Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

São Paulo, Brazil – The return of Donald Trump to the White House was not the scenario President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had likely hoped for. On the eve of the U.S. elections, Lula voiced his preference for the Democratic contender, Vice President Kamala Harris, in an interview with French broadcaster TF1.

“As a lover of democracy, which I believe is the most sacred tool humanity has devised to govern itself, I naturally root for Kamala Harris to win the elections,” the Brazilian president declared.

Yet, the outcome was different. Trump emerged victorious and, come January 20, 2025, will once again lead the world’s most powerful nation, four years after leaving office shrouded in criticism, including from his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the January 6, 2021 attacks from his supporters on the U.S. Capitol.

In Brazil, he will face a different government to those which he experienced in his first term, which were more sympathetic to his right-wing, nationalist style of politics…

Lula’s initial response to Trump’s election indicated openness to dialogue. In a post on X, he congratulated him on his win and his return to the U.S. presidency, emphasizing that democracy reflects the people’s will and wishing the incoming administration success. n an interview with Brazil Reports, Leandro Loureiro, a professor of International Relations at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said that the relationship between Lula and Trump should be marked by objectivity, with them prioritizing issues of common interest to both countries.

“Lula will likely avoid direct confrontations and prioritize cooperative agreements on shared issues. Conversely, Trump’s approach toward Lula may also be results-oriented, seeking favorable deals. Both leaders are likely to place economic interests above political and ideological differences. Environmental issues may emerge as the primary source of tension,” Loureiro explained.

Dawisson Belém Lopes, a professor of International Politics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, emphatically told Brazil Reports that Lula and Trump have very different personalities, which can be an obstacle to building bridges.

“They defend a set of perspectives, of visions that are diametrically opposed, starting with the reading that one and the other have of multilateralism, international institutions, international law, the use of force, the question of Palestine and, I think, above all, the status of democracy. Today I don’t see any clear areas of convergence. It will have to be built with skill by the diplomatic corps of the two countries.” […].

-Brazil Reports

DUQUE DE CAXIAS, Brazil, July 4 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva suggested on Friday that he will stand for re-election in 2026 but stopped short of making a formal announcement.

"Get ready. If everything goes the way I am thinking, this country will, for the first time, have a president elected four times by the Brazilian people," Lula told an event in Rio de Janeiro.

The 79-year-old leftist leader was elected in 2022 for his third non-consecutive term, having previously served as president between 2003 and 2010.

On October 27, 2002, at the age of 57, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for the first time, with almost 53 million votes. Liberal Party (Partido Liberal/PL) businessman and senator for Minas Gerais José Alencar became vice-president.

That same year, the PT National Convention approved a broad political alliance (made up also of political parties PL, PCdoB, PCB and PMN) based on a government program to redeem the country’s social debts to the vast majority of the Brazilian people.

President Lula’s first term as president put Brazil on the right track and prepared it for economic growth alongside important social progress and a significant improvement in income distribution – mostly due to a policy to value Brazil’s minimum wage, to record generation of jobs and to income distribution programs such as Bolsa Família.

On October 29, 2006, once again alongside Vice President José Alencar, Lula was re-elected President with over 58 million votes – then the biggest turnout in the history of Brazil.

Second presidential term

Lula took on his second term on January 1, 2007. That same year, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) began placing Brazil on the list of nations with a high Human Development Index.

On April 30, 2008, Standard & Poor’s granted the Brazilian economy an investment-grade scale and was followed by Fitch and Moody's. Also in 2008, Petrobras carried out an unprecedented feat: extracting oil from Brazil’s pre-salt layer, over 7,000 meters down in oceanic waters.

2008 was also the year of the storm triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15. The episode expanded the existing financial crisis – the worst since the crash of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929.

In Brazil, President Lula proclaimed that the “tsunami” sweeping the world would turn into a “small wave” in Brazil. Following a reduction in interest rates and taxes; incentives for consumption; the offer of credit; a minimum wage recovery policy; and more investments in social programs and infrastructure, Brazil emerged much stronger from the first round of that great crisis...

In the 2022 presidential campaign Lula built a broad network of support, gathering notables and politicians from different political parties to back his candidacy – and even Geraldo Alckmin, against whom he had disputed the 2006 election, as vice president. At the end of a fiercely contested election, Lula became the first Brazilian citizen to occupy the Presidency of the Republic three times by the sovereign will of the people. Over 60 million Brazilian men and women gave Lula the biggest vote in history.

On January 1, 2023, Lula ascended the Planalto Palace ramp alongside people who represent Brazilian diversity and received the presidential sash from recyclable material collector Aline Sousa. Aline was able to go to college thanks to the public policies of Lula’s two previous terms. One cycle was completed, and another began.

