Science journal now ruined and untrustworthy 🚩 Buyer beware 🚗 Butts in seats downtown & in the car for fossil fuel
Normalcy bias explains a lot of peculiar surprise.
America’s flagship medical science journal now ruined and untrustworthy.
News-Medical.Net - Trump administration’s halt of CDC’s weekly scientific report stalls bird flu studies - KFF Health News Jan 30 2025 The Trump administration has intervened in the release of important studies on the bird flu, as an outbreak escalates across the United States. One of the studies would reveal whether veterinarians who treat cattle have been unknowingly infected by the bird flu virus. Another report documents cases in which people carrying the virus might have infected their pet cats.
Trump officials exerting unprecedented control over CDC scientific journal By Alexander Tin February 7, 2025 / 6:18 PM EST / CBS News The interference included dictating what to cover and withholding studies on the growing bird flu outbreak. The Trump administration's moves to control the research published by the agency ends a decades-long streak of independence for the journal, known as the MMWR. Health officials and experts have long considered the MMWR as the "voice of CDC" and a respected source where federal scientists release research of public health importance. It ranks as among the most-cited health journals in the world. "The MMWR has lost its autonomy," one health official told CBS News. Efforts by Trump officials to control the publication have stalled the release of three studies about bird flu for weeks, as the virus continues spreading through wild birds, poultry farms and cows around the country.
The Donald, being completely senile at this point, will probably believe they can pull one over and replace it with the recently debuted Brownturd Journal of Great Barrington Bullshit.
Important Context - “A New Academic Publishing Model”: Right-Wing Dark Money Group Launches Fringe Medical Journal - The right-wing RealClear Foundation’s foray into public health has been called “a mockery of scientific process.” Walker Bragman Feb 06, 2025 There is even a constitution and bylaws linked. The new journal’s website looks professional and makes four commitments—to “open access,” “open and rigorous peer review,” “rewarding reviewers,” and “a timely and efficient publishing process.” According to the site, the journal will cover “all aspects of public health, including epidemiology, environmental health, occupational health, behavioral health, pharmacoepidemiology, community health, global health, disease surveillance, biostatistics, medical informatics, health services, health policy, health economics, medical ethics and public health education.” But many of the names behind the new venture and publication have long histories of promoting COVID-19-related misinformation and contrarian medical positions, including questioning long-established pandemic mitigation strategies and the safety and efficacy of the mRNA vaccines. Several played a real role in politicizing the U.S. government’s response to the pandemic.
🗞️ In the news
CDC Employees Respond to Trump's Buyout Offer — While most sources I spoke with don't plan to accept, some may leave by Jeremy Faust, MD, MS, MA, Editor-in-Chief, MedPage Today February 4, 2025 An Unexpected Consequence: Some CDC Scientists Consider Unionization - The Trump administration's general attack on various assets within the public health system has had one unintended effect, Inside Medicine learned: some CDC scientists and medical providers are considering unionizing.
Multiple Oklahoma school districts going remote amid flu outbreaks to clean, halt spread Jana Hayes, The Oklahoman Thu, January 30, 2025 at 6:15 AM EST Multiple Oklahoma school districts are closing their doors and moving to virtual for parts of this week due to the spread of flu in their schools. Schools like Lindsay Public Schools and Piedmont Public Schools are among the districts taking action while the entire state of Oklahoma is above the baseline for percent of flu tests coming back positive. Flu has been on the rise in Oklahoma since late November, reaching a peak in the week ending Jan. 18, the latest data available. That week, 25% of flu tests in the state came back positive, and there were three flu-associated deaths.
CIDRAP – Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, reports first CWD cases February 3, 2025 Mary Van Beusekom, MS Two male deer have tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, the county’s first detections of the fatal neurologic disease, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced late last week. Luzerne County is located in the northeastern part of the state, 40 miles from the closest CWD identification in a wild deer. One of the two adult bucks was harvested by a hunter, and the other was identified on a deer-breeding farm on December 16.
