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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,...

Inheritances should be taxed as income from the first dollar. For those who bleat that it’s double taxation, the answer is that all taxation is double taxation. I pay taxes on my income, then use some of the taxed remainder to pay for gas and the associated fuel tax. Every time money changes hands, it’s taxed. Why should money transferred from one generation to the next be any different? With the growing wealth inequality, there are increasing discussions about a wealth tax. But inheritance taxes *are* wealth taxes. Wealth taxes are assessed annually while inheritance taxes are assessed whenever wealth changes hands. I’ve linked to a Youtube that elaborates on this. As Gary Stevenson explains, if nothing is done to halt the concentration of wealth in the hands of billionaires, they will eventually buy up all the assets, leaving none for the middle and working classes.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8mfqPNdENw

As any pharmacologist or toxicologist will tell you, the dose makes the poison. Most rice contains arsenic. Baked goods contain acrylamide. Seafood contains methylmercury. Natural groundwater contains fluoride. But in moderation, none of those things are toxic. Thanks to RFK Jr, there’s been a lot of silly nattering about the alleged dangers of ultraprocessed foods. But there’s no evidence that, consumed in moderation, ultraprocessed foods are either dangerous or toxic. In fact, they could even promote good health. “ In the third and longest ad libitum trial, individuals with overweight or obesity in the UK consumed either a UPF-rich or a non-UPF diet, with both diets adhering to national dietary guidelines on nutritional adequacy and healthfulness. Contrary to the other two trials, the UPF-rich diet reduced energy intake and promoted modest weight loss (0.9 kg) relative to baseline. These results suggest that a UPF-rich diet designed according to established dietary principles that em...

Jonathan Last has a fairly detailed piece (with links to more details) concerning something called mBridge, which looks to be China’s ‘camel’s nose under the tent’ for dethroning the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Read the whole thing. Here are some highlights: Currently, most of the world uses the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system for carrying out international transactions across multiple currencies. SWIFT runs mostly on the dollar. mBridge works on blockchain. • currencies never have to be converted to USD; • the costs associated with each transaction are comparatively much cheaper; • transactions clear almost in real time. Trump tried and failed to fight mBridge with massive tariffs. He then turned to stablecoins, which aren’t an alternative to mBridge, but just a grift for him and his family. “So in sum:   • mBridge is a threat to the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. • Biden tried to derail it by cutting it off ...

For all his boasting about winning and a deal with Iran, all Trump has is a memorandum of understanding. It apparently includes a 60-day period when Iran won’t collect tolls in the strait, a cessation of attacks by the US and some inchoate future discussion on buried uranium. And the CIA director has cast public doubt on Iran’s willingness to make concessions on nuclear programs. Josh Marshall thinks Administration hawks are undermining Trump’s exit plan. “If you go to war to achieve a specific end you don’t end the war before negotiating over that specific end. (The US has many declared ends in its war with Iran – proxies, missiles, etc. – but the nuclear program was always the most central.) You come to an agreement when [your] hand is strongest. The whole point of pushing the negotiation over nuclear weapons to after the conflict but making it seem like an agreement is somehow contained within the ceasefire isn’t a matter of really poor negotiating skills. It’s a ruse that both side...

I rarely eat beef. Maybe once or twice a year. The closest thing I eat to beef is bison, and even that only a pound or two a year. I long ago switched to chicken, turkey and fish for animal protein. Beef prices are skyrocketing.  “Retail beef prices are hovering near a record high. Last month, consumers paid on average a little over  $7 per pound  for ground beef, up 13% from a year earlier and 50% from five years earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — far outpacing the general inflation rate. A decent ribeye steak from the grocery store now looks like a luxury, with prime cuts typically pushing beyond $20 per pound. Even some beloved Texas barbecue joints are  shutting down  due to the skyrocketing cost of brisket.   “These are good times if you’re a rancher like Brown, who endured years of tight margins before the pandemic. But the steep prices are making shoppers wince — and creating a serious political problem for President Donald Trump ...