Biography - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Sep 07, 2023

 

"This is what happens when advocates for a Me society gains control of the levers of power"

Societies are typically organized along one of two lines: “We” or “Me.” We societies drive wealth and rights from the bottom up; Me societies do it from the top down, much like the kingdoms of old.

It’s a choice every nation must make. Franklin Roosevelt turned America into a We society with the New Deal; Reagan began the process of turning us into a Me society with the Reagan Revolution. And his and the GOP’s efforts are now coming to full fruition.

Imagine this:   

Your grandmother — 87 years old, Alzheimer’s setting in, barely able to recognize your face — is being wheeled out of the nursing home she’s called home for three years. Not because she’s better, but because the home is closing. The Medicaid funding dried up. The next available care facility is three hours away and it doesn’t take Medicaid. You work full-time. You have kids. You don’t have the money, or the time, or the training to care for her full-time.

This isn’t fiction. This isn’t a thought experiment. This is exactly what Donald Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress are planning with their grotesquely misnamed “One Big Beautiful Bill.” A better title? One Big Ugly Betrayal.

Don’t be fooled by the branding. This bill is neither “big” nor “beautiful” for the 71 million Americans who rely on Medicaid.

And in a particularly slick move, the cuts to Medicaid and food stamps/SNAP will not kick in until January 2027, two months after the midterm 2026 elections so people won’t notice the damage before they vote Next year.

It’s big only in its cruelty and the size of its handouts to billionaires. And it is ugly in every moral, economic, and democratic sense of the word.

This is what happens when advocates for a Me society gains control of the levers of power.

For four decades, we’ve seen a war — not just on the poor, not just on the working class — but on the very idea of a We society.

A nation built on the idea that, as Paul Wellstone used to say, “We all do better when we all do better.” That we look out for one another. That government exists not to enrich the already rich, but to ensure a decent life, dignity, and democracy for everyone.

That We vision is faltering under the Trump/GOP/billionaire siege.

The Republican Party — now fully captive to the whims of the morbidly rich and authoritarian ideologues — has declared war on our social contract. Their weapon this time? A trillion-dollar axe to Medicaid.

Let’s be clear about what this means:

— Nursing homes closing — thousands of seniors thrown into chaos, often with nowhere to go.

— Rural hospitals shutting down — entire regions left without emergency care.

— Caregiver shortages — the remaining homes stretched beyond capacity, residents waiting in soiled sheets for help that won’t come.

— Families shattered — daughters and sons quitting jobs to care for elderly parents, financial ruin replacing retirement plans.

All so morbidly rich billionaires can afford a bigger yacht and another $50 million wedding spectacle. All so hedge fund managers can stash more profits in the Caymans. All so the American oligarchy can squeeze one last dollar from a country they’ve already plundered beyond reason since Reagan took an axe to unions, taxes, and the middle class.

And Mitch McConnell has the audacity to say: “Get over it.”

No. We won’t “get over it.”

We will not “get over” watching our parents and grandparents discarded like garbage because a handful of billionaires want another tax cut.

We will not “get over” watching our communities hollowed out, our hospitals shuttered, and our democracy drowned in dark money.

And we will not “get over” the cynical, deliberate destruction of our shared future, done behind closed doors, rushed through Congress, and shrouded in lies.

This isn’t just a policy debate. This is an ideological war.

On one side: the We society. A vision born out of the Great Depression, hardened in the fires of World War II, and realized in the form of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP: programs that say, “We are in this together.”

On the other side: a Me society. A cult of greed that sees solidarity as weakness and democracy as an obstacle. A worldview that reveres wealth and sneers at compassion. That says: “If Grandma can’t pay, let her rot.”

The GOP’s Me society didn’t arise by accident. It was sold to us by think tanks funded by billionaires, by media owned by corporations, by politicians whose campaigns are financed by the very people they’re supposed to regulate. It’s the Powell Memo and Project 2025 come to life.

And now, we’re at the crossroads.

This is the moment. The inflection point.

— Call your representatives.
— Organize.
— March tomorrow.
— Tell your neighbors what’s happening.
— Don’t let this cruelty pass quietly.

Because this isn’t just about Grandma. This is about who we are. About whether we believe in democracy — real democracy — where every voice matters and no one is left behind.

Or whether we surrender, finally and completely, to the rule of billionaires and bankers, the Fox “News”-fueled poison of hate and greed, the slow-rolling destruction of the American dream.

The arc of history doesn’t bend itself. It bends when we bend it with action, with solidarity, and with outrage channeled into purpose.

History is watching.

So is Grandma.

Let’s not fail her.

