Feels like this tragic incident got overshadowed at the end of last week…
My statement on today's shooting at the CDC:
— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@warnock.senate.gov) August 8, 2025 at 11:08 PM
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CDC employees told me the shooting at CDC was much worse than initial police reports suggested. More than 40 bullets hit buildings. “It’s a miracle more people weren’t hit,” said one staffer who was locked down in a building for hours last evening.
— Lena Sun (@lenasun.bsky.social) August 9, 2025 at 7:49 PM
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Some CDC staff say that they have long feared the day that escalating animosity toward the agency would culminate in actual violence, @landmanspeaking.bsky.social reports:
— The Atlantic (@theatlantic.com) August 9, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Per the Atlantic, “‘I’m Actually Surprised It Didn’t Happen Sooner’” [gift link]:
… This was, in one sense, the first attack of its kind on the CDC. The shooter, whom law-enforcement officials have identified as Patrick Joseph White, a 30-year-old resident of an Atlanta suburb, was reportedly fixated on the idea that the COVID-19 vaccine had made him depressed and suicidal. No employees were injured by the bullets that entered the buildings, according to a CDC representative. But an Atlanta police officer named David Rose was shot and later died from his injuries. White, too, was found dead—fatally shot—at the scene. (It is not yet clear if his wound was self-inflicted or if he was killed by police.) When he took aim at the agency on Friday afternoon, he was near a corner where a lone man stands holding anti-vaccine signs nearly every day, several CDC staffers told me.
In another sense, public-health workers have been facing escalating hostility since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, armed protesters gathered on the Ohio Health Department director’s front lawn, and the chief health officer of Orange County, California, was met with death threats after issuing a mask mandate. She had to hire extra security and was eventually driven to resign. Anthony Fauci, who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the country’s initial COVID response, has faced regular death threats since 2020. Nearly a third of state, local, and tribal public-health workers reported facing some sort of workplace violence in a 2021 survey.
Last year, Fauci told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that threats of violence to public-health workers correlate with verbal attacks from high-profile politicians and media personalities. “It’s like clockwork,” he said. In the second Trump administration, those attacks have become commonplace—the very selling points, even, that have helped a number of President Donald Trump’s health appointees gain their positions. In 2024, when announcing his own pick for CDC director, Trump maligned the CDC and other federal health agencies, accusing them of having “engaged in censorship, data manipulation, and misinformation.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was already a longtime anti-vaccine activist when he took the mantle as America’s health secretary; he has compared vaccinating children to the abuses of the Catholic church. During his own 2024 presidential run, he promised to “clean up the cesspool of corruption at CDC.”…
The shooter appears to have brought five guns to the scene, and at least four federal buildings were struck by dozens of bullets overall. In the hours immediately after the shooting, while many CDC employees remained barricaded in offices and marooned in conference rooms, they heard nothing from Kennedy or Trump….
To the CDC employees I spoke with, the sluggish response is the latest episode in the administration’s escalating abandonment of the agency. Since January, the Trump administration has hit the CDC with massive layoffs, proposed halving its budget, and forced changes to internal policies governing the fundamentals of its scientific work. Earlier this year, Kennedy purged the committee that advises the CDC on vaccine recommendations. Just this week, he canceled nearly $500 million in federally funded research on mRNA vaccines—widely considered among CDC employees and public-health experts to be the greatest domestic triumph of the U.S. pandemic response—stating incorrectly that they cause more risk than benefit against the flu and COVID…
Even people who have volunteered for risky missions in their public-health work are still getting used to the idea that the danger has arrived at the home front. “I’ve put my life on the line for this agency, responding to outbreaks in some of the most dangerous parts of the world,” a 13-year veteran of the agency told me. “I didn’t expect to face the same risks at the Atlanta campus as I faced in South Sudan.”
Exclusive: CDC Director Susan Monarez met with its vaccine-focused center to talk about yesterday’s shooting. I listened to a recording. Scientists and officials are shaken & pointing fingers at RFK Jr. Many said his vilification and misinfo turned them into targets. www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal…
— Brandy Zadrozny (@brandyzadrozny.bsky.social) August 9, 2025 at 6:03 PM
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The White House Occupants responsible for ginning up this attack didn’t so much as offer their usual anodyne ‘thoughts & prayers’ for the murdered law enforcement official until their indifference became mainstream news. One wonders White why…
Officer David Rose killed in attack near Emory University leaves behind growing family
Officials did not release the shooter’s name but Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said that he was a "white male and he’s a person known to have interest in some certain things."
www.usatoday.com/story/news/n…— Mike Reed (@singleandsober.bsky.social) August 9, 2025 at 7:25 AM
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I spent this morning talking to the CDC shooting suspect's neighbors. They said he was polite, helpful and OBSESSED with vaccine conspiracy theories.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/09/u…— Sean Keenan (@thatseankeenan.bsky.social) August 9, 2025 at 2:25 PM
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On FTN, Jerome Adams, who was surgeon general in Trump's first admin, slams RFK Jr. re the CDC shooting.
