Do NOT allow them to rewrite history with disinformation. #COVID vaccines worked remarkably well and allowed us to come out of a global pandemic. A picture is worth a thousand words.
[image or embed]— BK. Titanji (@boghuma.bsky.social) August 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
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at least a million americans died during the height of the covid pandemic. one million. a one followed by six zeroes.
“we did too much” is not exactly how i would describe that particular period of time— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) September 1, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Because there’s too much information to sort out before Wednesday morning:
As national consensus on vaccines unravels, Mass. and other states chart disparate paths
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/03/m…
[image or embed]— Massachusetts Association of School Committees (@mascschoolcomm.bsky.social) September 4, 2025 at 1:32 PM
… In Massachusetts, Governor Maura Healey essentially wrote a prescription for COVID shots for every person in the state over the age of 5, a move that would blunt potential federal restrictions on COVID boosters.
Meanwhile, Florida’s surgeon general announced a plan to phase out vaccine mandates altogether, including those for children attending its public schools.
On the West Coast, officials in California, Oregon, and Washington sought to shore up vaccine access for residents and announced the formation of a “health alliance” that would set public health policies independent of the federal government…
“This is one of the most dangerous times that public health has faced in the last 50 years,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota vaccine expert heading a project to help states and professional societies make science-based vaccine recommendations.
Collectively, the disparate decisions show states increasingly charting their own path for immunization policies as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has overhauled federal health agencies…
Massachusetts is in the midst of coordinating a regional public health collaborative with every New England state — save for New Hampshire — as well as Pennsylvania and New Jersey…
The Massachusetts order authorizes pharmacists to administer four different types of booster shots to anyone over the age of 5. (Children younger than 5 typically receive vaccines at their pediatrician’s offices.) By issuing the order, Healey ensures pharmacies will have liability coverage if they administer the vaccine without the CDC advisory committee’s recommendation, said Brigid Groves, vice president for professional affairs with the American Pharmacists Association, a trade organization…
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Lots of people asking why isn't my state issuing COVID vaccine executive orders?
In most states you can already get vaccines without prescriptions, including: AL, AK, AR, CA, CT, DE, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, ND, NH, NJ, OH, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, WA, WI, WY— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran.com) September 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
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Vaccine policy is mostly connected to states and education. The place where the fed can blow things up is withdrawing fda approvals for vaccines.
Which would be a disaster. And feels like it's possible.— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) September 7, 2025 at 10:47 AM
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Four physicians who quit the CDC after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ousted its director tell Robert Costa they fear the health secretary is undermining public health — and call the agency’s new COVID vaccine guidance for kids and pregnant women “unsupported by global evidence.” cbsn.ws/4ndw6X2
— CBS Sunday Morning (@cbssundaymorning.bsky.social) September 7, 2025 at 9:23 AM
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Seven months after they voted to confirm longtime anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr, some Republican senators are having second thoughts after his moves — as public health experts and Democrats warned — to limit access to vaccines.
w @theodoricmeyer.bsky.social @rachelroubein.bsky.social— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond.bsky.social) September 7, 2025 at 8:53 AM
… “I’m a doctor. Vaccines work,” Sen. John Barrasso (Wyoming), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, told Kennedy at a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill. “Secretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearings, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned.”
Barrasso’s warning, which Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) and Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) echoed at Thursday’s hearing, was the latest and perhaps most significant sign of growing GOP doubts about the merits — and political wisdom — of Kennedy’s agenda…
Officials from Trump’s first administration are also increasingly condemning Kennedy in public remarks. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health in the first Trump administration, told The Washington Post on Friday that Kennedy’s decision to end nearly $500 million in federal funding for mRNA vaccine development was “going to make the country vulnerable” and that the health secretary’s broader vaccine agenda was doing “tremendous damage” to public health.