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A Reminder on July 4, 2025

 

Desperate for some inspiration, I decided to reread the entire Declaration of Independence. We know it as an aspirational document (“We hold these truths…”). We understand it as a repudiation of tyranny (“Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.”).

It is both those things, but it is also a compendium of complaints, a description of an autocrat’s offenses against a free people. And that was the part I found strangely relevant to our times.

The signers railed about exclusionary immigration policies that hurt the colonies (“He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose, obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither”).

They inveighed against barriers to trade (“cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world”). And they condemned imposing “Taxes on us without our Consent,” which, if we remember that unilaterally imposed tariffs are a consumer tax, also sounds familiar. 

Tyrants, then and now, seek to dominate and micromanage commerce to the detriment of ordinary people seeking a better life. And notice the common problem, then and now, when a tyrant attempts to corrupt the rule of law by seeking to intimidate and threaten members of the judiciary (“He has obstructed the Administration of Justice….

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices”); seeks to impair due process (“depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury”); and even ships people out of the country for punishment (“Transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences”). The tyrant playbook has not changed much in nearly 250 years.

Using the military improperly has always been a go-to move for tyrants. “He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures” (or in our case, the governor of California) and tried to make “the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power” (by, among other things, threatening to deploy them to silence protests).

“Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us” is still going on in Los Angeles. And “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us …”—or in Donald Trump’s case, incited violence, called it an insurrection and then used it as a pretext to send in the military.

Though our bill of particulars against Trump bears some resemblance to the Declaration’s list of grievances, it might be useful to include a few of Trump’s more recent offenses:

• He has waged war without the authorization of Congress.
• He has used his office to enrich himself and corrupt commerce.
• He has attempted to quash states’ laws and practices (e.g., California’s air quality standards, sanctuary cities’ prohibitions on cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
• He has threatened the free press.
• He has weaponized the administration of justice against his enemies and released felons who staged an insurrection.
• He has installed incompetent, ignorant, and morally compromised people in high office.
• He has vowed to strip his political opponents’ citizenship.
• He has attempted to usurp the power of the purse.

I could go on.

In a functional democracy with a vibrant, independent and conscientious Article I branch, the compendium of Trump’s offenses would serve as an outline for articles of impeachment. In the era of a pliant, quivering Republican House and Senate majority, the litany of horrors should at least highlight the degree to which Trump has tried to assume the powers of a king. (It’s no coincidence he flocks the Oval Office in gold—décor long favored by monarchs, tyrants, and real estate developers with bad taste.)

Nearly 250 years ago, after listing the offenses against the colonies, the signers of the Declaration felt compelled to declare their break from Britain as the only means to unshackle themselves. We must not (as Trump has) resort to insurrection and/or violence. 

Thanks to the handiwork of the Constitution ratified 12 years after the Declaration, we have all the tools (e.g., elections, free speech) necessary to maintain our status as a “Free and Independent” people.

We all can use this Independence Day to rouse our fellow Americans from their stupor, recall for them the offenses of our modern tyrant, and summon them to embrace the spirit of the Declaration (“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”).

We can remind them that generations of Americans have pledged their Lives, Fortunes and sacred Honor for the right to live as free citizens, not helpless subjects of a mad king. And we might then enlist them in the immense task of peacefully recapturing our democracy and reforming all branches of government. 

Then we might be worthy of the greatest inheritance one might receive: the privilege of being a free people in a country capable of transcending its faults. I hope you have a meaningful, inspiring, and joyful Fourth of July!

---

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Ted Williams, July 3, 1948

 

July 3, 1948. Fenway Park was buzzing like a beehive that night. The kind of Boston summer evening where the thick, humid air wraps itself around you like a wool blanket—hot dogs sizzling on grills, kids chasing fireflies under the bleachers, the crack of the bat echoing against the walls of memory and myth. 

Ted Williams was in left field. Calm. Cool. That swing—the most talked-about swing in baseball—had already done its job that season. He stood tall, glove at his side, the picture of poise under pressure, even when the crowd roared with every pitch and the city carried him like a crown jewel in its sports-obsessed heart.

Then, out of nowhere, the rhythm of the game was broken.

A man leapt the railing. It wasn’t the first time a fan had rushed the field, but something about this one was different. There wasn’t madness in his run—no wild gestures, no flash of chaos. Just purpose. He trotted straight toward The Splendid Splinter, and the stadium, just for a heartbeat, held its breath.

Ted didn’t flinch.

That’s what people who knew him best remember. Not just the .344 career average or the 521 home runs, but moments like this—how he never backed down. From a fastball. From a media storm. From war. And certainly not from a stranger on the grass at Fenway.

The man slowed as he approached. Security was already racing in from both foul lines, but Ted didn’t move. He watched the guy calmly, curiously, as if trying to solve a puzzle in real time.