"It took him over 18 hours to issue a tepid response to these horrific shootings, and that's not even considering how his inflammatory rhetoric … contributed to a lot of what's been going on."— Will Saletan (@saletan.bsky.social) August 10, 2025 at 1:17 PM
===
Thank you @maddow.msnbc.com for helping bring attention to this.
We need to call the shooting at CDC what it is – an act of domestic terrorism, stoked by antivax rhetoric.
We are beyond enraged at RFKJ's "leadership" and that the President still hasn't even acknowledged the attack.— Alt CDC (they/them) (@altcdc.altgov.info) August 11, 2025 at 10:31 AM
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The shooting at CDC was domestic terrorism. It was instigated by the HHS Secretary's years-long campaign against an agency he oversees.
open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse…— Angie Rasmussen (@angierasmussen.bsky.social) August 11, 2025 at 8:28 PM
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The first thing I thought of when I heard about today’s shooting at the CDC is how the Trump administration essentially demolished the CDC department responsible for gun violence research and prevention.
#MomSky www.thetrace.org/2025/04/cdc-…— Ruth Zakarin (@ruthz.bsky.social) August 8, 2025 at 10:16 PM
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All CDC staff nationwide to work remotely following deadly shooting outside Atlanta headquarters
— Atlanta News First (@atlantanewsfirst.com) August 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
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A former DOGE worker ("Big Balls") gets beaten up in DC,
and Trump sends in the military to take over the city.
But when thousands of CDC employees are targeted in a shooting,
federal buildings are attacked, and a first responder is killed…
there’s not even a statement from the White House?😡— Alt CDC (they/them) (@altcdc.altgov.info) August 11, 2025 at 11:19 AM
===
Old Man Shadow
Stupidity is winning.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
‘Domestic terrorism?’ Pshaw, just one bad apple…or a man with serious mental issues that need to be treated.
Am I missing any of the usual excuses from the Reich wing noise machine to discount any ‘domestic terrorism’ label? Since I’m not a spokesperson for them, nor do I play one on teevee, I might not have the full list.
Scout211
Wow. That last Alt CDC message in the post needs to go viral. Very powerful.
Where is our media on this? Oh yeah, obsessed with Big Balls.
Betty Cracker
Maddow’s coverage last night of the CDC shooting was great. In addition to murdering a cop, the domestic terrorist hopped up on RFK Jr disinformation sprayed more than 150 bullets at the building. He had four or more guns and a shit-ton of ammo. It’s a miracle more people weren’t killed or injured.
It’s an absolute disgrace that the CDC, NIH, HHS, etc., are “led” by RFK Jr., lying sociopath who eagerly helped destroy this nation’s ability to take collective action in response to public health emergencies and is now destroying the scientific infrastructure that made us safer over generations.
Baud
@Scout211:
There’s a club. We’re not in it.
p.a.
tRump names Heritage Foundation economist as BLS commissioner.🤮
Baud
@p.a.:
There will be more use of the imaginary number i.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
Like the ones I use for my bank account?
Matt
One key lesson the right has taken from the last 40 years is that there’s exactly zero downside to encouraging domestic terrorism with winks and nods – from attacks on Federal buildings to attacks on reproductive health clinics, they know that they can pantomime “wE dOn’T sUpPoRt ThIs” while inspiring more and spewing nonsense like “well the terrorists do have a legitimate concern”.
For instance, note that we’ve all pretty much collectively shrugged at the deliberate assassination of a Democratic leader in Minnesota by a right-winger.
Baud
@Matt:
Still at the top of my mind. But even Democrats hate Democrats, so the assassination isn’t very galvanizing.
Professor Bigfoot
Is there a way to append an “*Obligatory not all” if I mention white people?
Because everymotherfuckingbody KNOWS “it’s not all white people,” but SOME white people take shit so personally…
Nukular Biskits
Can anyone tell me the last time (verifiable) politically-motivated violence from the right was honestly condemned by “conservatives”?