Members of Congress are speaking out, too: At Thursday’s hearing, senators from both sides of the aisle peppered Kennedy with questions about his abrupt ousting of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, his efforts to narrow access to coronavirus vaccines and other moves…
So far, Trump is standing behind his controversial Cabinet pick. In response to a journalist’s question Thursday about whether Kennedy retained his full support after the blistering hearing, the president praised Kennedy “as a very good person” who “means very well” and is a “different” thinker, but did not directly answer the question. The president also stressed in remarks Friday that he supported widespread use of certain vaccines.
“You have to be very careful when you say that some people don’t have to be vaccinated,” said Trump, after being asked about Florida’s move to roll back vaccine mandates for children. “ … Look, you have vaccines that work. They just pure and simple work. They’re not controversial at all. And I think those vaccines should be used.”…
“HHS remains committed to upholding gold-standard science and supporting the doctor-patient relationship, empowering Americans to make informed decisions about vaccines,” spokeswoman Emily Hilliard said in a statement. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary also said Thursday on CNN that his agency is doing a “proper investigation” into how many children died from the coronavirus vaccine and plans to release a report in the “coming few weeks.”…
FabrizioWard, influential conservative polling firm, warned GOP Senate offices last week on political risks.
“Republicans should not mistake skepticism over the COVID vaccine as evidence that Republican voters are against all vaccinations. To do so would be folly.”
Here’s that memo:— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond.bsky.social) September 7, 2025 at 10:42 AM
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you can tell that RFK and anti-vax are a project of the elites because, despite generous anti-reality softball coverage, their views are still toxically unpopular.
===
This reads better if you read it as “disregarding anti-vaccination grifter RFK, jr and his pals”
CDC staff have made it quite clear they see no basis to agree.— Scott L Greer (@scottlgreer.bsky.social) September 6, 2025 at 8:48 PM
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The CDC oversees larger-scale operations that cannot simply be handed off to states or individual organizations. Public health responses must be coordinated at the national level in order to be effective, since health risks are shared across state borders.
theconversation.com/kennedy-hear…— Ian Weissman, DO (@drianweissman.bsky.social) September 6, 2025 at 10:52 PM
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U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made myriad false and misleading claims as he fielded questions examining his seven-month tenure leading the nation’s health agencies at a contentious three-hour hearing.
Here’s a closer look at the facts.— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) September 6, 2025 at 11:15 AM
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Since becoming the top U.S. health official, Kennedy has slashed funding for vaccine research, limited access for COVID-19 shots and ousted the head of CDC which makes U.S. vaccine recommendations.
www.reuters.com/business/hea…— Ian Weissman, DO (@drianweissman.bsky.social) September 6, 2025 at 10:44 PM
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Perfection.
[image or embed]— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) August 31, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Nelle
We planned to get our Covid booster today, but the pharmacy at the drugstore decided that they could not give them (they have the vaccine), because the CDC has not signed the guidelines. I called CVS and they will give them to us. (I’m in the Des Moines area). My friend in Kansas said that their county health department issued their own expansive guidelines, so no problem there. Everything is on the fly, it seems.
Baud
Time to ban mitochondria.
Belafon
“Seven months after they voted to confirm longtime anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr, some Republican senators are having second thoughts”
Get enough together and impeach and remove him from his job.
RepubAnon
So, it’s wrong for the government to tell you what you should put in your body, and it’s OK for the government to kill suspected drug dealers?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Mr DAW and I got Moderna shots on Saturday at the grocery store (Jewel-Osco). No prescription. No charge.
trollhattan
Get the damn jab, Jackals.
Runner Girl found herself in an ambulance to the ER Saturday after she had a spell at the walk-in clinic, before they had completed their diagnosis. She was given O2 and kept on a heart monitor in the ambulance during transit to the ER. There, she had xrays, CT scan, copious bloodwork looking for clots et al, and only after the Covid 19 diagnosis did they have an explanation for what was happening.
Her fever bounced for a day as high as 105 at home before the clinic visit.