“You don’t remember me,” the man said, his voice shaky but sincere. “But I was in the service with you.”

Silence. Even the wind seemed to wait.

“I think you’re a great guy,” he added. “And I wanted to tell you so personally.”

And just like that, the intensity melted into something human. Something sacred.

Ted cracked a smile. That famous, mischievous grin that used to flash just before he sent a fastball screaming into the night sky. He laughed—softly, genuinely—and reached out to shake the man’s hand.

They talked for a minute or two. Who knows what was said—maybe old squadron memories, maybe a name mentioned, a face remembered. Whatever passed between them, it was real. Two veterans reconnecting not in a parade or a bar or a VFW hall, but under the lights of a ballfield where thousands had come to see a game… and instead witnessed a moment that transcended sport.

Eventually, the man—Ed Carlson, from nearby Dorchester—was gently escorted off the field. No cuffs. No boos. Just an ovation that rippled through the stands like applause at a play’s final act. Fenway, that night, wasn’t just a ballpark. It was a cathedral of memory.

And Ted? He turned back to left field like nothing had happened. But something had. A game was paused, sure. But more importantly, time had blinked—and when it opened its eyes again, it remembered why baseball is America’s pastime.

Because it’s not just about the runs or the records.

It’s about connection.

It’s about courage.

It’s about moments like this.

#BaseballHistory #TedWilliams #FenwayPark #OnThisDay #MLBStories #VeteranSalute #BaseballLegends #1948Memory #SplendidSplinter #RedSoxForever

  

If a strange package appears at your doorstep

 

If a strange package appears at your doorstep, there’s no need to panic, but action needs to be taken.

The Postal Service and cybersecurity experts have recommended reporting it: Go to USPIS.gov and file a report with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Reporting these scams helps federal investigators trace the origin and stop future incidents.

Auditing your accounts: Check your online shopping, banking and credit card accounts for any unusual charges. It’s also smart to request a free credit report from Equifax, Experian or TransUnion to detect any suspicious activity. 

Updating your passwords: Even if you don’t see fraud, it’s always a good idea to change your passwords, especially for your email, Amazon, bank and any accounts where financial or personal data is stored.

 

Trump Administration freezes cash for school districts, teacher training, migrant students...

 

The Trump administration will withhold billions of federal education dollars from states and local schools that were expected to be available on July 1, according to notices sent to federal grantees on Monday. It’s a move with the potential to imperil afterschool programs, teacher training initiatives and education for migrant students. Some education advocacy groups estimate that approximately $5 billion is at stake.

According to the notice delivered to federal grantees, the contents of which were described to POLITICO on condition of anonymity by officials familiar with the matter, the administration is still reviewing fiscal 2025 grant funding for the affected programs. It has not yet made decisions about awards for the upcoming academic year and will not obligate their funds on Tuesday before that review is complete.

“The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President’s priorities and the Department’s statutory responsibilities,” the agency said in written communications to states about its plans.

It’s unclear how long the spending review might last or when the federal funds might be distributed. But the delay could leave states and schools facing immediate pressure to find ways to keep education programs running and balance their budgets for the coming academic year.

The Education Department referred questions to the Office of Management and Budget. The White House did not comment for this report. A Trump administration official on Tuesday said the funding was part of a programmatic review and that it was incorrect to characterize the administration’s move as a “freeze.”

Officials said the affected funds include money for state teacher training grants; summer and after-school programs funded under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program; the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program; and funds for migrant education programs plus students who speak limited English.

The impact of the decision will be felt across multiple jurisdictions. The funds being withheld from the affected programs represent at least 10 percent of the federal K-12 education spending in 33 states and territories, according to estimates published Monday by the Learning Policy Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit think tank.

The administration has telegraphed the possibility that it would not distribute the funds by July 1 for months in spending plans submitted to Congress and testimony to lawmakers, raising worries and growing criticism among school advocacy organizations and congressional appropriators about the potential fiscal impact on school systems.

“The administration must make the full extent of title funding available in a timely manner,” said Carissa Moffat Miller, head of the Council of Chief State School Officers, in a statement to POLITICO. “These funds were approved by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in March. Schools need these funds to hire key staff and educate students this summer and in the upcoming school year.”

OMB director Russell Vought suggested to Senate appropriators last week that the congressionally approved funding could be the target of a future rescissions package. President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have also proposed cutting off some of the affected programs in their budget pitch for the coming year.

Vought has discussed using a controversial tactic known as a “pocket rescission” to defy Congress’ funding directives. To do that, the Trump administration would have to send additional budget rescission requests to Congress in the final weeks of the fiscal year, which runs through September.