Nukular Biskits
@Professor Bigfoot:
Wrong tab, Prof. I think you meant that as a response on the other thread.
mrmoshpotato
I had to click through to the transcript to see if Jerome Adams was talking about the orange shitstain who told the nation to inject disinfectant, or if he was talking about the leatherfaced lover of smack and sewage.
gratuitous
The Alt CDC post about the disparity of response between Big Balls getting beat up by a couple of teenagers and the shooting at the Centers for Disease Control was at the top of my mind as I read through the post.
If only there was some way the screaming hypocrisy and cynicism could be pointed out.
Sure Lurkalot
RFK Jr, in an interview about his views on mRNA vaccines:
Kennedy questioned the effectiveness of the vaccines despite overwhelming scientific research. He also warned against virus mutations and dosage control issues.
“You can’t control the amount of energy that everybody is getting,” he said. “When you give a vaccine, you want to know exactly how much energy is because some people react very, very badly and can get very, very badly injured.”
WTAF.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Scout211: “Big Balls” who, according to rumour, suffered his injuries at the hands of a teenage minor girl.
And whose “assault” caused Felonious Thunk to look out the limo window and see the homeless encampment on his way to
workgolf, which is the actual cause of the homeless roundup roundup-and-expulsion. Can’t have tents and people visible when FFOTUS goes off ball-whacking.Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Sure Lurkalot: RFK² should have been put in charge of the Dept of Energy, from that one quote.
laura
Put a serial killer in charge of the nation’s health and you can expect he’s gonna shake things up.
Harrison Wesley
@Sure Lurkalot: Energy? That sounds like New Age mystical horseshit.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Sure Lurkalot: @Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq):
“Where are they now?” department
Speaking of the Department of Energy, Rick Perry is now an advocate for treating PTSD with a psychedelic drug.
[Please forgive the FTFNYT link. They keep sending me begs to resubscribe and this is a freebie.]
Miss Bianca
@Harrison Wesley: “Energy”? What’s next, we go back to “miasma theory” to account for infectious disease? (h/t Tom Levenson)
Geo Wilcox
@Mr. Bemused Senior: How much money does he have invested in the company that makes the drugs?
suzanne
@Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq):
She should come hang out at Balloon Juice.
David_C
With my seniority, I have a window cubicle in a government-leased building in Maryland, and thought a lot of which crazies would I face first – anti-vaxxers or animal rights activists. All of us are aware of the potential for violence.
And between the sociopathy of MAGA and DOGE, and the contempt for science of the MAHA movement, there’s nobody in the administration to stand up for us and our mission, except for each other—especially the dissenters. For the CDC, there’s a “Fired but Fighting” group that’s worth following. There are also some good follows among NIH-related accounts that are not authorized to speak on behalf of the Institutes.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Geo Wilcox: no no, you are confusing Rick Perry with John Boehner
Matt McIrvin
@Harrison Wesley: Reminds me of when Naomi Wolf heard someone call mRNA vaccines a “platform” and thought it meant the vaccine was downloading software into your body.
Professor Bigfoot
@Nukular Biskits: I figure it applies here, too; or anywhere else sealions congregate. ;^)
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Miss Bianca:
“Miasma” you say? It’s no joke.
Professor Bigfoot
@Miss Bianca: I already hated these MAHA ninnies before I read Tom’s latest; and now “the heat of a nova” is only an approximation.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Sounds like something Elon Musk would do.
Steve LaBonne
@Professor Bigfoot: A hit dog will howl, as they say down South.
Professor Bigfoot
So I just spent the last half hour renewing my concealed carry license.
I got it originally in 2017; but I let it expire in 2022 because I realized that I wasn’t prepared to do the work- the practice and training that I believe someone carrying heavy hardware should oughta have.
Renewing it wasn’t necessary; the morons have passed “constitutional carry” in this state so that any booger-brained idiot can do so with NO knowledge of the law and no training… but this year I got a range membership and have been working diligently to improve both speed and accuracy.
I never expect to ever draw down on anyone, and I sure hope I never have to, but… there are SOME crazy people out there. (#ObligatoryNotAll)
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
My fists are registered as lethal weapons. #That70sMeme.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: My son in law, who’s all of 5’3 and can’t possibly weigh more than 150 pounds, told me he once had to register because he was a 3 degree Tae Kwon Do black belt.
I think he was pulling my leg, but lemme tell you what— I would not ever mess with that little dude. On my LIFE.
