Only when the Oval Office is occupied by a convicted felon con artist and Health and Human Services is headed by a grifter could we arrive at Dr. George Tidmarsh -- a man who says he's on administrative leave as head of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug division while FDA spokesperson Emily Hilliard says he is no longer with the Dept. Christina Jewett (NEW YORK TIMES) reports this involves a complaint
Dr. Tidmarsh said he was told Friday that the leave was related to a complaint lodged by Mr. [Kevin C.] Tang, a major investor in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, a Canada-based company that makes the drug voclosporin, a treatment for a type of lupus affecting the kidneys. The complaint involved a post that Dr. Tidmarsh wrote on LinkedIn in September that criticized the drug as having little benefit and “significant toxicity.” Aurinia defended the drug’s benefits over its risks in response to the post.
The company’s stock dropped about 20 percent, but has gone up since then.
Aurinia’s lawsuit alleges that Dr. Tidmarsh sent messages threatening revenge against Mr. Tang, after he had asked Dr. Tidmarsh to resign from three companies.
[. . .]
In the interview, Dr. Tidmarsh also described a “toxic environment” that he attributed to Dr. Vinay Prasad, the F.D.A.’s chief medical and scientific officer, who also oversees vaccines and gene therapies. Dr. Prasad had frustrated scientists within the agency for overriding some staff decisions on drugs and also on Covid vaccines. He was ousted from the agency in July but brought back.
Dr. Tidmarsh said his concerns stemmed from the F.D.A.’s announcement in mid-October that it would approve a slate of drugs in record time. The program was meant to convey quick authorizations to drugs that reflected the administration’s priorities, which included addressing unmet medical needs or supporting lower pricing. Candidates for the program included a drug meant to help people break their addiction to vaping and another meant to help children who were born deaf.
“The effort was going to basically change the entire paradigm of the legal underpinnings of drug approvals that have for decades supported the actions on the safety and effectiveness of drugs,” Dr. Tidmarsh said. “There was insufficient legal support for what they wanted to do, and so I didn’t agree.”
Corruption breeds incompetence? Or vice versa? Friday, Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBLIC) reported on another aspect of the corrupt and incompetent administration, Trump's desire to resume nuclear testing and restart the arms race:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered a baffling defense Friday for President Donald Trump’s directive to resume nuclear testing.
Following a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn, Hegseth said his agency would work with the U.S. Department of Energy on just how they would carry out nuclear weapons testing for the first time in 30 years.
“We need to have a credible nuclear deterrent, that is the baseline of our deterrence. And so having understanding, and resuming testing is a pretty responsible—very responsible way to do that. I think it makes nuclear conflict less likely, if you know what you have and make sure it operates properly,” Hegseth said.
But experts suggest that resuming nuclear testing would shatter global norms, deprioritize disarmament, and grant nations license to test their own weapons.
Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly slammed Trump’s explosive directive. “If we did a test and then China decided, ‘OK, I’m going to start testing.’ They’ll start testing their nuclear weapons, then their strategic forces capability gets much better,” the former naval aviator said Thursday. “We have zero to gain. This would be a gift to China.”
And now? Like so much that Chump says, it doesn't really matter. Zolan Kanno-Youngs (NEW YORK TIMES) reported today:
The nuclear testing ordered by President Trump will not involve nuclear explosions, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday, clarifying that the testing would involve “the other parts of a nuclear weapon” to ensure they are working properly.
Mr. Wright’s comments came four days after Mr. Trump made the declaration that he was ordering the U.S. military to resume nuclear testing “on an equal basis” with other countries, raising the specter of a return to the worst days of the Cold War.
“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests,” Mr. Wright said in an interview on the Fox News show “The Sunday Briefing.” “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions.”
He's demented. He can't communicate properly. The dementia makes him a risk to the entire world. A functioning Cabinet would have already invoked the 25th Amendment. Despite what Wright declared, a taped interview of Chump tonight on 60 MINUTES found the crazed man insisting that Russia and China were doing nuclear tests (they're not) and that he was going to test with nuclear explosions -- regardless of what Wright stated.
Let's break from Chump for a minute. He's not the only evil in this country. David Walsh (WSWS) reports on another Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG) -- a rag tag group of 'writers.' You know, that great novelist Rashida Tlaib. What's that? She's a member of Congress and not a writer? Oh. Well Gabor Mate! He's like a writer. He's the father of Aaron Mate so that makes him almost a writer, right? No. At any rate, they're calling for THE NEW YORK TIMES to be boycotted over one specific article.