Earlier this month, OMB directed several agencies to freeze upwards of $30 billion in spending on a broad array of programs, POLITICO’s E&E News reported. Even if lawmakers vote to approve or reject the requests, the White House could let the funding expire by withholding it through Sept. 30.

“School districts rely on these critical funds to comply with federal law,” Tara Thomas, the government affairs manager for AASA, The School Superintendents Association, said in a statement. “Withholding these resources simply pushes more unfunded mandates on schools — placing additional strain on already limited budgets — and the consequences will be felt by all students and across all classrooms,” Thomas said.

Juan Perez, Jr. and Rebecca Carballo

-Politico

 

"Tens of thousands of the world’s poorest children will be sickened by some of the deadliest infectious diseases known to humankind. Some of them will die..." because of him

 

While America watched President Trump bomb Iran (and joke about renaming Pete Hegseth his “Secretary of War”) and the GOP Congress continued its insane push to destroy Medicaid so Trump’s wealthy friends could receive their tax cuts, two pretty terrible things also happened that are likely to jeopardize the lives of children in America and around the world.

Those two awful things were the handiwork of Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who, at this incredible juncture, should obviously be renamed America’s “anti-health” secretary.

First, Kennedy announced (in a falsehood-riddled video statement to international public health leaders gathered at a global event in Brussels) that the United States will no longer contribute funding to Gavi, a global alliance that helps buy vaccines to treat the world’s poorest children, according to a report from Politico, which broke the story.

The reason, Kennedy said, was that Gavi was ignoring safety. That’s a lie. All vaccines are tested for safety. Vaccines have saved the lives of millions of people, especially children. But that didn’t stop Kennedy from continuing his decades-long conspiracy campaign against vaccines by using his post in the Trump administration to end successful vaccine programs.

What is true is that, should the Trump administration follow through on Kennedy’s statement and deny U.S. funding for vaccines through Gavi, tens of thousands of the world’s poorest children will be sickened by some of the deadliest infectious diseases known to humankind. Some of them will die as a result.

“Secretary Kennedy's statement to Gavi, the vaccine alliance, is literally sickening,” Tom Frieden, the former director of President Obama’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote on X.

“Sickening because millions of children’s lives are in the balance because of Mr. Kennedy’s fringe beliefs and misinformation on vaccines,” Frieden wrote. “Sickening because the U.S. is turning its back on women and children at risk of death and disability. And sickening because it reflects the invasion of anti-vaccination falsehoods into life-and-death programs.”

Atul Gawande, who was head of global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development, posted on X, “This is a travesty and a nightmare. The US was a founder of @Gavi. It lowers vaccine costs for the world, has vaccinated 1B children, and averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year — and RFK Jr will be personally responsible.”

Other public health leaders were just as appalled by Kennedy’s ridiculous, unfounded claim that Gavi had somehow ignored safety by making life-saving vaccines available to save the lives of some of the world’s poorest children.

Kennedy’s decision to have the United States renege on its pledge to support Gavi is “terrible but totally predictable,” wrote Ashish K. Jha, President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 coordinator. “Gavi helps poor kids around the world get vaccinated against polio and measles and other life-threatening diseases. This is just mind bogglingly awful.”

Gavi, of course, defended itself. “Gavi's utmost concern is the health and safety of children,” the group said in a statement responding to Kennedy’s assertion.

Other global public health leaders similarly rebutted Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance. “Gavi prioritizes saving lives, and it's done with incredible scientific rigor,” said Bill Gates, whose philanthropic foundation co-hosted the Gavi summit with the European Union. “We're constantly looking at safety.”

But Kennedy’s anti-science, anti-vaccine promise to de-commit U.S. funding to Gavi might not have been the most terrible action last week by Trump’s anti-health secretary.

His second act last week was to make certain that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s main advisory committee on vaccines somehow came to the tortured, anti-science conclusion that the entire childhood vaccine schedule needed to be reconsidered.

Some quick background. During his Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy promised to the Senate health panel chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that he would not do anything to undermine the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the gold-standard panel that recommends vaccine standards and practices. Much of the U.S. and global medical and public health establishment has relied on ACIP for vaccine recommendations for decades.

Kennedy reneged on his promise to Cassidy and fired all 17 of the ACIP panel members. He replaced them with several known anti-vaccine conspirators. 

The first ACIP meeting with Kennedy’s new ACIP members was held on Wednesday, and its first action out of the box was to cast doubt on childhood vaccine recommendation schedules.

One of the two new ACIP co-chairs, Martin Kulldorff, announced within the first few minutes of the meeting that the panel was calling into question the entire childhood vaccination schedule and would start a review of vaccines that have been approved and safely used for years. He also announced that ACIP would look at the cumulative effect of vaccine shots given to children during their school-age years.