(My grandson, his son, was a 2nd degree black belt at the age of 12. ‘It ain’t the size of the dawg in the fight…’)
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
Maybe he registered with his Dojo?
ruckus
@Old Man Shadow:
Don’t get me wrong, I know these people are insane because their beliefs are so ignorant, asinine and wrong. I’m an old, I was born before the polio vaccine and have known people with polio, have a neighbor my age who had it and has lived decades in a wheelchair. I saw what happens when medicine didn’t know what to do. But the problem today isn’t the unknown as much as morons who haven’t got the whatever to see history of medicine over the last 75-100 years. What it’s done to make living possible and far better than it used to be. And one of those ignorant people has been put in charge of the federal program which has made a lot of life today, possible.
What the fuck is the matter with these people, are they as stupid as they sound – or worse?
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: LOL
YEARS ago, when the kids were young, they sent me a picture of him and the kids playing in the front yard with a garden hose and kiddie pool— SIL looks like this reedy, skinny little dude but he took off his shirt and it was all like steel cables ‘n’ six-packs ‘n’ such.
Luckily for me my daughter is happy and my grands thriving and I really like the guy anyway, but he could be scary AF if he wanted to be.
AND HE’S SUCH A LITTLE DUDE.
But he can literally kick a 6-foot man in the face! (well, he’s pushing 50 now so maybe not so much these days 😂)
Baud
@ruckus:
We currently live in a time when people believe that self empowerment entails taking other people and things for granted.
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
Life fulfilled.
Baud
Back on topic, looking forward to RFK Jr. applying his natural healing philosophy to erectile dysfunction pharmaceuticals.
raven
From the AJC
Baud
@raven:
Can’t believe only one person was killed.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: We should be so lucky. that sonofa— um, that fine and estimable gentleman has shown that he can literally swim in sewage and be no worse for wear.
He’s exactly the fine and estimable gentleman that will live on and on and on, rather like Kissinger and Cheney.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: Amen, and I feel like the luckiest MF walking the planet.
‘Course, all things considered, that might not be such a high bar. ;^)
ETA (I mean, we’re pretty unlucky right now as a species, with the autocratic madness spreading— but we do what we can and carve out whatever joy we can where we can, whenever we can.)
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
Only the good die young,* but I’m not sure what that has to do with ED.
* My only hope.
Jackie
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
Did he clear that with Brainworm?
ruckus
@Baud:
There’s a club. We’re not in it.
It isn’t that difficult to be smarter than a pile of dog shit.
Enjoying that not might seem a stretch to some, but it isn’t. Look at our president and his choice for whatever it is that RK jr is supposed to be and see that none of them are qualified to have any position whatsoever in public service. None. Zero. Nada. Zip.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: Point taken; and it’s really a good question.
I think he’ll nix vaccines because really, they want people to die but will back pushing ED meds to over the counter.
Every satirical take on how abortion would become available in vending machines in gas stations if men could get pregnant will apply to ALL the various ED drugs.
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
That’s a good bet.
ruckus
@Baud:
Bet he’s not taking them and he wakes up every morning – one big dick.
Baud
ruckus
@Professor Bigfoot:
In jr’s head there is no actual thought, there is something far less. I doubt it’s IQ, seemingly his is in single digits. Now I’d bet it isn’t but it seems to me there has been some blockage to learning in there, in a family with more than enough members to have one of them in compete denial of most everything, and enough money to purchase the intense learning of that denial.
Professor Bigfoot
@ruckus: I’m reminded of the aphorism about how the professional warrior fears the mad berserker only because a pro has some idea of what another pro is going to do… but a madman might do ANY DOGGONE THANG.
That’s Jr, methinks… actually, that’s The Orange One’s entire krewe, innit? Just tell whatever lie or make up whatever story works for that moment and set policy by it.
jimmiraybob
@Professor Bigfoot: “Because everymotherfuckingbody KNOWS “it’s not all white people,” but SOME white people take shit so personally…”
Geez, let it go. I say the same to white people when they start of with, “black people….” Same goes for women, Jews, Latinos/Latinas, LGBTQIA+ people, etc.
I thought you pied me?
BlueGuitarist
In related news Sherrod Brown is running for Senate, best chance to win The Ohio Senate seat (special election for the last 2 years of the Vance term).
cleveland.com/news/2025/08/sherrod-brown-to-run-for-us-senate-in-2026-challenging-jon-husted.html
BlueGuitarist
@raven:
Always good to see you!
Paul in KY
@Matt: Has been going on since the time of Henry II. He paid a price for it. Fear TACO and his thugs will not even have to do penance of any kind.
Back in Roman times, they just used Lists of Proscription. When the government put you on that list, it meant that anyone could legally kill you. No winks and nods in that age.
Paul in KY
@Professor Bigfoot: ONA?