The author of the article is Anat Schwartz. We called out her garbage in real time. But these cowards can't even call her out now. It's the paper's fault, they insist, not the author. Really because it should be the paper's fault and the author's fault. You know, like starting the lie that Saddam Hussein was connected to 9/11 was both THE TIMES' fault and Chris Hedges' fault. Oh, you may not know that because Chris Hedges always gets a pass on that despite the fact that he cowrote the front page article that pimped and promoted the lie. And we can't worship false god Chris Hedges and know that he's not just serial plagiarist Chris Hedges but also a propagandist for war. And he's part of WAWOG. Of course he is, you couldn't get as stupid as WAWOG without his involvement. "WAWOG." It almost sounds like a muttering from a stroke victim.
So the article in question ran in 2023. Did anyone check the colanders? That's right, two years ago.
Rahsida can't stand up to Donald Trump when it comes to Gaza but, damn it, she's not letting the paper of record slide on a two year old article.
Walsh notes:
In any case, why simply point to the New York Times? The US media as a whole has justified or apologized for the Gaza genocide. The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC and the rest (even leaving aside the openly far-right, fascistic outlets) all have foul records. The singling out of the Times, even in scathing language, has the consequence of suggesting that certain “bad” capitalist media outlets should be denounced, and the “good” ones encouraged. On the other hand, if the WAWOG statement were to generalize soberly about the media, it would tend to point in the direction of a condemnation of the economic and political organization of the society as a whole.
Back to Chump, Julianne McShane (MOTHER JONES) reports:
In a wide-ranging Sunday night interview on CBS News’s “60 Minutes,” President Donald Trump put his desire for unchecked power on full display.
He bragged to correspondent Norah O’Donnell that, thanks to the Insurrection Act of 1792, he can invade your city whenever he wants. He said immigration raids—including acts of police violence such as using tear gas in residential neighborhoods, throwing people to the ground, and breaking car windows—”haven’t gone far enough.” And he said the government shutdown will last until Democrats in Congress bend to his will—or until Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) agrees to eliminate the filibuster, which Thune, so far, has rejected.
Reality? THE NEW YORK TIMES notes, "A federal judge ruled late Sunday that the Trump administration cannot use federalized National Guard soldiers to protect an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Ore., that has been the site of daily protests for almost five months, at least until she makes her final decision in the case."
Let's note Death Machine Chump as the threat he is to the high seas. Pirate Donwald. Patrick Martin (WSWS) notes:
In a further act of international piracy, the US military carried out a lethal strike on a small boat in the Caribbean Sea Saturday, killing three men whom Secretary of War Pete Hegseth labeled “narco-terrorists,” without offering any evidence.
The latest attack is the 15th such remote-controlled strike since September 2, when US President Trump first ordered the Pentagon to destroy boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific which were allegedly involved in drug smuggling. The death toll has reached 65, after the Mexican Navy announced that it had found no trace of a supposed survivor of an October 27 strike in the Pacific Ocean.
The attacks, apparently using drone-fired missiles and other guided weapons, are flagrantly illegal under both US and international law. Even if all of the boats were engaged in drug smuggling—and no evidence has been offered to prove this—they were not stopped, their cargo seized and their crew arrested. Instead, they were simply annihilated.
Under US law, drug trafficking does not carry the death penalty, and all of the victims were executed without a trial or any form of judicial proceeding. Under international law, the murderous actions amount to piracy.
And Greg Sargent (THE NEW REPUBLIC) adds:
Two weeks ago, the military commander overseeing President Trump’s bombings of boats in the Caribbean Sea abruptly resigned. Admiral Alvin Holsey, the head of U.S. Southern Command, offered no explanation for the move. Neither did the Defense Department. He was less than one year into the job, making the departure even more inexplicable.
Since then, we’ve heard nothing about why Holsey stepped down. Yet in those two weeks, Trump’s campaign has only gotten more brazen and horrifically lawless. He ordered the bombing of four more boats this week, killing 14 more people, for a total of around 60 killed, even as the administration still refuses to share key intelligence or elaborate on its supposed legal rationale.
Now this saga has taken another unnerving turn. Representative Adam Smith—the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee—tells me that Republicans on the committee are declining to press for Holsey’s testimony despite Democratic entreaties for it. This, even though Holsey plausibly resigned over discomfort with the bombing, meaning he could have key information about it that Congress should want to know.
“I think we really need to hear from Holsey on this,” Smith told me.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Murray responds to absurd Dr. Oz lie: “Republicans have no plan to stop the MAGA health care hike. The only idea they have seems to be to lie and pretend it is just going to cost families $13 extra next year. I mean, go back home and try that with your constituents! They will shout you out of the room!”