In a move that’s clearly designed to cast doubt on the safety and effectiveness of the entire childhood vaccine schedule, Kulldorff said the ACIP review will literally go back in time and look at shots that have been approved for seven or more years. He cited the hepatitis B shot given to infants at birth and the combination measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox shot, two immunizations that have been targeted by vaccine skeptics.

Calling into question the entire childhood vaccine schedule is not just incredibly dangerous and contrary to the long-established safety and efficacy profile of these childhood vaccines, but it’s also going to cause immense pain and angst for millions of parents.

And what Kulldorff—who said at the ACIP meeting that he had been fired from Harvard for refusing to get a Covid-19 vaccine because he had said he “already had (herd) immunity” from infections—was doing with the review is simply parroting conspiratorial, anti-science nonsense that has circulated among anti-vaxxers for years.

“These are anti-vaccine talking points and have been for decades,” Paul Offitt, a pediatrician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told STAT.

Other public health leaders were even more direct about what Kennedy’s deliberate manipulation of ACIP means as part of his anti-vaccine conspiracy campaign.

“It’s deeply concerning to me that—within minutes of the meeting starting—the new ACIP chair immediately sought to cast doubt on the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines,” Richard Besser, who served as acting CDC director, told The New York Times. “Vaccine experts regularly study the childhood vaccination schedule and have repeatedly deemed it to be effective and safe. I’m worried that this is a harbinger of even worse things to come.”

Both actions by Trump’s anti-health secretary—the U.S. decommitment on Gavi that will threaten the world’s poorest children and the ACIP review of long-approved vaccines safely and effectively delivered to tens of millions of American children—sadly leads to just one inescapable conclusion.

Almost nothing that emerges from Trump’s HHS can be trusted. Kennedy is blatantly foisting years of anti-science, conspiratorial nonsense into critical HHS agencies like CDC. And it means that the American people will need to look for scientific and medical guidance from places other than the department that Trump’s anti-health secretary leads.

-Jeff Nesbit was the assistant secretary for public affairs at HHS during the Biden administration.

-The Contrarian

 

Kristi Noem's Donations/ VA Contracts...

 

In today’s newsletter: Kristi Noem’s personal cut of political donations; lawmaker responses to “damning reporting from ProPublica” on VA contracts; payday loans in Tennessee; and more from our newsroom.

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations A dark money group paid $80,000 to Noem’s personal company when she was governor of South Dakota. She did not include this income on her federal disclosure forms, a likely violation of ethics requirements, experts say. Read story

Impact Senators Demand Investigation Into Canceled VA Contracts, Citing “Damning Reporting From ProPublica”   Senators this week called for a federal investigation into the Trump administration’s killing of hundreds of contracts for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Angus King, a Maine independent, wrote to the agency’s inspector general on Monday asking for an investigation into the administration’s cancellation of the contracts and the consequences for veterans. The senators highlighted “damning reporting from ProPublica” on the cancellations, including how the Department of Government Efficiency used an artificial intelligence tool that marked contracts as “MUNCHABLE.” The senators noted, as we did, that the administration has refused to disclose what contracts it has killed or why, writing that DOGE’s use of AI to scrutinize contracts “adds an entire new level of unease connected to the decision-making, security, governance, and quality control of the entire process.” The VA did not respond to our request for comment about the senators’ letter. Previously, press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said that decisions to cancel or reduce the size of contracts are made after multiple reviews by VA employees, including agency contracting experts and senior staff. Read story

That Stat 279.5% Interest rate on a loan offered by Tennessee payday lender Advance Financial. Adam Friedman, a Tennessee Lookout reporter and member of ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, wrote about a 2014 state law that made it legal to reborrow or roll over payday loans — actions Advance encouraged, trapping borrowers in a cycle of debt. The company declined to answer detailed questions but has defended its practices, pointing out that it has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Read story

In the News

 

Has The Supreme Court dealt a “deathblow to the rule of law?” Six radicals, on-the-take Republicans on the Supreme Court, have ruled that federal judges can no longer stop the Trump administration from committing crimes unless and until the cases reach the nation’s top court itself. NYU Law Professor Melissa Murray noted in an appearance on MSNBC, “So make no mistake about this.

The court has given this administration an enormous win. They have [tied] one hand behind the backs of those who are trying to fight against this administration, and they have dealt a deathblow to the rule of law.” In their dissents, both Justices Jackson and Sotomayor essentially called out their rightwing colleagues as neofascist toadies of a wannabe dictator.

As Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, openly calling her Republican colleagues “lawless”: “Yet the order’s patent unlawfulness reveals the gravity of the majority’s error and underscores why equity supports universal injunctions as appropriate remedies in this kind of case.”

