Honey we didn’t mean it
Trump’s administration is attempting to rehire officials with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) who worked on the government response to bird flu before being fired over the weekend, US media report.
The layoffs were a part of a cost-cutting mission across the US government by Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) leader Elon Musk.
The terminations came as the latest outbreak of the bird flu has wreaked havoc on poultry and cattle farms, causing egg prices to skyrocket and raising concerns among public health experts.
A USDA spokesperson told the BBC that although “several” officials working on bird flu were “notified of their terminations” over the weekend, “we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and rescind those letters”.
So you’re saying maybe it’s not a good idea to fire whole agencies without pausing for one single second to look into what they do and why it’s needed? Wow, radical.
“USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service frontline positions are considered public safety positions, and we are continuing to hire the workforce necessary to ensure the safety and adequate supply of food to fulfil our statutory mission,” the spokesperson added.
Along with firing lots of them fast and at random.
Trump and Musk appeared on Fox News on Tuesday night to defend the mass cuts they are making across the government, with Musk claiming Doge is just trying to “restore the will of the people through the president”.
Ya unh huh that’s how it’s done, move fast and break things and call that “the will of the people.”
Wasn’t ‘the price of eggs’ a campaign talking point?
It was.
I imagine they believe the price of eggs is a result of unnecessary regulations and bureaucracy. That’s what a lot of people who live near me think; if the government would get their noses out, the price of eggs would go down.
They might (except with the bird flu destroying birds), but the safety would be a huge issue.
Heard the argument that is essentially: “Well if we’d stop killing the diseased birds then prices would go down”
Well, maybe a bit, but as iknklast says, yeah, not sure how overcooked they’d need to be to not be dangerous. Here’s an alternative that no one will go for: vaccinate the bloody birds! We can churn out custom-tailored vaccines pretty damn quick these days if we want to.
In the meantime I may stick to fish.
“vaccinate the bloody birds”
I wonder if there is some way to get an oral flu vaccine into bird seed to reduce the spread among wild birds?
Does anyone here know enough about the subject to say?