmakers to reverse recently adopted regulations with a simple majority vote. It cannot be filibustered. The overdraft rule, which the consumer bureau finalized in December after years of preparatory work, was scheduled to take effect in late 2025.

Democrats are preparing to fight the resolution in the House, where they hope the slim Republican majority will work in their favor.

The American Bankers Association, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, praised the Senate’s action.

“If implemented, the C.F.P.B.’s 11th-hour rule imposing government price controls would force many banks to limit or eliminate overdraft protection as we know it,” said Rob Nichols, the trade group’s chief executive. “Many Americans would be driven to less regulated and higher risk non-bank lenders to cover unexpected or emergency expenses.”

Consumer advocates said the rule’s elimination would allow banks and credit unions to continue charging fees far higher than their actual costs for the service.

“Repealing the C.F.P.B.’s overdraft fee limits will hurt working families who are already struggling with high prices and inflation,” said Chuck Bell, the advocacy program director at Consumer Reports.

 

 

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Posted

image.thumb.png.24963f8a12ecac6b8882f223fb0b9924.png
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/health-department-job-layoffs-rfk-jr.html

Quote

 

The Trump administration on Thursday announced a layoff of 10,000 employees at the Health and Human Services Department, as part of a broad reorganization designed to bring communications and other functions directly under the purview of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The layoffs are a drastic reduction in personnel for the sprawling health department, which now employs about 82,000 people and touches the lives of every American through its oversight of medical care, food and drugs. Together with previous layoffs and departures, the move will bring the department down to about 62,000 employees, the agency said.

The restructuring will include creating a new division called the Administration for a Healthy America. “We’re going to do more with less,” Mr. Kennedy said, even as he acknowledged it would be “a painful period for H.H.S.”

The 28 divisions of the health agency will be consolidated into 15 new divisions, according to a statement issued by the department. Mr. Kennedy announced the changes in a YouTube video. The staff cuts, reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, are being made in line with President Trump’s order to implement the Department of Government Efficiency’s shrinking of the federal work force.

Mr. Kennedy said rates of chronic disease rose under the Biden administration even as the government grew. He pitched the changes as a way to refocus the agency on Americans’ health, but did not outline any specifics on how he would mediate rates of diabetes, heart disease or any other condition.

The reorganization will cut 3,500 jobs from the Food and Drug Administration, which approves and oversees the safety of a vast swath of the medications and consumer products people eat and rely on for well-being, according to an H.H.S. fact sheet. The cuts are said to be administrative, but some of the roles support research and monitoring of the safety and purity of food and drugs, as well as travel planning for inspectors who investigate overseas food and drug facilities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also have its work force cut by about 2,400 employees, and will narrow its focus to “preparing for and responding to epidemics and outbreaks,” the fact sheet said. The C.D.C. also does work on H.I.V./AIDS, tobacco control, maternal health and the distribution of vaccines for children. The National Institutes of Health will lose 1,200 staff members, and the agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid is expected to lose 300.

All of those agencies have campuses outside of Washington and tend to operate under their own authority, and Mr. Kennedy has been at odds with all of them. Mr. Kennedy assailed them, and other parts of the department, in his video.

“When I arrived, I found that over half of our employees don’t even come to work,” he claimed. “H.H.S. has more than 100 communications offices and more than 40 I.T. departments and dozens of procurement offices and nine H.R. departments. In many cases, they don’t even talk to each other. They’re mainly operating in silos.

The plan also includes collapsing 10 regional H.H.S. offices into five.

Dr. Robert Califf, the F.D.A. administrator during the Biden administration, said his team worked with staff to drum up support for an 8,000 person reorganization to change how its divisions for food and facility inspections operate. Given how morale-crushing the second Trump administration has been for the department, with many staff members laid off on the false premise that their performance was subpar, the effort could be all the more challenging.

“If you are coming to work sick to your stomach, as Russell Vought said he wanted them to,” he said, referring to the head of the Office of Management and Budget, “then people are not going to be able to collaborate as well. They’ll be suspicious of each other, right?”

Mr. Califf said such a sudden and massive reduction in staff and reorganization could also disrupt services and safety oversight that the public relies on.

Mr. Kennedy also suggested in the video that the changes would help his team get more access to data, a prospect that has been fraught, given Mr. Kennedy’s long history of manipulating figures to advance arguments about the harm of vaccines that have widely been deemed safe.

“In one case, defiant bureaucrats impeded the secretary’s office from accessing the closely guarded databases that might reveal the dangers of certain drugs and medical interventions,” Mr. Kennedy said.