You may have seen that Speaker Mike Johnson wants Social Security to be “fixed” after the midterms. The fact that he wants to wait until after the midterms tells you everything you need to know. He’s using “fixed” in the sense of what you do to your dog if you don’t want puppies. Republicans know this is radioactive and don’t want to run for re-election on it. And Johnson wants a stick to beat Democrats with when he’s loses the speaker’s gavel in January. Johnson argues that SS must be cut because it’s such a large share of the federal budget and topping it off to prevent benefits cuts in the early 2030s is too expensive. Setting aside the fact that SS is separately funded and so has zero effect on the deficit, how large is SS relative to the defense spending? Paul Krugman brings the receipts: “. . .    while the cost of maintaining Social Security benefits at their promised level isn’t trivial, it is in fact affordable. According to the Trustees’ report, the   actuarial ...

“So far, 206 Afrikaners have resettled in Ohio, a state that has struggled with population decline for decades. The Trump administration recently announced it plans to increase by 10,000 the number of refugee resettlement places for South Africans this year.   “But since arriving in the US, Afrikaners – largely the Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Dutch settlers and French Huguenots – have faced major challenges, in large part due to policies aimed at immigrants and enacted by the White House and Ohio’s Republican-run legislature.   “Last June, Ohio introduced new driving license rules for lawful residents who are not citizens or green card holders.   “They include the requirement for all applicants to complete eight hours of lessons through a designated driving school, 24 hours of classroom work and 50 hours of driving with a licensed adult before being able to take a driving exam. The cost of fulfilling these requirements is estimated at about $500 and could take up to...

The NYT published an article reporting that RFK Jr has abandoned most of his responsibilities: “Mr. Kennedy has shown little interest in managing the details of work in his department, according to multiple colleagues,” Sheryl Gay Stolberg wrote in the article. “Instead, they say, he is single-mindedly focused on his top priorities, including food recommendations and pesticide exposures, and hunting for evidence to support his long-held beliefs that vaccines are harmful.“ Not exactly news. Kennedy’s rebuttal? “All one needs to refute your argument is to glance at my publicly available calendar and to review my unprecedented list of accomplishments on a wide range of issues, all of which I drove,” Kennedy wrote.” LOL! His “accomplishments” are (a) the firings and resignations of health research experts at the CDC, FDA and NIH and (b) sowing distrust in scientific expertise while replacing sound science with magical thinking. Whatever they’re paying him, it’s way too much. Unless the job...

It astonishes me what passes for reasoning among “conservatives.” “Steve Gruber, host of the conservative network's morning program   Day Break , made the announcement Wednesday alongside his guest and wife, Ivey Ramos Gruber, who agreed sunglasses might also be unnecessary. The segment fits neatly into the MAHA movement's growing anti-sunscreen wing — and straight into a public health nightmare.   “Steve Gruber played a clip of   Valerie Anne Smith , an Ohio-based social media influencer who bills herself as a medical and health authority on X, where she has more than 246,000 followers. Smith has no listed medical credentials. “ "The sun that is giving life to all of us on this earth, this plane of existence, is not here to cause cancer," Smith said in the clip.” Tanning beds are not here to cause cancer, but they do. HPV is not here to cause cancer, but it does. Tobacco isn’t here to cause cancer, but it does. Asbestos isn’t here to cause cancer, but it does.  Chro...

  “Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless.   “Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed — in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical — and when facts are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.   “For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one.”   ~  Dietrich Bonhoeffer

How many of us heard some variation of this from their mom:   "If your friends jumped off a cliff (or bridge), would you do it too?" If RFK Jr told you to treat measles with vitamin A, would you jump off that cliff? “ A team from Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts analyzed Google search trends data for the search terms   “vitamin A” measles  and   “cod liver” measles   in the US from January 1 to June 1, 2025 ( cod liver oil   and supplements are a popular source of vitamin A).    “They found that search interest for both terms started ticking upwards on February 26, peaking on March 22 and March 5, respectively.   “This coincided with multiple media statements, starting on February 19, promoting vitamin A as a measles treatment,” the authors point out, clarifying that they focused on statements from government figures like Kennedy.” Vitamin A won’t prevent measles and isn’t an effective treatment for the viral disease. Vaccination i...