JaySinWa
You made me check, the shooter ended up dead as well.
ruckus
@Baud:
One of the drawbacks to education is that some will always learn the wrong answers to any question, situation, problem, quiz, life requirement…… if only because they do not want to be a part of whatever it is that they think must be wrong. It’s not that they don’t have any concept of reality, it’s just that their reality isn’t real. It can’t be because they refuse to accept actual reality. Because they must be smarter than everyone else. If they actually were smarter they would understand – but they aren’t. I’ve stated this here prior but I was a mental health counselor a long time ago and one of the things we learned was that some people just cannot accept reality. There are a few reasons this can happen and a level of intelligence is not one of the reasons.
Paul in KY
@Mr. Bemused Senior: ‘Miasma’ was what you did back in the Middle Ages, when there were no cures, drugs, knowledgable doctors, etc. etc.
Does he mention blood letting?
Paul in KY
@Professor Bigfoot: I know a young man in my town who’s a 3rd degree TKD black belt and when I first met him, I thought he was a bit shlubby. After watching him do his thing, the flesh under that white outfit is all muscle.
Nukular Biskits
Okay, what did I miss?
jimmiraybob
@Professor Bigfoot: “(#ObligatoryNotAll)”
I was at a party many decades ago and offended a black blues musician that I was with by taking a verbal shortcut. I learned a lesson. This is the root of this dog’s howlin.
Paul in KY
@raven: Not much of a safe if he ‘forced his way into it’ (assuming no dynamite used).
BlueGuitarist
@p.a.:
More vomitous news about Heritage’s EJ Antoni for BLS
in the late night thread, prostratedragon posted
Librettist
Glassy eyed, slow to react, Blondì sure looked stoned yesterday.
Nukular Biskits
OT but apropos for some comments on this thread and the previous one:
LOLGOP @ Bluesky
You really should check out the screencap in that post. I’d quote it here but I’m too tired and lazy to type it all up.
Kathleen
@ruckus: I vote for “or worse”!
jimmiraybob
@Librettist: “Glassy eyed, slow to react, Blondì sure looked stoned yesterday.”
RFK Jr., has also promoted heroin addiction by telling the story of how it helped him improve his grades in college. So, who knows.
ruckus
@Professor Bigfoot:
Wanting people to die is not the problem. That problem is a segment of the concept that only the best live. Because they can’t believe that they might, could be, that it’s even possible that they could be, what’s that word? WRONG. They are smart, they are educated. OK they went to years of school they just did’t believe anything that they were told, because science can’t be right because if it was we would have seen it centuries ago. All of these people were born at a time when we were taught rational science at school. Sure not everyone learned reality, many humans just cannot accept reality, for many reasons, and school for nearly 2 decades didn’t give them the answers they wanted, therefore it must be wrong. They don’t want to be followers because that would mean believing what they were taught. And someone like RFK Jr has had a lot of education – he just didn’t believe what he was taught. It couldn’t be right. No logic, no actual understanding, not insignificant money spent on education, money completely, utterly wasted.
Kathleen
@BlueGuitarist: Glad he’s running but I hope he gets a new campaign team.
Kathleen
@Paul in KY: Miasma would be a great name for an Enya tribute band
Citizen Alan
@Baud: “Sin, young man, is when you treat people as things.”
ruckus
@Professor Bigfoot:
It seems to me that many of these individuals are rather well educated, they must be! They went to schools for a long time. More years than many ever got to go. But humans only learn what they want to learn, no matter the presentation. I was a mental health counselor for 4 years and some of the stories I heard would take your breath away. I wanted to do that for a living but 4 years was a lifetime of listening to stories that had zero reality or at least minimal. Now of course it wasn’t every story, not even close but it was more than a few. Reality is a concept that has a far wider range that most humans can imagine. OK zero reality has that range. Real reality is actually kind of boring.
They Call Me Noni
@Nukular Biskits: I haven’t read through the whole thread but the last I remember is right after J6 when Moscow Mitch, Graham and some others denounced the violence of the previous day.
Then MM gave a thumbs down to impeachment and all those assholes promptly fell in line.
Baud
Professor Bigfoot
@BlueGuitarist: Well, Bismarck was a pretty ship… but not as pretty as the Iowas, so, yeah, WTF???
Nukular Biskits
@They Call Me Noni:
That immediately makes me question their sincerity.
Paul in KY
@Kathleen: Wouldn’t it!
Professor Bigfoot
Yup. I always said that if movies were like “real life” none would go longer than 15 minutes. ;^)
BlueGuitarist
Everything’s a blur, i looked but didn’t see any comments about this
DC incident,
apologies if I missed it.