Mr. Kennedy said the new division, the Administration for a Healthy America, would combine a number of agencies focused on substance abuse treatment and chemical safety, as well as the agency that administers courts that handle federal claims over vaccine injuries.

“We’re going to consolidate all of these departments and make them accountable to you, the American taxpayer and the American patient,” Mr. Kennedy said. “These goals will honor the aspirations of the vast majority of existing H.H.S. employees who actually yearn to make America healthy.”

 

 

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Posted

image.png.1c336d6f1636a551803d0aef370962d3.png
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/trump-dea-atf.html?smid=url-share

The Trump administration is considering major changes in how the Justice Department operates, including by merging the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives into one, according to an internal memo.

The other changes include drastically altering how the department’s public integrity section functions; downsizing the fraud-focused investigations that involve foreign business practices and foreign influence efforts; and closing down the community relations office that works to quell public unrest after police shootings.

The proposal, outlined in a memo issued by the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, and obtained by The New York Times, has yet to take effect. Officials are still seeking feedback from within the department before proceeding with what current and former Justice Department officials view as a significant reorganization.

A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately comment on the memo.

Overall, the Trump administration’s vision for the Justice Department, as outlined in the memo, is to downsize by consolidating some work inside its headquarters, while farming other responsibilities out to the U.S. attorney’s offices. The changes are described as part of the government’s efforts to downsize and streamline the federal work force, with help from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

The proposal to merge the D.E.A. and A.T.F. would almost certainly require congressional approval, though so far in the new administration, Congress appears to be playing a shrinking role in how the federal government is organized.

Historically, lawmakers on the appropriations committees zealously guarded their authority over the organization of agencies like the Justice Department. It is unclear if the current leaders in Congress intend to assert such authority during the Trump administration.

Administrations have long considered restructuring one or both of those two agencies, but no major reorganization has occurred since the post-Sept. 11 era, when the Department of Homeland Security was created and the A.T.F. was moved from the Treasury Department into the Justice Department.

Under the plan, antitrust offices in Chicago and San Francisco would close, as would environmental offices in Denver, Seattle, San Francisco and Sacramento. Civil litigation offices in New York, Chicago, Raleigh and San Francisco would also be closed, according to the memo.

The plan also calls for reassigning tax division lawyers to U.S. attorney offices around the country, and consolidating the department’s various legal divisions, including for national security, criminal prosecutions and other matters, into one single office.

In the memo to Justice Department employees, Mr. Blanche asked for feedback on the plans by April 2.

Posted
1 minute ago, South Austin said:

I don't know about you guys, but it looks like it might be a good time in the foreseeable future to commit some federal crimes.

It's like an open invitation.

Posted

Shoot, if you’re violent enough, you could get lucky:

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/26/trump-jan-6-rioters-compensation-fund-discussions

President Trump suggested Tuesday night the Jan. 6 rioters he pardonedcould get compensation payments.

The big picture: Newsmax's Greg Kelly asked Trump during their interview whether there would be a "compensation fund" for the roughly 1,500 defendants he issued a sweeping pardon for and the president confirmed "there's talk about that."

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Posted
9 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

TIL that the VP of the US has a functioning index finger on his right hand.  Kudos to you, sir.

Well, but when you're part of the pathetic MAGA cult, it's important to show that you have some digit to make up for your utter lack of a functioning dick.

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Posted
4 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I feel bad for the children that have morons for parents. As for the parents themselves, I have zero sympathy for their feelings if their child is sick or even dies. It's their fault. I would have no problem if they were arrested for endangering a child if not manslaughter but since this is Texas, Abbott will pin a freedom medal on their chest.

As Andy Andrews says, "we celebrate gifted students all the time...where are all the gifted parents"

Posted
8 minutes ago, jdhorn92 said:

As Andy Andrews says, "we celebrate gifted students all the time...where are all the gifted parents"

I remember when we were invited to a "gifted and talented" presentation at our elementary school.  The first thing the teacher in charge said was "for starters, none of your kids is gifted".  It was a good point and we never gave the program another thought.

Posted
1 hour ago, South Austin said:

I don't know about you guys, but it looks like it might be a good time in the foreseeable future to commit some federal crimes.

Tax crimes looking particularly tasty.

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Posted
1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

Tax crimes looking particularly tasty.

Between that and an antitrust empire I've got in the works, it turns out I might like this Trump presidency.  

I mean, sorry for the gays, the browns, and the poors.  

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Posted
1 hour ago, bolverk said:

image.png.1c336d6f1636a551803d0aef370962d3.png
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/trump-dea-atf.html?smid=url-share

The Trump administration is considering major changes in how the Justice Department operates, including by merging the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives into one, according to an internal memo.