You may have seen where the Defense Department recently cut 180 religions from its list of recognized religions. Among those cut from the list of “Christian religions were the Mormons. After Sen. Mike Lee, a Mormon from Utah, complained to Trump, the list was revised. Not to include Mormons as Christian, but to remove the “Christian” designation entirely. What’s going on? It turns out that sect to which Whisky Pete belongs considers Mormons to be apostates. Yep, the Church with “Jesus Christ” right there in its name isn’t Christian according to Hegseth’s mentor. And Hegseth decided he could just disappear a religion that is practiced by millions. When Trump vetoed that, Hegseth made sure Mormons were not designated “Christian.” I don’t really know much about the Mormon faith, but this isn’t really about faith, it’s about branding. It’s like if Colgate said that Crest isn’t a real toothpaste.  People killed each other for centuries over their styles of worshipping Jesus. The foundin...

I somehow missed this, but a couple months ago the Trump Administration abandoned its effort to cut indirect cost reimbursements for federal grants to colleges and universities. Just before I retired, the indirect cost rate at Saint Louis University was 51.5%, so this cut would have been devastating to research at SLU.   When I asked my chairman, who is a Republican and who assured me in 2016 that Trump would “be good for America” what he thought about the cuts, he called them “a nothingburger.” Turns out he was right. “ In January, a   federal court of appeals   ruled that the NIH policy to cap indirect cost reimbursement rates at 15% is unlawful. The Trump administration had until April 6 to appeal the ruling—and did not. It also did not appeal a similar ruling against Department of Energy cost rate caps.” Apparently, the administration is working to find another way to cook the nothingburger. <a href=" https://www.nacubo.org/News/2026/4/Court-Fight-Over-NIH-Indirect...

“ In April, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, signed a resolution designating June as   “Nuclear Family Month”   and claiming that a family with “one husband, one wife and any biological, adopted or fostered children” is “God’s design.”   *snip*   “This resolution denigrates not just same-sex families but unmarried straight couples with children; married straight couples without children; single-parent families; grandparents raising their grandchildren; adults raising younger siblings; and any of the countless other configurations that don’t hew to outdated images of what a family looks like.” They’ve turned marriage into battlespace. They’ve turned public schools into battlespace. Could it be that they need culture wars to distract from the ballooning Trump deficits, ballooning inflation, ballooning gas prices, ballooning grocery prices, 100 days of war in Iran, closing rural hospitals?   https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/07/opinion/same-sex-marriage...

When I was in junior high and high school, I earned a little money babysitting and, during the summers, mowing lawns. As high school graduation loomed, my parents wanted me to get a better-paying summer job between high school and college. I ended up wandering around filling out job applications at fast food restaurants and retail stores. None of those generated a response.   I’m not sure what my parents were thinking. Maybe they thought jobs for teenagers with no connections or work histories were just lying around waiting for applicants. Eventually, the maid who cleaned once a week after my mom became a full-time grad student arranged with her son-in-law to get me a job pumping gas. The station was on the other side of the river, so when the station closed at 11 PM, I had to ride my bike home in the dark across a narrow bridge. This was the first clue that it helped to have connections if you’re looking for jobs. The next clue was when, a few days after I started at Bull Run Oil ...

Thanks to climate change, which the Trump Administration is actively promoting, and the Trump Administration defunding of USAID and   a project dedicated to monitoring and containing New World screwworm in Central America , screwworm is back in the US after decades of successful containment. What is screwworm? “ New World screwworm is a fly that lays its eggs in open wounds and body openings of warm-blooded animals. Infestations start when a female fly lays eggs on open wounds—wounds as small as a tick bite can attract a female fly to lay her eggs—or other parts of the body in live animals. Eggs hatch into maggots that feed on the living flesh for about 7 days before the larvae drop to the ground, burrow into the soil, and emerge as adult screwworm flies—starting the cycle again. Most infestations occur in animals, but they can occur in people. ” How does this affect beef prices? “ The United States eradicated screwworm in the 1960s through a massive   sterile fly program , bu...