As healthy as anybody and having had all the boosters, she nevertheless caught whatever the hell the latest variant may be. And her diet is surely better than whatever Earworm Boy shovels down his gob. Time spent addicted to heroin: still zero.
Get the damn jab.
p.s. She’s fine now, if feeling beat up from being that sick. Mum and dad are on tenterhooks hoping to not catch it next.
Me
Evil mitochondria? Someone has played Parasite Eve.
trollhattan
@RepubAnon:
“Drugs are bad, mmm-kay?”
–Mr Mackey, Undersecretary of Health and Human Services and Dept of Blowing Shit Up.
Butch
Dear AP: “false and misleading claims” are called “lies.” Get it right.
sab
I watched Stephanie Ruhle’s show last night on MSNBC. Their capital correspondent Aly Vitali noted that it is all well and good that Bill Cassidy is concerned about Kennedy, but when it mattered he did his duty to his party not his country and constituents.. Kennedy’s nomination needed Cassidy’s vote to get out of committee to even get to a vote on the house floor. And Cassidy gave him his vote.
sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Are you old-fashioned medicare or medicare advantage?
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: that is a frightening variant. Glad to hear runnergirl is on the mend.
Burrowing Owl
In Colorado I got my Covid vaccine on Saturday at Costco, with no trouble. The governor and state acted on Friday to clear pharmacies to give it to everyone who wants it without a prescription, and to encourage insurers to cover it where the state has any sway.
There’s a detailed explainer on the state of it today here: coloradosun.com/2025/09/08/covid-vaccine-what-to-know-fda-kennedy/
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Thanks, we’re relieved believe me.
Like everyone I’d love to be done with covid but it’s settling into a permanent, intermittent presence I’m afraid. Just the thing for faith healers, snakeoil salesmen and aging hippie health fad quacks.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Holy shit, that’s scary. Glad she is okay.
Layer8Problem
RFK Jr. is looking to replace mitochondria with midichlorians. They looked cool in The Phantom Menace y’see.
skerry
@sab: I’m old fashioned Medicare and got the vaccine last weekend. No charge. I’m in Maryland
geg6
Just happy that I was finally able to schedule our flu shots and COVID boosters. I’ve been trying for a week and they finally showed they were available at the CVS we get all our prescriptions.
Leto
@Baud: time to ban midichlorians as well.
Edit: I see Layer8Problems got there before me.
Burrowing Owl
@trollhattan: So scary. I’m glad she’s fine now, and resting.
Definitely going to get kids vaccinated soon.
AM in NC
@Belafon: that’s the message I left for Thom Tillis today. Unless you’re calling for his resignation and working with colleagues in the House to impeach, you are just making meaningless mouth sounds.
sab
@skerry: My husband and I went in on Friday. I am old-fashioned medicare with a plan d policy. My husband is medicare advantage. I got mine free. He had to pay $175 which we expect will be refunded when the dust settles.
Of course, his medicare advantage is practically free and my medicare plus supplemental plus plan d isn’t. His vax cost about what I pay monthly, so there is that.
Belafon
@sab: Democrats were supposed to save Cassidy from his vote. They were supposed to use their majority to stop it. //
Belafon
I’m working on an insult: You’re so white your biggest accomplishment is that whites were here before you.
Burrowing Owl
The vaccines.gov site hasn’t worked for me in days, failing to recognize legit zip codes. At the top it says “The functionality of this website may be impacted while it is being updated.”
I have been checking with two different browsers, so I find it unlikely to be a technical issue. Just more top-down vandalism and stupid+evil.
trollhattan
@sab:
Brain=boggled.
Great healthcare system or greatest healthcare system?
sab
@Belafon: Yep. Old habits die hard (GOP: Yikes! We’re the majority?)
trollhattan
@Burrowing Owl:
[sniff, sniff] Hmm, smells like DOGE in here.