More than three-quarters of the people who rely on ACA tax credits for health insurance live in red states
***DOWNLOAD RAW VIDEO HERE; WATCH HERE***
Washington, D.C. — Ahead of the start of open enrollment nationwide tomorrow, Saturday November 1st, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)—Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee—released a new video message on how 22 million Americans will see massive price hikes when they begin shopping online for health insurance coverage on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange marketplaces tomorrow, whether on Washington Healthplanfinder or the national HealthCare.gov site.
Senator Murray called out Republicans for causing a “MAGA health care hike” and highlighted how Republicans’ refusal to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits—the reason prices are skyrocketing—is going to hurt people in Republican states harder than anywhere else. Among other proof points, Murray pointed out that 80 percent of the funding for the ACA tax credits that Republicans refuse to save goes to states Trump won.
Senator Murray has been warning nonstop, every day, for weeks about how Republicans’ refusal to save the ACA enhanced premium tax credits will cause premiums to explode—and how the harm will be felt most in states that voted for Trump. She has forcefully warned that the 10 states facing the largest premium hikes are red states, and she took her case directly to Idahoans and Montanans in separate press calls in recent weeks.
Open enrollment in Washington state and nationwide begins this Saturday, November 1st. Last week, Washington state’s ACA marketplace, Washington Healthplanfinder, opened its “window shopping” period, allowing Washingtonians to look at plans for next year—and most are seeing dramatic increases in their premiums thanks to Republican inaction. On average, premiums for ACA plans in Washington state are spiking by 21 percent. Nationwide, 22 million Americans who buy health care through the ACA exchanges will see their health care costs skyrocket next year without the tax credits, premiums are more than doubling on average, and these higher costs will push 4.8 million people off their health coverage over the next decade. A Washington-state specific fact sheet on the ACA tax credits is HERE.
In the video message (TIMESTAMP: 0:52), Senator Murray also lays out how Republicans have callously decided to cut off SNAP benefits for 42 million Americans beginning November 1st, saying:
“Let’s be clear: this weekend, SNAP benefits will run dry. Not because there is no money left to keep families fed, but because Trump is choosing not to tap contingency funds. He is choosing to let kids go hungry. It’s also not because Congress can’t possibly reach an agreement to fund SNAP. There is a Republican bill specifically to keep SNAP going that we could pass, no problem. In fact, there is a Republican bill with fourteen Republican cosponsors to keep SNAP going. But the Republican leader won’t even hold a vote on it. He is sending everyone home rather than hold a vote on a bill he knows will pass. Now, keep in mind: he’s happy to vote 14 times on a bill he knows won’t pass. But he won’t vote once on a bill he knows will pass. Someone explain that to me. Someone explain that to folks back home—who are going to go hungry because of the Republican Leader’s decision.”
This week, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced legislation to ensure SNAP funding does not run dry—the bill has Democratic support and 10 Republican cosponsors, and as Murray notes, Republican Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) chose to send the Senate home rather than hold a vote on the bill—which would have passed. In addition, Democrats introduced and tried to pass this week a separate bill to ensure continued funding for both SNAP and WIC—but Leader Thune blocked it.
Meanwhile, President Trump has outright refused to tap billions of dollars in the SNAP contingency fund to pay out November benefits—ignoring the law, bipartisan calls to tap the contingency fund to disburse benefits, and USDA’s own September 30th shutdown contingency plan. The September document makes clear the SNAP contingency fund not only can be used to keep SNAP running, but that it was the Department’s plan to do just that before Trump inexplicably reversed course and decided to let 42 million Americans go hungry this month. Yesterday, Politico reported that a federal judge appeared likely to rule in favor of a lawsuit brought by Democratic states arguing that the Trump administration must use emergency funds to fund SNAP benefits in November. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said in part: “It’s hard for me to understand how this isn’t an emergency when there’s no money and a lot of people need their SNAP benefits.”
Senator Murray briefly relied on food stamps as a child and has always fought to fully fund SNAP benefits, and she forcefully opposed Republicans when they made the largest cut to SNAP in history this summer—kicking roughly 1 million kids off their SNAP benefits or substantially cutting them in their Big Ugly Bill.
A full transcript of Senator Murray’s remarks in the video message is below:
“This weekend, 22 million people are going to see their premiums skyrocket when open enrollment begins. Some will double. Some will triple. Some will quadruple, and even worse.