In resistance to fascism (possibly drunken)
Sunday night, middle-aged white guy in pink shirt and shorts,
yells “shame” at the uniformed occupiers on U Street in DC
calls them “fascists,”
And after some odd taunting
throws his sandwich* at one of them
jogs away, slowly chased by the lot of them, later arrested.
Pink shirt guy sort of reminded me of “green-shirt guy” from Tucson
who went viral laughing at a deranged anti-immigrant ranter.
Fuller video is better, for “shame” etc, but only shows for folks logged into BlueSky
bsky.app/profile/raisinghellions.bsky.social/post/3lw5vga63h22f
some info and comments on Reddit:
reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/1mnspqw/fbi_agent_gets_a_free_sub_sandwich_from_a/
Saw some NotMax bait comments about the incident:
“Violence baguettes violence”
“Assault with a deli weapon”
“Not all gyros wear capes”
(Greek pronunciation of gyros = heroes)
*aka gyros, hoagies, subs, foot-longs, grinders….
ruckus
@Kathleen:
I put that in there because on a test one has to put in at least one correct answer. And that is the correct answer.
MrPug
“…white male and he’s a person known to have interest in some certain things.”
JFC, that is the official response from the Mayor?!? JFC, it’s this kind of mealy mouthed least offensive nothingspeak that makes people like me hate Democratic politicians. The guy was clearly influenced by easily and by a very large margin the worst Secretary of HHS in the history of the country and tried to kill as many people as he could.
I went to Georgia Tech in the early 90’s and was a cooperative education student (basically an intern) and worked at the CDC for 2 years and I was honored to work with some of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with who were dedicated to the mission of eradicating and containing the spread of infectious diseases, most of whom could have made more in the private sector. The Republicans have hated the agency going back to, at least, Reagan, because it was trying to halt the spread of AIDS, which Reagan wanted to ignore as much as possible.
But, RFKjr is easily the worse secretary of the HHS in the history of the country, by a very wide margin, and will do everything he can to eliminate the CDC that he can. If he succeeds, the country will be very much the worse off.
Scout211
Ken Paxton is all in his feels these days. He seems upset.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Citizen Alan: As the other saying goes, “GNU Terry Pratchett.”
Jackie
Here we go… If E.J. Antoni is confirmed to lead the BLS, expect no more monthly jobs reports.
Lots more at the link.
Chief Oshkosh
Thank you, AL, for highlighting this. I have several friends who work at the CDC or recently retired from it. I had dinner with one on Sunday; going to have drinks with another tonight. Luckily neither are at the Atlanta campus, though both spent years (decades) there. In addition to all that’s been written here, they acutely feel the lack of interest from the general population and the press. Morale is very low.
Efforts like this post and comments are so very welcomed by them. Thanks again, AL and the rest of you bastids.
Steve LaBonne
@Scout211: Paxton is having too many motions. Somebody needs to give him some imodium.
ruckus
@Baud:
I had a job in professional sports for a decade, where I traveled 8 months a year, only 2 of the weekends between March first and the last day of October I didn’t fly. One of those I drove to the event – it wasn’t that far. This is actually nothing new. It’s been going on for the entire jet age. If there weren’t enough passengers to pay for the flight the only reason it would happen was that the stop in the middle, while not the main reason for the route, would add enough passengers to pay for the flight that day. Now some flights would go anyway because the return flight always paid off. I traveled a lot, often got recognized by the stewardesses or the checkin attendant. One airline gave me a upgrade pass because I flew with them so much. Two of the best days of my life were the first and last day of that job.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Jackie: ah the logic. The preliminary reports need to be adjusted as more data comes in later, let’s just drop them. We need immediate results! Let’s just go with a 3-month lag instead.
Scout211
@Jackie: I am hoping that this is a nomination that stalls in the Senate. It doesn’t make sense (to me) that even GOP senators would want fake or secret jobs numbers.
We’ll see if the GOP senators cave to Trump’s demands or stall the nomination. If they stall, then the Heritage ideologue/idiot will be only be there in an “acting” role.
Too soon to predict.
TONYG
RFK Junior didn’t pull the trigger, but he (and others like him) effectively instigated this attack and this murder by demonizing for years the CDC and the people who work there. The casual indifference displayed by his lack of reaction to this act of terrorism indicates that he might have been happy that this happened. The “MAHA Moms” (or whatever the fuck they call themselves) who voted for Trump because of Junior’s endorsement also bear some responsibility for this. About half the people in the United States really need to go fuck themselves.