CIDRAP - CWD prions found in moose, deer, reindeer muscles in Norway, highlighting potential risk to people - Mary Van Beusekom, MS January 14, 2025 CWD is a fatal neurodegenerative cervid disease caused by prions, infectious proteins that trigger abnormal folding in normal proteins, especially in the central nervous system (CNS). Infected animals shed CWD prions in body fluids, which can spread to other cervids through direct contact or the environment. The authors note that previous studies of cervids infected with North American CWD prion strains have detected prions in lymphoid tissues, peripheral nerves, muscles, blood, and excreta. But this was the first identification of European CWD prion strains in cervid muscle.
CIDRAP - Avian flu strikes more Nevada dairy herds, leading to starling removal - Lisa Schnirring February 3, 2025 Federal and state groups will also begin removing non-native European starling populations in Churchill, Pershing, and Lyon counties. The NDA called the starling removal a "critical step" and that due to their large numbers, the birds are a nuisance population that can spread disease and contaminate animals' food and water sources. In a 2024 Facebook post, the Nevada Department of Wildlife said several thousand birds from the species typically migrate through northern Nevada in the winter on their way south. It added that the European starlings are aggressive and outcompete native birds for nesting sites and can spread disease to livestock.
AP - Argentina says it will withdraw from the World Health Organization, echoing Trump By ALMUDENA CALATRAVA Updated 9:36 PM EST, February 5, 2025 Argentina’s decision is based on “profound differences in health management, especially during the (COVID-19) pandemic,” spokesperson Manuel Adorni told a news conference in Buenos Aires. He said WHO guidelines at the time led to the largest shutdown “in the history of mankind.” Argentina will not allow an international organization to intervene in its sovereignty “and much less in our health,” he added. WHO has no authority to compel countries to take specific health actions, and the organization’s guidelines and recommendations, including in health crises like COVID-19, are often disregarded.
CIDRAP - COVID led to more hospital stays, deaths than flu from 2022 to 2024, study suggests January 30, 2025 Mary Van Beusekom, MS Among 5.9 million people in the new study, COVID-19 hospitalization was twice as likely than flu hospitalization (24,400 vs 8,385; adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR], 2.04), especially in the first year of the study, in the summer, and among those aged 65 years or older. The death rate was three times higher for COVID-19 (2,361 vs 489; aIRR, 3.19).
CIDRAP - Nursing homes used unproven COVID measures and didn't use vaccines, antivirals enough, review finds Mary Van Beusekom, MS February 4, 2025 A higher average number of residents per room, higher bed occupancy, and SNFs with shared bedrooms were linked to higher COVID-19 rates in most studies, and crowding predicted the number of infections and deaths among SNFs with existing outbreaks. Other than a single uncontrolled study, evidence about the association between ventilation technologies and outbreaks was lacking. "Suboptimal hand hygiene was reported in nearly a third of SNFs in 2020, but no research addressed its association with outcomes," the researchers said. "Lack of controlled studies limits our ability to draw conclusions regarding the impact of crowding and the physical environment on infection spread."
Less regulation, more misinfo, buyer beware.
In an era of rampant medical misinformation, health claims need scrutiny. Any claim made really – slow down and consider it.
PBS News Hour - By JoNel Aleccia, Associated Press Two cats in California died after drinking raw milk recalled for bird flu, their owner says - Jan 12, 2025 12:46 PM EST Journell said he had been drinking Raw Farm milk himself for several months because he heard it had “better immunity and healing properties” than pasteurized milk. He thought it might be able to help Alexander, who had been losing weight.“I was trying to make him healthier and make him live longer,” Journell said. Instead, Alexander died on Thanksgiving Day. Tuxsie followed two days later.
But just like a lot of other scams running rampant, many people will continue to believe the government would never allow this, surely, and continue to assume if something wasn’t true, it couldn’t be claimed. And that couldn’t be further from the truth. And that’s especially true in America today.