National vanity is arguably dependent on the absence of national pride. To be proud of one’s country is, as Yeats says, not to disguise its faults but to want to believe that the country is capable of rising above them. The keynote of national pride is “We’re better than this.” National vanity, on the contrary, is indeed a form of disguise. It uses the mask of greatness to cover up a society’s complex realities. The dark parts of its history and the persistent stains of injustice must be erased. The dignity of self-knowledge is sacrificed to the willed ignorance of inflated self-esteem. Self-belief is replaced by self-delusion.   ~Fintan O’Toole

To follow up on a previous post about Tesla autonomous driving vehicles: “Tesla has retroactively modified “Full Self-Driving” purchase agreements to add “supervised” language that did not exist when owners originally bought the product. In some cases, the original documents have been made entirely inaccessible.   “ Electrek   has confirmed the issue with multiple owners. The contracts in question were signed between 2016 and early 2024, when Tesla sold the package as “Full Self-Driving Capability” — with no mention of “supervised” and the implicit promise of unsupervised autonomy.” Will this deflate Tesla’s laughably inflated stock value? No, because stockholders are investing in Elon Musk, not cars. https://electrek.co/2026/06/03/tesla-retroactively-modified-fsd-contracts-supervised/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky

One of the larger ongoing non-Trump grifts in the US today is the “Ark Encounter” in Williamstown, Kentucky. It’s been open for nearly ten years. I don’t know whether or not it’s hit its evangelistic benchmarks, but it has never met the financial benchmarks promised to Kentucky taxpayers. “When Creationist   Ken Ham   and his team at Answers in Genesis were looking for a location for their $100+ million attraction, they pitched it as a way to create jobs. One   projection   (from the state) said Ark Encounter was “expected to annually generate… a minimum of 3,000 new full-time equivalent jobs.”   *snip* “Besides that, the city of Williamstown, which desperately wanted to be the home of the Ark,   offered Ham’s team   $62 million in junk bonds if they built the “Ark” in their backyard. Grant County, which Williamstown is in, gave Ham’s team 98 acres of land for $1. “They also said that, over a 30-year period, 75% of Ark Encounter’s real estate taxes wou...

The Office of Management and Budget is proposing a set of new rules that would put OMB officials in charge of all federal scientific grants, allowing them to overrule peer review panels. They can also cancel grants at any time for essentially any reason. This would end the current grant review mechanism and turn it into a kind of political patronage system. Any research or research institutions could immediately be cut off if they offend the Administration.  What’s being proposed here reminds me of political commissars of Stalin's USSR. In science, it brought about the imprisonment or death of eminent geneticists and the rise of Lysenkoism, which set Soviet agriculture back decades. For someone who grew up during the Cold War, the idea a Republican administration would embrace the practices of communism is a breathtaking inversion.   Or consider what happened to German and Italian physics during fascism. Many of the world’s best fled to the West and served in the development o...

The world is a much-changed place since I was born. While that hasn’t always been for the better, there are technologies that I have embraced enthusiastically and wouldn’t want to retreat from: Word processing on computer: I learned touch typing on a typewriter. My parents gave me a portable manual typewriter as a high school graduation present. I used it all through college and made a little pocket change typing up assignments for friends. As I was finishing my PhD, my mentor got an Apple II, and I learned word processing with WordStar. Flash forward, and I write everything except grocery lists and checks using my laptop. I compose directly at the keyboard, without the intermediation of stylus and paper.  I would hate to go back to typewriters and paper. Calculators: I learned the basics of the slide rule in high school, but midway through my freshman year in college, cheap hand-held calculators appeared. I did my regressions for my dissertation on a hand-held calculator I bo...