The other changes include drastically altering how the department’s public integrity section functions; downsizing the fraud-focused investigations that involve foreign business practices and foreign influence efforts; and closing down the community relations office that works to quell public unrest after police shootings.

The proposal, outlined in a memo issued by the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, and obtained by The New York Times, has yet to take effect. Officials are still seeking feedback from within the department before proceeding with what current and former Justice Department officials view as a significant reorganization.

A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately comment on the memo.

Overall, the Trump administration’s vision for the Justice Department, as outlined in the memo, is to downsize by consolidating some work inside its headquarters, while farming other responsibilities out to the U.S. attorney’s offices. The changes are described as part of the government’s efforts to downsize and streamline the federal work force, with help from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

The proposal to merge the D.E.A. and A.T.F. would almost certainly require congressional approval, though so far in the new administration, Congress appears to be playing a shrinking role in how the federal government is organized.

Historically, lawmakers on the appropriations committees zealously guarded their authority over the organization of agencies like the Justice Department. It is unclear if the current leaders in Congress intend to assert such authority during the Trump administration.

Administrations have long considered restructuring one or both of those two agencies, but no major reorganization has occurred since the post-Sept. 11 era, when the Department of Homeland Security was created and the A.T.F. was moved from the Treasury Department into the Justice Department.

Under the plan, antitrust offices in Chicago and San Francisco would close, as would environmental offices in Denver, Seattle, San Francisco and Sacramento. Civil litigation offices in New York, Chicago, Raleigh and San Francisco would also be closed, according to the memo.

The plan also calls for reassigning tax division lawyers to U.S. attorney offices around the country, and consolidating the department’s various legal divisions, including for national security, criminal prosecutions and other matters, into one single office.

In the memo to Justice Department employees, Mr. Blanche asked for feedback on the plans by April 2.

I could probably get behind merging DEA and ATF, especially if that meant curtailing the drug war.

But what it means here is that there will be no more regulation of firearms and lots of extra-stupid drug war.

The "civil litigation office" thing is interesting, because those look like pretty active civil litigation centers and most of what Main Justice does is civil litigation.  Probably means non-enforcement of civil rights and environmental laws.

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Posted
1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

I could probably get behind merging DEA and ATF, especially if that meant curtailing the drug war.

But what it means here is that there will be no more regulation of firearms and lots of extra-stupid drug war.

The "civil litigation office" thing is interesting, because those look like pretty active civil litigation centers and most of what Main Justice does is civil litigation.  Probably means non-enforcement of civil rights and environmental laws.

That second of the two that I bolded is the one that stood out to me as causing more potential harm. The DEA/ATF merger is what's going to get the headlines though, but I don't have much to criticize about that other than what you've stated.

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Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, bolverk said:

That second of the two that I bolded is the one that stood out to me as causing more potential harm. The DEA/ATF merger is what's going to get the headlines though, but I don't have much to criticize about that other than what you've stated.

For reference purposes, the vast majority of legal work gets handled in the US Attorney's offices, both civil and criminal.  And, for a lot of that stuff, the people at "Main Justice" in DC are just a layer of bureaucrats.

But there are several major divisions, Civil Rights, Environmental, and Antitrust, among others, that are civil in nature and concentrated in DC.  I'm not sure if it's better to decentralize those or centralize them.  Whichever makes more sense, you can rely on Trumpco to do the opposite.

Edited by TwiceHorn
Posted
28 minutes ago, Willfully Horn said:

image.png.4a390d9d7a93cb3b91e5922235f602e8.png

 

Wait wait whoa whoa.....WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?  Is that accurate?  Our secdef....has a fucking Russian email account?

If true -- again, imagine this was ANY other administration. That would be "game over."  There are zero, none, not a one, reason for him to have EVER had a Russian email address.

If it is even remotely true, it is beyond clear that our entire executive branch is compromised and working as agents of a foreign power.  Every person in that branch is an existential threat to the United States.

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Posted
18 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Wait wait whoa whoa.....WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?  Is that accurate?  Our secdef....has a fucking Russian email account?

If true -- again, imagine this was ANY other administration. That would be "game over."  There are zero, none, not a one, reason for him to have EVER had a Russian email address.

If it is even remotely true, it is beyond clear that our entire executive branch is compromised and working as agents of a foreign power.  Every person in that branch is an existential threat to the United States.

This can't possibly be real.  I mean, I'm about as far out on the ledge as you can go, but this would be completely beyond the pale.

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