"Many people rationalize that if it were really dangerous the government wouldn't let it be advertised. They are wrong in that thinking. It is dangerous and the government does let it be advertised." — Rick Pollay, Pack of Lies: The Advertising of Tobacco (1992)
Citation Needed - Crypto recaps Issue 71 – (Crypto) banks are not your friends - Celsius’ Alex Mashinsky pleads guilty to fraud, some Tornado Cash sanctions are overturned, and tech billionaires complain about “debanking”. Molly White Dec 5, 2024 While some say that people just have to be on high alert at all times and in every interaction for possible scams, the reality is that most people just don’t expect companies to lie to their faces — particularly US-domiciled companies that they expect to be under the watchful eye of regulators. Most people don’t think twice about whether the bank they’re signing up with is likely to collapse — and many people who encountered Celsius didn’t understand that Celsius was meaningfully different from a bank. Even as we reflect on Celsius and the massive failures of not just financial regulators, but regulators like the FTC who are meant to prevent deceptive advertising, politicians are boasting about plans to hobble regulators and make them even less effective in fulfilling their mandates. Should they succeed in these plans, perhaps some will react by putting their shields up, adopting the degree of suspicion nearing paranoia that may be required in an every-person-for-themselves world without adequate regulators. More likely, countless more will continue to rely on regulators even in their absence, and be ruined because of it.
Trump admin ramps up push for butts in seats downtown for fossil fuel & commercial real estate.
Government Executive - Agencies to soon detail how they will overcome unions, office space issues to bring all staff in-person The White House and OPM are asking for specifics in how agencies will comply with Trump's return-to-office order. January 27, 2025 Eric Katz Senior Correspondent ‘You have to show up to work, basically,” Trump said. “You have to show up to work. You have to go to your office and work. Otherwise you’re not going to have a job.” Agencies last week already notified their workforces of their intentions to ensure all eligible employees are working in person, per OPM’s initial guidance. At the General Services Administration, for example, acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian—one of the few temporary leaders President Trump brought in from outside government—said the agency is committed to full implementation of its new policy within 30 days and he is setting up a task force to evaluate physical space and IT needs. His goal, he said, was to ensure GSA has “the most collaborative (and fun) work environment across all locations.”
Maximum Telework for government workers is essential for a sustainable future, but elected officials beholden to fossil fuel interests and commercial real estate won't be able to understand what their fat campaign checks and favours won't allow them to understand.
Government Executive - OPM claims agencies can ignore union telework contracts - A new memo instructing agencies to cease enforcing union-negotiated telework policies under the guise of “management rights” could portend future assaults on collective bargaining. February 3, 2025 06:51 PM ET Erich Wagner Suzanne Summerlin, an independent labor attorney and former Biden-era nominee to be general counsel at the Federal Labor Relations Authority, said that the memo disregards basic definitions of terms outlined in federal labor law. For instance, the concept of “management rights” is an assertion made in response to a specific proposal at the bargaining table. An agency then argues that the proposal is nonnegotiable, but only the FLRA can rule whether a proposal excessively infringes upon management rights. “Proposals that ‘excessively interfere’ with management rights is not permitted to be bargained over, but that doesn’t mean management rights can’t be bargained at all,” Summerlin said. “[But] in this case, they appear to be going after anything that “impedes” management rights, but that isn’t the legal standard.”
It's also important to note that the vast majority of government workers have jobs which must be conducted at a specific job setting. And sometimes remote refers to working at an office location that isn't the primary office location. This idea that the federal government is entirely staffed by people working from their houses is disinformation propaganda promoted to fuel animosity toward government workers.
My letter to reps:
Maximum Telework for government workers and the private sector should continue for our future, in order to promote disability accessibility, stop infectious disease spread, and prioritize our move away from squandering fossil fuel energy on pointless and unhealthy commutes. It's a gross insult to all the workers who HAVE been "showing up" and doing important work from home - successfully, safely, efficiently, and productively, both since the beginning of the pandemic, and in some cases decades prior to the pandemic. Working from home works. It's going to need to work even more if we want a functional future and the job positions in the government and other essential roles filled. Prioritize and promote telework for all where at all possible, now, and going forward.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose the contents of my letter for your own letters to reps.
Elon Musk wiped out USAID maybe because he was pro-apartheid.