What didn’t’ those dudes screw up?
hueyplong
@trollhattan: We tried to get the damn jab Saturday and found out that it’s accurate to exclude North Carolina from the list of states that don’t require a prescription.
Walgreens told us they don’t have any COVID vaccines. CVS said they have pfizer only, and it requires a prescription. The nice and helpful employee warned us that if our prior shots were from another manufacturer, so that the MD writes the Rx for that one, CVS won’t be able to fill it. So I guess we’re changing from moderna to pfizer, after making doctor’s appts and doing the visits.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you, Anne Laurie, as always! I very much appreciate your keeping us updated on public-health topics.
matt
A lot of giant losers threw tantrums, and it’s now a full time hobby for many of them to make themselves right with revisionism.
sab
@trollhattan: Friends ( and wives) shouldn’t let friends ( or spouses) sign up for medicare advantage, but in the early retirement years it is economically so enticing.
kindness
Kaiser here in CA said I could get my covid booster any time. I was hoping to get it the same time I do the flu shot but this year’s flu vaccine isn’t available yet. I’ll give it a couple weeks.
sab
@H.E.Wolf:I want to second that. What a treasure AL has been, especially for the last five years.
Interesting Name Goes Here
@sab: Is Ali Vitali still crying on BlueSky that people were calling him out for being a glorified talk-show host? I had to block him after that nonsense last week.
BC in Illinois
I checked in with the website of my local Walgreens at 3pm.
I have a Covid / Flu appointment for 4pm.
Didn’t seem to be a problem.
(It’s in walking distance.)
+ + + ETA – Central Time
sab
@kindness: Around here in Ohio they recommend Covid when school starts, and flu a couple of weeks before the holidays (Turkey day and the December holidays.) Flu shots aren’t long lasting.
arrieve
I’m not due for my Covid booster until next month, so I hope the guidelines will be clearer by then. (I’m over 65 and in NY, so there shouldn’t be any issues, but still.)
Slightly off topic: I did a three-week program at Oxford again this summer and got very sick with upset stomach and stabbing pains the last night. The first diagnosis was appendicitis, so I got to spend the night at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, which I have seen and read about in many murder mysteries but never expected (or wanted) to see in person. And I know the NHS has major issues, but seeing it as someone used to the American healthcare system was eye-opening. For example, they offered me morphine for the pain! The surgeon who fortunately did not have to operate on me used to live two blocks from me in NY, which I know because he actually talked to me for a few minutes. And when he decided to release me, the discharge papers appeared five minutes later.
Also the nurse kept calling me “my lovely” when I was anything but.
Scout211
FYI everyone. This COVID vaccination is not a booster. It’s a new version of COVID vaccine based on new variants. For COVID-19, we are now in our yearly vaccination era, like annual flu shots based on the current flu variants each year.
This is why adults under 65 should be able to get the vaccinations.
dc
@hueyplong:
NC Deptarment of Heath and Human Services is under the Governor’s control. I wonder if Stein is going to take some action here or if the NCGA could hobble him on this too.
rikyrah
The COVID Vaccine saved my life.
I stand by that.
hueyplong
The Republican legislature does what it wants to do in NC, and it’s almost always a Trumpian desire to do harm to people. The campaign to get rid of “politicians” and replace them with “sociopaths” has done well here.
I’m getting kind of tired of living in Confederate states.
Scout211
@hueyplong: Is it possible to drive to a nearby state to get a COVID shot? Is there any within driving distance?
hueyplong
@Scout211: You’re on it. We’re either going to make appts and get the required Rx or else we’re making a day trip to South Carolina. What we’re not going to do is go unvaccinated all winter when every time we go into a public enclosure it’s populated by a non-trivial number of anti-vaxers. We don’t have to guess. They’re happy to brag about it.
sab
@rikyrah: I never got sick but I believe that. I was lucky (and still masked.)
My dad’s caretaker had two relatives die. I had highschool classmates die. And other high school classmates parents die.