Baud
@Jackie:
Wait, so he thinks the economy is even worse than the BLS has reported?
Baud
@ruckus:
I would hate to have to travel a lot for work. I’m not a good flyer.
Baud
Baud
Chief Oshkosh
@MrPug: I understand the frustration, but in this case, take a breath. That statement was made by the Mayor while the lockdown was still ongoing. Up to that point, the Atlanta Mayor was the only official that I’m aware of who was stating that it was a white guy who likely had MAGA/MAHA inclinations. He was arguably out ahead of everyone else on the domestic terrorism aspect of this.
Matt McIrvin
@Scout211:
They’re in the epistemic bubble. Trump told them the old numbers were fake and the new ones are real, so they now believe it. Trump’s job approval rating is at 140% and unemployment is at negative 16.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Matt McIrvin: how can businesses plan? It’s like driving a car. The CEO has the steering wheel, the VP of sales has his foot on the gas, Engineering has the brake, and the accountant is looking out the rear window, giving directions
[ETA, what passes for expertise at the Heritage Foundation is a joke.]
Trollhattan
@raven:
Sounds like a reverse Las Vegas, with Stephen Paddock on the ground instead of in the building.
Trollhattan
Your
weeklydailyhourly reminder RFK Jr is HHS secretary strictly because Trump wanted to punk liberals. Liberals are evidently the only people in the USA who care about health and living past forty-seven.Trump does not particularly like RFK Jr, as shown by force-feedng him hamberders (“har-her, you have to pretend to like that”). Too bad it wasn’t done by gavage—photo-op for the ages.
Matt McIrvin
@Mr. Bemused Senior: Just plan for everything being great!! When it goes to hell, while they’re repossessing the building and carting off the desks, insist that everything’s fake and you can’t believe your lying eyes.
Nukular Biskits
@Trollhattan:
Had to look up that word. Learned something new today.
Paul in KY
@Trollhattan: If RFK the Very Lesser had any balls, he’d have made him gavage him.
I too learned a new word!
Scout211
Inspector General for VA Services just released its report.
OIG Determination of Veterans Health Administration’s Severe Occupational Staffing Shortages Fiscal Year 2025 (.pdf)
More at the link.
Miss Bianca
@Mr. Bemused Senior: oh, God…
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Scout211:
Next step will be Outsourcing!™
Trollhattan
@Scout211:
Speaking of VA shortages, a Valley wingnut congresscritter got an earful from constituents back home.
Cool story, Doug.
Scout211
We all see the writing on the wall, but it’s just a “far-left canard,” don’t ya know.
From the Guardian link:
Bill Arnold
@Jackie:
There’s plenty of interesting recent research about ibogaine and PTSD.
It was originally being promoted as a treatment for addictions, IIRC.
Like many psychedelics, ibogaine promotes rewiring of the brain, so it is not surprising that it might help with PTSD including PTSD related to traumatic brain injuries. Or harm, if the therapeutic setting is toxic/bad/evil.
ruckus
@Baud:
It’s OK when you get used to it. It also gets old and can be tiring. I wouldn’t want to do that now, my case of oldfartitus is too ingrained now. I used to fly to a lot of the same airports and so saw a lot of the same airline employees. And car rental personal. Like most people if they see you often enough they recognize you and give you a different greeting than the multitudes. Some airports I used I flew to more than once a year so the workers had more of a chance to see you and sometimes even learn your name. I also took a lot of the same flights from one airport to an intermediate airport so I often saw the same workers several times a year. I also learned that there is a reasonable percentage of people that fly A LOT. Like I did. Or even MORE. I flew different airlines as necessary but some places I flew to only had one airline that worked for me so I saw the same workers a lot. There is a not all that small percentage of passengers that fly a lot, and the airlines will give you a card that shows that you fly a lot so the crews and airport people would know. I had a couple of those.
ruckus
@Bill Arnold:
Most medications do not work the same or at least exactly the same for everyone. As much as we are all human (OK most of us….) we still have a fair amount of possibilities/combinations. Some are obvious, some not so much. And modern medicine does a hell of a lot better job – or at least it’s possible that it can, than medicine did when many on this site, like me were born. Now having access to reasonably healthcare has it’s problems and bullshit in this country, where money still counts for more than reality. We would have a better country if we fixed that but there are too many humans the really, really, do not give a crap about anyone but themselves. And really, really think that anyone who does not have that coverage should just up and die. I have zero idea why other than complete and utter bullshit is their complete and utter code of ethics.