“But Republicans don’t want to talk about that. They haven’t wanted to talk about it all year long. Never mind the fact that 80 percent of this funding goes to states Trump won. Never mind the fact that the biggest price hikes are all in Republican states.
“And make no mistake, this is the MAGA health care hike. Not just because Republicans are causing it—though they are—but because this price hike is going to hit MAGA states harder than anyone.
“And yet, even our most MAGA Senators have done nothing about this all year. They were too busy shoveling tax breaks at billionaires!
“Also, let’s be clear: this weekend, SNAP benefits will run dry. Not because there is no money left to keep families fed, but because Trump is choosing not to tap contingency funds. He is choosing to let kids go hungry.
“It’s also not because Congress can’t possibly reach an agreement to fund SNAP. There is a Republican bill specifically to keep SNAP going that we could pass, no problem. In fact, there is a Republican bill with fourteen Republican cosponsors to keep SNAP going.
“But the Republican leader won’t even hold a vote on it. He is sending everyone home rather than hold a vote on a bill he knows will pass. Now, keep in mind: he’s happy to vote 14 times on a bill he knows won’t pass. But he won’t vote once on a bill he knows will pass.
“Someone explain that to me. Someone explain that to folks back home who are going to go hungry because of the Republican Leader’s decision. And then, can someone explain to me why Republicans have refused, all year long, to talk about health care tax credits that overwhelmingly help Republican states?
“I just cannot get over, I just cannot understand, how Democrats are the only ones fighting to save these health care tax credits, even as Trump states are the ones facing the worst of the crisis to come.
“Instead, we have Dr. Oz trying to say it’s going to be just a $13 dollar increase. Do you think that is going to fool families? There is a woman in Tennessee whose premium is going to go from $10 a month to over $1,000 a month—and she is not alone. Do Republicans think they can convince her $1,000 is $13?
“I know when it comes to helping billionaires, Republicans are happy to use magic math and say trillions in tax breaks are free—but these families live in the real world. Their premiums are really jumping by hundreds, even thousands, of dollars a month.
“That is not a theory. That is not spin. They are window shopping right now. They are seeing the price hikes in real time. And come Saturday, when Open Enrollment begins, those sky high, unaffordable prices are going to become a reality. And not just for the 220,000 people back in Washington state I am fighting for every single day.
“The MAGA health care hike is going to hit nearly half a million people in Alabama, more than half a million in Ohio, and more than 600,000 people in South Carolina and Tennessee.
“The MAGA health care hike is going to hit nearly four million people in Texas, and over four million people in Florida. But all Republicans have to say is ‘wait’ and ‘later.’
“Republicans should be begging us to stop the MAGA health care hike. They should be coming to us with their own plans to stop the MAGA health care hike. But they have been silent all year.
“And what are they saying now? Some Republicans arguing it’s not their problem because they never wanted to lower health care costs in the first place. Some Republicans are saying they still wish we repealed Obamacare.
“I even heard one Republican saying they want to bring back high-risk pools. You know what that means? That means gutting the protections for people with pre-existing conditions. ‘You have cancer? Well, no health insurance for you.’
“Families are about to see premiums double, or worse, and every Republican idea I’ve heard so far is just, ‘What if we made the problem worse?’ And mind you, none of these ideas—bad, awful ideas—would actually do a single thing to stop the price hikes that are going into effect Saturday.
“The fact of the matter is: Republicans have no plan to stop the MAGA health care hike. The only idea they have seems to be to lie and pretend it is just going to cost families $13 extra next year. I mean, go back home and try that with your constituents! They will shout you out of the room. $13 dollars? The gall.
“I truly could not be more frustrated. I truly cannot understand why Democrats can sit at the table all year long, asking to stop this MAGA health care price hike, and Republicans would never even give us the time of day.
“Republicans would literally rather shut down the government than stop these premium hikes. And even now, the only thing they will say is ‘later,’ even when later is too late.
“Every day this drags on, the damage gets worse. There is not a second to waste. There has never been a second to waste. Open enrollment is all but here. Price hikes are all but locked in.
“From start to finish, Democrats have been at the table, and we still are not going anywhere. But from start to finish, Republicans have been missing in action. And what do they want to do now? Send us all home and ignore the train as it crashes in front of them. It’s disgraceful. And they should be ashamed.
“And they should know families will not forget this, because they are going to be paying the cost of the MAGA health care hike. Every. Single. Month.”
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Kat's "Kat's Korner: Jonas Brothers, Sarah McLachlan, Taylor Swift and Chrissie Hynde" went up earlier today and the following sites updated:
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Idiot of the Week1 day ago
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You have to see BUGONIA1 day ago
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