One of my nieces got long Covid and died horribly. Slow paralysis, started with her hands and feet not working, a year in a wheelchair, ended up on a feeding tube because she couldn’t swallow. She was amazingly resilient. Still kind of ran her household by force of will and her husband’s respect. Of course she did: loving , protective, determined.
A couple of months later I am still stunned by her and her family’s resilience and shocked that God allowed this.
Suzanne
@trollhattan: Oh damn. Glad she’s okay. I’m sure her parents have some new gray hair.
I didn’t realize that the best part of being under ten was lack of anxiety. Retrospect!
steve g
Speaking of someone who has issues with their face, movement, and social connections, I won’t name names but his initials are RFK Jr.
lowtechcyclist
“Secretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearings, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned.” – Sen. John Barrasso
Concerned, is he? Maybe people should start calling him Susan.
Elizabelle
Thank you all for the discussion on Covid vaccines. Gonna be up in NoVA tomorrow, and will schedule in a drive across the Potomac to get a shot in Maryland, which sounds possible.
Insane times. Eff RFK Jr. for screwing this up for so many states and their residents. Hope voters remember this as elections roll around.
Gin & Tonic
@Suzanne: Like they say: little kids, little problems; big kids, big problems.
WaterGirl
@arrieve: Yikes. But not actually appendicitis, so no operation? I guess they figured out what it really was, so you you are out of the hospital?
Sure Lurkalot
@Burrowing Owl: Glad our “RFK Jr has some good points” governor did the right thing so Coloradans can get the vaccine if they so choose.
At least Polis stays true to his libertarian label…since he is big on vaccines being an opt out “choice” (parents can currently opt out of school vaccination mandates for medical, religious or philosophical reasons, i.e. any ol’ reason at all), they need to be an opt in, no questions asked choice too.
I just got a booster a little over 3 months ago so I have to wait a bit before getting the new one. Hope it’s still easy in a few months.
Suburban Mom
I got my Moderna Covid shot and my old person Flu shot this morning at my local CVS. I made an appointment online but they are taking walk ins here in NJ. I used to time my shots to amp up my immunity for the Frankfurt Bookfair (also known as the world’s largest Petri dish) but I retired this summer and that is no longer an issue. Suburban Dad is getting a new hip soon so I’m trying not to infect him prior to the big day. I’ve got Medicare parts A and B along with a supplement and a drug plan, and I paid nothing.
WaterGirl
@Sure Lurkalot:
I assume you’re on top of it and know what’s what, but I hadn’t heard that before. What was the source of the message to wait to get the new vaccine?
Gin & Tonic
Health care? I’ve talked at length with an old, old friend, a retired opthalmologist, and it looks like I have no choice, I need a vitrectomy. This isn’t new-fangled eye surgery with lasers, it’s old-fashioned stick-a-knife-in-your-eye surgery, then a vacuum cleaner to suck the goo out. Bonus, as he put it, is that “it’s stringy and sticks to itself” so the vacuum cleaner has to chop the goo up so it can be sucked out.
Looking forward to this? WTF do you think?
Elizabelle
@Suburban Mom: Lucky you for having attended the Frankfurt Book Fair! That would be the awesome.
And happy you got your shots.
Baud
Reddit, linking to WSJ
ETA
Full photo in this post
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Gin & Tonic: oh dear. My daughter had one as part of repairing a severe detached retina. Recovery is difficult but her vision survived. Good luck!
Burrowing Owl
@Sure Lurkalot: Yes, I’m also glad he did the right thing despite his earlier praise of RFKjr.
I moved here before Covid from a red state, and I’m very happy to be living in a place where the state gov doesn’t want me dead.
hueyplong
@WaterGirl: Generally, there is a minimum waiting period between COVID vaccinations.
Suzanne
@Gin & Tonic: I think Xanax is made for situations like yours and I will be wishing you the best.
In all seriousness, I am sure it will be utterly fine.