The Republicans on the Court also ruled that even though gay marriage is fully legal and the law of the land (and widely accepted), it’s an infringement of the religious rights of people subscribing to bigoted sects of Christianity, Islam, etc. (the complainants were Muslim) to expose their children to a story about two men who fall in love.

The racist and homophobic zealots on this Court are determined to inflict their bizarre notions of morality on every American family in complete defiance of our Founders.

Trump has decided that it’s a crime to be unpatriotic and has also proclaimed you have to be loyal to him to be patriotic. The good news is the fightback. Trump is threatening to sue The New York Times and CNN over what he calls “unpatriotic reporting” that revealed his exaggerations about the “obliteration” of the Iranian nuclear program. The Times answered with a no-nonsense, “No apology will be forthcoming.” Bullying the press is the first and most dangerous hallmark of a fascist regime attempting to end democracy in a free nation. Hopefully our press will continue to hold the line against these efforts at intimidation.

Have Republicans reached the point of no return, no matter what they do? Outside of the pathetic cultists who only watch Fox “News” and consume rightwing radio and social media, most Americans now know that Republicans in Congress are planning to remove over 10 million people from Medicaid and hit Medicare with a huge mandatory cut just to help pay for another $5 trillion tax gift (also funded with borrowed money our kids will repay) to their billionaire donors.

This widespread knowledge is becoming a problem for the GOP, with Republican senators like Thom Tillis (who at least knows how to spell his name right!) worrying out loud it could cost them the House and Senate in the 2026 elections. The big question is whether people who’re just marginally paying attention but know about the tax cut scam will even realize if congressional Republicans back away from gutting healthcare. Odds are that perception is now well-baked-in, which could double the danger to these clowns next fall.

California Governor Gavin Newsom goes to war against Fox and Trump. Following in the footsteps of Dominion Voting Systems, who won a $787 million damages settlement from the billionaire-owned propaganda operation, Newsom is now suing Fox “News” for the same $787 million for defaming him by repeating lies Trump had told on the network about his conversations with the governor. Democrats across the nation are increasingly desperate for leaders who’ll stand up to Republicans and Newsom has positioned himself at the front of that pack, increasing his odds of winning the 2028 Democratic presidential primary. Good on him!

Now that Musk, Big Balls, and his merry band have fired so many people from the Social Security Administration that people are experiencing days-long wait times to sign up for benefits, the agency has stopped reporting wait times. Because of course they would, they don’t want Americans to know how badly they’ve kneecapped the organization in their zeal to gut “socialism” and reduce government expenses to pay for more tax gifts to the billionaires who fund the GOP. As Alex Lawson, President of Social Security Works and a regular guest on my program, told The Washington Post: “If they think this lack of transparency will fool the American people, they’re in for a surprise.

People notice when they can’t get an appointment because their local field office has lost half its staff. When checks and decisions are delayed. When they get the runaround from an AI chatbot on the phone, instead of getting to talk to a real person.” The danger here is that Republicans are correct in believing that if they can destroy the quality of Social Security’s service then people will gladly submit to the agency being privatized and taken over by a massive bank with GOP ties. The key to preventing this is public outrage: tell everybody you know about this nefarious scheme to steal our retirement funds and hand them off to banksters...

Self-censorship: Don’t let this happen to us. The “Spiral of Silence” is a term sociologist have come up with to describe what happens when a political party constantly goes on the attack and characterizes its opponents as evil, enemies of the people, and less-than-human (“scum”) so people simply stop discussing politics. Professor James Gibson documents how this happens in countries when the political dialogue is polluted by this type of near-violent rhetoric, and recent surveys find it’s happening here in the US now. It’s a dangerous sign, and when it goes full-blown it makes it far easier for dictators and authoritarians to do their dirty work. So…keep speaking up!

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"The Quietly Powerful Senate Parliamentarian"

 

Elizabeth MacDonough is not a household name. A “parliamentarian” sounds like a persnickety bureaucrat rapping her gavel when speakers exceed their allotted time limit. But Elizabeth McDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, deserves recognition and respect for her work this week—work that was anything but ministerial.

MacDonough is tasked with ensuring that the reconciliation bill complies with the “Byrd Rule,” which, among other things, excludes measures in which funding is “incidental” to a policy change. She has enforced this rule justly and zealously, leaving a slew of MAGA extreme policy proposals on the cutting room floor.

As Time magazine put it, “She wasn’t elected, and she doesn’t cast votes. But over the past week, …the quietly powerful Senate parliamentarian may have had more influence over Donald Trump’s legislative agenda than anyone else in Washington.” That is because Democrats do not have the numbers, and not enough Republicans have the spines to reject radical, harebrained, and simply cruel measures.

