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George Washington famously required his army to be inoculated against smallpox. Not because he was woke, but because he understood how devastating this viral infection could be and how protective immunity was. Whisky Pete, knowing more than our founding father and first president, made the flu vaccine optional. How’d that work out? “Last week,  news broke  that an influenza outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas had caused around 160 people to become sick.   “The timing was both bizarre and not. On one hand, the U.S. armed forces  ended its flu vaccine mandate  in April. On the other, a flu outbreak in June is unusual.   “Indeed, after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the policy, an influenza outbreak in military barracks seemed inevitable. But so soon? That may have surprised some. But, in retrospect, it shouldn't have.”   *snip* “. . . Hegseth did not break epidemiology. He merely stumbled into the mathematically inevitable "find out...

Republicans are blaming social programs for the ballooning deficits and national debt. Setting aside the fact that the US debt/GDP ratio was higher at the end of WWII and that Japan has a far higher debt/GDP ratio, what would a serious discussion about federal spending look like? Obviously, it would decry the squandering of tens of billions on an elective war with Iran that the US lost. Then there are the billions wasted on ICE, Trump’s gang of thugs rampaging and criming on US streets. There’s the money Trump spent demolishing the East Wing. And the ongoing defending retribution lawsuits filed by Trump’s DOJ that are ultimately thrown out of court. But perhaps most emblematic of the waste, fraud and abuse of this administration is the tragicomedy of the Reflecting Pool.  “This watery boondoggle is exactly the kind of thing they've criticized for years.   “ President Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to spend $14 million to fix up the Reflecting Pool on Washington’s National ...

Trump will not be president forever. And when he goes, Democrats will face a defining choice: exploit the executive machinery he has exposed, or dismantle it. The temptation to exploit it will be enormous—and yielding to that temptation would be a historic mistake. If post-Trump America is to be a post-authoritarian one, it will have to embark on a Second Reconstruction, and Democrats will need to lead it.   In the first Reconstruction, the Union faced the challenge of reintegrating the South under a rule of law guaranteeing equal rights to all citizens. Republicans led the task then, with some support from loyal Democrats. They undertook not minor technocratic tinkering but major structural interventions—constitutional amendments and new institutions—that remade our governing framework and ensured democratic inclusion. Something similar is needed now.   ~ Shikha Dalmia and Andy Craig

I chose original Medicare because I’d read about all the problems, delays and overcharges in Medicare “Advantage.” So far, I’m happy with that choice, and things don’t seem to be improving with Medicare “Advantage.” Now, it appears the Trump Administration has decided to throw sand in the gears of a government program that works. “Traditional Medicare beneficiaries generally don't need prior authorization before receiving medical treatment. “In January, however, a new pilot program launched by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began bringing prior authorization, including the use of artificial intelligence to review requests for care, to parts of traditional Medicare. “And it's not going smoothly. “The program, known as the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) model, requires additional approvals for a range of procedures, including epidural steroid injections, treatments for spinal stenosis and knee osteoarthritis, and nerve stimulation for c...

One of the many outrages of this political moment in America is the refusal by the Republican majorities in the House and Senate to assert the powers accorded the legislature. With the right-wing majority on the Roberts court asserting the “unitary executive theory” and presidential immunity, the only remaining threat to Trump’s seizing dictatorial powers is the power of impeachment and removal from office. I’m seeing lots of bleating about how, if Democrats take Congress in the midterms, they should impeach Trump. Folks, Trump has already been impeached twice. To remove him from office requires a 2/3 vote in the Senate. A few Senate Republicans did vote to convict after Trump’s second impeachment. They’re out of office now, and *all* congressional Republicans know that if they cross Trump, they’ll be primaried. Lowering the number of votes required for conviction would require a constitutional amendment. That’s a high bar. But short of that . . .   “. . .  allow a secret ball...

As a molecular biologist, I’m a huge fan of mRNA vaccines. I enrolled in the phase III Moderna clinical trial for the COVID mRNA vaccines. Starting in August 2020, I’ve had 8 jabs. Yes, I did get a COVID infection, but I didn’t end up in the ED or the morgue. It’s easy to see the opportunity to develop other vaccines based on the mRNA technology. They’re cheaper to produce and easier to modify, which for a virus that evolves every year is a huge advantage.  “ An FDA advisory panel on Thursday unanimously endorsed the use of Moderna's trivalent flu vaccine candidate, which uses mRNA technology that's come under fire from the nation's top health official. “In two 9-0 votes, the  Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee  said the benefits of the mRNA vaccine outweigh its risks for preventing the flu in adults 50 to 64 years and in those 65 and up.” It’s gratifying to read this episode of sanity in an RFK Jr-hijacked FDA. As a member of the 65+ demographic,...