Baud
Elizabelle
@Baud: WSJ:
Let’s not just call him a liar. Let’s show you that he is.
The breasts are
kind of in the collarbones areakind of in the wrong place? Oh well.Leto
I was able to book my flu shot online, and got that last Friday at CVS. I fall into a pre-existing category that makes me a mandatory receiver of the COVID shot, BUT because I live in PA I still need a doctors note. The pharmacist was apologetic, also we both thought it asinine, but it is what it is. Wondering if Shapiro can do the same declarations as other governors but not holding my breath. I’ll call my VA clinic here soon and either get a note from my doc, or see if they have shots here soon.
A Man for All Seasonings (formerly Geeno)
Are we sure he didn’t mean midichlorians?
me
Fuckers
trollhattan
@lowtechcyclist: Give than man a Tom Collins. Make it a double.
Elizabelle
Governor Sweatervest hasn’t done anything to improve Covid vaccine availability for Virginians. I guess it depends on whether you have a governor who wants to run for president of the wingnuts.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
You have company. A lot of company.
arrieve
@WaterGirl: Not appendicitis. They were concerned it was a cyst, and wanted to do an ultrasound but couldn’t do that until Monday. So the original plan was for me to stay in the hospital for two more days and then have an ultrasound (we were so NOT in a US hospital.) But I was feeling much better after all the meds so the surgeon discharged me on the condition that I stay in Oxford for the two days and return immediately to the ward if I felt sick again. (There was a scramble to find a hotel because I was supposed to be on my way to Yorkshire, but that’s a long story.) It was apparently just a really bad stomach virus. I spent several days mostly sleeping in various hotels around Oxford and then flew home.
schrodingers_cat
We are being ruled extremely stupid and malicious people.
RFKJr and Gabbard were both prominent players in Bernie Sanders 2016 run. The horseshoe is a circle.
Scout211
@Gin & Tonic: That’s good that you were able to talk to a retired ophthalmologist friend. And reassuring to know that your friend agreed that it was necessary.
Good luck. I hope it goes well for you.
My husband has had several procedures in his eyes. The last one was installing an Ahmed valve in his eye for glaucoma and that involved sticking instruments into his eye. Anesthesia is a wonderful thing.
Elizabelle
@Baud: And this image in the comments. What’s really up with that bruise on Trump’s hand?
Baud
@Elizabelle:
The birthday picture is worse than the description of it.
At least it keeps the story in the news.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Sure Lurkalot:
He was typically dragging his feet less than a week ago on this mouthing his usual “choice” platitudes, blah, blah, blah. All the while saying that RFK Jr could be worse, he could have been a former Big Pharma CEO exec.
He held an “ask me anything” reddit event after that and was getting roasted for all of it. His cover statement was “these rules caught us by surprise” to justify his previous “we’re not gonna waive shit” statements.
Somebody sat him down and probably said “You want to be the only Dem governor who doesn’t do something about this?”, he saw the political optics and here we are.
Regardless of how it came about, at least it came about. He can’t be gone soon enough but alas, it’s a given he’ll try to continue a political career.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Yes. And it clearly exists.
Jackie
@skerry:
Ditto. Regular Medicare. Got both flu and Moderna Covid vaccines at Walgreens, WA
Baud
@Elizabelle:
Only in the liberal interpretation of existence.
Suburban Mom
@Elizabelle: Thanks! The Bookfair was always crazy and fun. Having the shots is a big relief. My mom is 90+ and my granddaughter has asthma, so I try to protect them too.
Scout211
@Baud: I saw it today. I think NBC has it on their website.
My first reaction was man, Trump is really bad at drawing the female anatomy.
And then I thought, unless that is a preteen girl he drew. And to that I just shuddered. Eww.
Baud
@Scout211:
Right wing MAGA will be turning the image into birthday and Christmas cards they give to their children.
To own the libs, of course.