The scope of the items she has rejected and the harm they could have caused if they stayed in the bill boggles the mind. “Gone are GOP-led efforts to curb environmental regulations, attempts to restrict federal judges' powers, plans to bulk up immigration enforcement and to cut funding from the federal agency launched to protect American consumers after the 2008 financial crisis,” USA Today reported. “MacDonough determined that each item was in violation of a critical Senate rule that prohibits extraneous measures in bills like the one Trump wants on his desk for signature by July 4.”

On Friday, she sliced out a slew of critical Medicaid and Medicare provisions that may total $200B, throwing a huge monkey wrench into MAGA Republicans’ scheme. The Senate Budget Committee reported that the parliamentarian nixed measures throwing certain categories of immigrants off Medicaid and CHIP; reducing the federal match for states that expanded Medicaid; barring gender-affirming care; limiting increases in the provider tax (which would “severely limit states’ ability to provide health care to millions of Americans who depend upon Medicaid for their care”); and removing certain immigrants from Medicare and credits/cost sharing in the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

These redactions deal a savage blow to many destructive aspects of the bill. The surgery on MAGA’s cruel handiwork throws the process, already being bogged down as more Republicans air objections, into chaos.

Other items she has tossed include:

A provision selling off millions of acres of federal lands

A provision to pass food aid costs on to states 

A proposed limitations on food aid benefits to certain citizens or lawful permanent residents

Proposed restrictions on the ability of federal courts to issue nationwide injunctions and temporary restraining orders

A proposal for a funding cap for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and for slashing pay of employees at the Federal Reserve

A proposal to slash $293 million from the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research

A plan to dissolve the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

An effort to repeal an EPA rule limiting air pollution emissions of passenger vehicles

An item allowing project developers to bypass judicial environmental reviews if they pay a fee

A measure deeming offshore oil and gas projects automatically compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act

A modified version of the REINS Act, which would increase congressional power to overturn major regulations

A scheme to punish so-called sanctuary cities by withholding federal grants

An increase on Federal Employees Retirement System contribution rate for new civil servants who refuse to become at-will employees

A measure seeking to extend the suspension of permanent price support authority for farmers

A requirement forcing sale of all the electric vehicles used by the Post Office

A change to annual geothermal lease sales and to geothermal royalties, June 24)

A proposal for a mining road in Alaska

Authorization for the executive branch to reorganize federal agencies

New fee for federal worker unions’ use of agency resources

Transfer of space shuttle to a nonprofit in Houston from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum

And that is merely a partial list.

Several caveats are in order. First, Republicans can revise a rejected measure and resubmit it through the process. Some may pass in altered form. Second, removing these MAGA proposals, however commendable, does not remove the core of this monstrous bill: taking healthcare coverage from 16M people to give tax cuts to the super-rich. 

Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell blithely declared those who lose healthcare coverage will “get over it.” One wonders if he, a polio survivor who has had troubling episodes in public would be so nonchalant if he or a loved one lost medical coverage. Third, the partial list of rejected items demonstrates how radical and destructive the MAGA Republicans’ agenda actually is. 

Disregard for vulnerable Americans, competent judicial administration, fact-based government, consumer protection, and planetary survival is now “mainstream” in a radical party. It seems there is no one and no aspect of government that would not be made worse by this bill.

Nevertheless, one cannot help admiring the intellectual consistency, fearlessness, and respect for rules—concepts foreign to MAGA Republicans—that MacDonough has displayed. She’s demonstrating how government is supposed to work: by the book, and without regard to which party is in power.

In doing so, she exposes MAGA Republicans’ constant cowardly dodges, bad faith votes, and proclivity to violate their oaths. Enforcing the War Powers Act? Pish posh. Refusing to vote for abjectly unqualified nominees, some of whom have misrepresented facts and shown utter contempt for Senators? Nah. Not worth it. Putting a stop to Trump’s gross conflicts of interest, self-enrichment, and even receipt of a $400M Qatari jet? Can’t be bothered. Condemning the pardon of Jan. 6 felons? No chance.

In an atmosphere of lawlessness and capitulation, when it is so easy to say “yes” to Trump’s whims, here is someone to stand up and say: “Rules aren’t optional. They matter. They ensure we are a government of laws, not of petulant autocrats.”

MacDonough reminds us all that by sticking to the rules, refusing to give way to cynicism, and doing our jobs competently, we make it that much harder for the autocrats, bullies, nihilists, and callous careerists to achieve their aims. Throughout this week, she has remained a courageous defender of the rules. 

As such, Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough has earned our admiration, and we honor her for her steadfast and undaunted vigilance.

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