Jackie
@Bill Arnold:
My comment was a bit tongue in cheek – given how our Sec of Health seems to be anti anything that actually promotes positive healthcare.
TONYG
@Trollhattan: Well, I’m pretty sure that Donald Trump does not like ANYBODY, not even himself. But, so far, having RFK Junior as the head of HHS has been a benefit to Trump because there are millions of fucking people in this country who support Junior’s anti-vaccine and anti-science dogma. So far, Junior has been useful to Trump.
TONYG
@Scout211: The fact that the Trump Administration is openly abusing VETERANS now is … interesting. Veterans will not take this quietly and there are already several veterans organizations that will help to organize their anger at this shit. I hope that this blows up in the face of Trump.
Baud
@TONYG:
He’s been pissing on vets since day 1. He probably feels entitled and untouchable.
ruckus
@Scout211:
I get my heath care from the VA and if shitforbrains has fucked me and a few million others that served in our military and EARNED that pretty damned good and sometimes specialized medical coverage I’d bet that there will be more than a few extremely pissed off people. Hell there might be more than just me on this blog that will be extremely pissed off. The healthcare is VERY GOOD and most of the people that are supposed to work there are VERY GOOD. I’ve been using it for over 25 years and have had one
less thancompletely crappy doctor and he only lasted just over 2 months. I didn’t even get a chance to complain about him.ruckus
@Scout211:
I really don’t have a lot of healthcare issues other oldfartitus but the VA supplies me everything I need. I’ve worn glasses since I was 12 and have a hearing aid for one ear. I wear it all day every day. I now get my glasses and that hearing aid from the VA. I get my prescribed medications from the VA. I have no other healthcare and live off SS so if I loose it I have to apply for Medicare. And lose the healthcare I EARNED. Shitforbrains has caused far, far, far more damage to this country than he has any fucking clue about. (And yes I know he doesn’t and never has given a fuck about anyone but himself but he is rapidly losing his ability to even do that) And ALL of us will suffer in some or many ways. This country is suffering from him, and in many ways. Many of which will not be seen by all but which will affect all of us. Some in extreme ways, and others not as much but still ALL of us will suffer. If it was only the people that voted for him…. but it won’t be. Every last one of us will suffer in some way.
Scout211
@ruckus: Agree. I hope the bald-faced lies that the VA spokespeople are spewing get strong push back. The VA admin working as the president’s political spokesperson and not as a spokesperson for veterans is disgusting .
My husband has been using VA services yearly for decades to keep active and in case he needs it in the future. But we just canceled his appointment for next month to give that space to a veteran who really needs it. We have Medicare and Tricare so we have good healthcare and he really doesn’t need VA right now. If things change with VA services, he will start back up again. But right now he will give that time with his doctor to another veteran.
ruckus
@Trollhattan:
Cool story, Doug.
I know the author was being sarcastic but I think we are way the hell past sarcastic. This is shitforbrains and all his supporters trying and often succeeding in fucking all of us over, even his supporters. He thinks this makes him strong but it doesn’t. I’m sure that there are republicans that say, use the VA. Or any of the other services that our government provides to, at the very least try to make this a better country, but people like shitforbrains think of no one but themselves. He doesn’t even seem to give a fuck about his family. Of course he’s rapidly aging out, seemingly at about the rate of one year for each day he’s breathing. And ALL of us, even his supporters will and are suffering.
Now tell me how his backup looks to you.
ruckus
@Baud:
That probably is doing a lot of work – because it’s far
closer topast the truth than probably.ruckus
@Scout211:
I’m an old and don’t need massive care – yet. I may at some time and have spend time in a VA hospital over the years. Very limited time but still some. I earned that like others did that served in the US military. Many of us served during a time of war, I did. Sure it was a war I don’t think we should have been involved in but – we were. I went where I was sent and did my job. I even ran a department on a US Navy vessel and was the only person on the ship to know how to fix an extremely necessary piece of equipment, the gyrocompass. Which I actually had to do one time while underway. The part I needed we had to get from an aircraft carrier. I don’t know if they had it flown in or kept it in stock, but the ship I was on didn’t.
TONYG
@Sure Lurkalot: I’m pretty sure that RFK Junior has not taken a Biology 101 class. But he “did his own research”!
ruckus
@TONYG:
Do we think he was stoned or just exceedingly stupid.
Is maybe both a reasonable answer?
Kayla Rudbek
@Baud: now that I would cheer on with considerable enthusiasm!
Paul in KY
@Baud: He’s got no real blowback ever on his cruel treatment of and comments about vets.