Make that two glasses of oj
A Congressional press release:
House Appropriations Committee and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro is warning of the fatal consequences of unelected billionaire and self-appointed president Elon Musk’s crippling of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By slashing CDC’s workforce, President Trump and unchecked billionaires are leaving Americans more exposed to disease, illness, and death.
“Elon Musk – an unchecked billionaire – President Donald Trump, and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are continuing their assault on Americans’ health,” said Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro. “In the midst of a severe flu season, and as a potentially deadly avian flu outbreak threatens to raise the stakes for public health even further, firing thousands of highly skilled employees – including doctors – will make Americans sicker, weaker, and more vulnerable to avoidable death. These cuts reverse progress in the fight against deadly diseases like cancer and diseases that had been previously eradicated in America like polio. This does not lower costs for families as Trump promised he would. Instead, it tells them they are on their own.”
In this move, Trump and Musk have reportedly fired 135 members of the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS). This is nearly half of the staff.
“EIS officers are at the frontline of public health emergencies. They are on the ground when outbreaks occur so that we can contain diseases before they reach the United States. We will not know the outcome of decimating this program until it’s too late – until Americans are dying from a disease we could have contained before it spread. This is nothing short of terrifying,” DeLauro continued.
Yes but it’s fun for Musk, and that’s what matters.
There’s an obvious solution to all this. I’m sure Trump and Musk have thought of it already. Just fire whoever is currently responsible for tracking cases of infection, number of fatalities etc.
This old film may have been before many of your times. But Pliny is no spring chicken.
https://farcornercafe.blogspot.com/2025/02/fantastic-voyage-doge-edition.html
Based on the behavior of the electorate, the hippocampus is highly appropriate.
It does lower costs for the families of those who will die. Fewer mouths to feed, fewer people to buy insurance for, fewer kids to put through college…..
I could try to say something insightful or intelligent here, but really… Jesus Fucking Christ.
Pliny, it isn’t before my time. Great meme.
“unelected billionaire”
Maybe people should only become billionaires if they get a supermajority of the popular vote.
Infectious disease doesn’t care how rich you are… If Trump had gotten COVID a few months earlier when the efficacy of that steroid cocktail was unknown we might not be in these dire straits.
I’m reminded of the scorched earth policy of Hitler’s so-called “Nero decree” which would have seen the destruction of remaining German infrastructure in the face of Allied advances. There had been similar orders to destroy Paris and much of the Netherlands before their liberation by Allied forces. Fortunately the subordinates like Speer who were supposed to put these plans into action did not carry them out. So far, it looks like America has not been as lucky with regards to Trump’s edicts.
Obviously Trump, Musk, & Co. aren’t interested in living in a functioning democracy. Given that they’re burning down so many government structures without bothering to look at the actual functions carried out by what they’ve set alight, it doesn’t look like they’re that keen on living in a country any more advanced than some time in the nineteenth century either.
The late nineteenth century is sometimes talked about as a golden age…it was golden for the rich, who didn’t have to deal with regulations, and made lots of money by paying employees in scrip they had to spend in the company store, so they got back whatever they paid them…and they had to live in company housing which makes the Trump properties look like they’re actually built well.
Yeah, I imagine they are wanting to get back to that period – but without losing all the tech of now. They simply have drunk the Kool-Aid on how little the government provides for anyone, and while they should be aware, since Musk has a ton of government contracts, and I imagine Trump has sucked up some government money in his time, they almost certainly don’t care.
They think they are smarter than anyone who works for those agencies, who they see as lazy jerks who are either ‘mediocre DEI hires’ or are used to doing nothing on government money. It was my experience while working for the government that even government employees have little respect for government employees (with the exception of themselves). That’s how good a job the right…and the left…have done of denigrating the government structures that keep our lives going.