The New Republic - Mark Leon Goldberg / February 3, 2025 The Death of USAID: These People Are out of Their Freaking Minds The world’s richest man and its most powerful one have killed the one government agency that does the most to support the world’s most vulnerable people. There will be consequences. Already, HIV patients have been turned away from clinics that provided antiretrovirals as part of the hugely successful PEPFAR program. This may potentially cause a surge in viral loads in people, causing a resurgence of AIDS and the proliferation of drug-resistant HIV. (While the administration did issue a waiver to ostensibly keep PEPFAR going, those implementers that are still operational are nonetheless wary and apparently scaling back their services.)
WIRED - Kate Knibbs Business Feb 3, 2025 8:59 PM Elon Musk's DOGE Is Still Blocking HIV/AIDS Relief Exempted From Foreign Aid Cuts The Trump Administration claims it is allowing "lifesaving" foreign aid to continue, but in reality, DOGE is preventing vital work on HIV and AIDS from saving lives. “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk said on social media Sunday. “Could [sic] gone to some great parties. Did that instead.” One popular program implemented by USAID, however, has already been granted an “emergency humanitarian waiver” to keep operating: the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. The global health program, which was founded by former US president George W. Bush and is overseen by the State Department, has saved an estimated 26 million lives since its launch in 2003. It’s implemented by a handful of government agencies, including USAID. While in theory the Trump administration’s waiver allows the program to resume some of its activities while the foreign aid freeze is still in effect, in reality, sources tell WIRED that much of its lifesaving work remains paused. "Your money is being unfrozen but you can’t contact the people who actually froze it," a senior official at an HIV/AIDS organization told WIRED.
These eugenicists believe in some kind of a natural order, and so they see medicine, especially preventions for infectious diseases, as interfering in the "rightful" order of things.
The New Republic - MAGA Melts Down Over Conspiracy That USAID Secretly Funds News Media - The far right has a berserk conspiracy theory over people in government paying for news subscriptions. Hafiz Rashid / February 5, 2025/4:37 p.m. ET However, in reality, that money appears to come from Politico Pro subscriptions, which are targeted at business executives, lobbyists, and government workers, and cost more than $10,000 each. It also was the total amount of money from all government agencies, not just USAID. The service tracks legislation, votes, and lawsuits, and includes niche reporting and analysis about news from within the federal government. Right-wing commentators then found what they claimed was evidence that USAID funneled money to the Associated Press, although much of that is due to syndication agreements between the AP and government media outlets such as Voice of America.
I don't take any deep dives into Elon Musk's discourse because I have better things to do with my life than expose myself to too much of that, but just judging by the Elon Musk's family history I would not be surprised if he believes vaccinating Black Africans was some kind of an attack upon him and his white family.
Normalcy bias explains a lot of peculiar surprise.
I realize a lot of people are confused and shocked when stuff from Project 2025 is rolled out, even though many have been warning about this for a couple of years. Did they think the right-wing was kidding? I think a lot of strange confusion can be chalked up to normalcy bias, which is very dangerous to our safety.
The Decision Lab - Why do we believe that nothing bad is going to happen? The Normalcy Bias, explained. The normalcy bias describes our tendency to underestimate the possibility of disaster and believe that life will continue as normal, even in the face of significant threats or crises.
This also explains why people are shocked that Trump pardoned all the J6 convicts, including the violent ones who attacked police officers. This can also be chalked up to normalcy bias, and the fact that most Americans are used to politicians who are incredibly non-responsive to their constituency, we as a society are used to Republicans and Democrats shafting their own voters. But the die-hard MAGA adherents made it clear they wanted all the J6 insurrectionists pardoned, and he did it because he plays to his base – that’s why he has gotten elected even though just like a lot of other reviled politicians, he also caters to the rich.
Quote:
“What I’m finding is that people actually want things explained more. Even the technical stuff. Robert Evans and the wonderful people who run Coolzone, their whole thing is they’re like break it down more - whatever you think is too simple, go simpler. And I think people in the media, for good reason, overestimate how difficult something is to get.” – Ed Zitron
Better Offline podcast, The State of Tech Journalism with Kylie Robison and Mike Isaac July 30, 2024