Elizabelle
@Baud: I think it will wake a few dolts up. Trump was vehement that the letter does not exist. Surprise!
And the drawing does resemble a younger female.
In other news, probably mentioned here, an appeals court judge ruled E. Jean Carroll’s $83 million defamation award can stand. Of course, it has not made it to 6-3 Dred Scott Supremes yet.
But the WSJ and NBC publishing the nonexistent letter? And EJ Carroll prevailing again in court?
Will make it a mixed day for Trump. He did win a deplorable ruling in the Los Angeles presumptive stops case. Open season on Latinos appearing in public.
Teresa
Covid booster and flu shot scheduled for Thursday. Extra bonus, ignoring republicans and the worn out leather face creep.
dexwood
@Baud: Don’t forget hats and t- shirts.
Teresa
@Gin & Tonic:
Good luck and your description nearly had me barfing up my dinner.
Jackie
@Interesting Name Goes Here: Ali Vitaly is a female reporter/correspondent on MSNBC. She hosts the early morning show Way Too Early M-F.
Do you have her confused with Ali Velshi, who has a wknd morning show, but occasionally fills in for other hosts during week nights?
Scout211
@Baud: @dexwood:
So now MAGA doesn’t care that Trump is in the Epstein files looking like a disgusting pedo? I just can’t keep up.
Elizabelle
And. The WaPost has the Epstein birthday letter prominently on its website. No need to click any link — the image is right there.
Of course, the caption is
And then, weirdly, the Post’s very next story is
Murdoch family resolves dispute over ownership of media empire in billion-dollar deal
Teresa
@WaterGirl:
Pharmacist said 2 months between boosters when I asked this afternoon. I had the last booster March 18th and wasn’t sure if I should get the newest one.
Baud
@Scout211:
I’m not sure MAGA ever cared. I think the Epstein stuff was more the Q-Anon faction. But I don’t really understand the various intricacies of right wing cults.
WaterGirl
@arrieve: Oh yikes, sounds awful and stressful, especially when away from home, but with a happy ending, so there’s that.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Ding ding ding.
Jackie
@sab: I generally get the flu shot early Nov, but opted to get it with my Covid vaccination. I DON’T trust Sec. Brainworm. In a couple of months, the flu vaccine might not be readily available – or sporadically available with even stricter qualifications. The way he hems and haws… and flat out lies, I’m not willing to chance it.
Burrowing Owl
@Jackie: So true. I wanted to get the Covid shot before the ACIP meeting later this month exactly for that reason.
I’m thinking and hoping the flu shot will still be accessible in early October, when I usually get it. It’s in pharmacies now. They’d rather give the shots and get reimbursed than throw it away.
Jackie
@WaterGirl:
It’s pretty standard to wait six months between Covid vaccines/boosters. And that’s with the usual caveat of 65 yrs+, and/or have high risk qualifications for younger folk.
Elizabelle
The FTF NYTimes and WSJ also have the Epstein letter image up on their websites.
Another Trump gift to the nation’s parents and teachers.
Scout211
@Elizabelle: And NBC, USA Today CNN and the Guardian.
Jackie
@Scout211:
DING DING DING!
Elizabelle
@Scout211: safety in numbers. Lol.
frosty
@Leto: Interesting. The CVS down here on the Mason-Dixon Line has a sign outside advertising COVID and flu shots with walk-ins accepted. Nothing on the sign about a prescription being needed.
I ducked in to ask about it but the line at the pharmacy was about ten people long.
Deputinize America
@Gin & Tonic:
I just had a whole body shudder.
Is it a plethora of floaters that you’re eliminating?
narya
I got Covid instead of the new shot, but I want to make it “in addition to” the new shot, because I don’t know what variant I have.
Scout211
@frosty: Pennsylvania, right? This article from yesterday has all the complicated and confusing rules in Pennsylvania.
Ohio Mom
@Gin & Tonic: It’s probably small consolation but you have followed my rule which is, If you must acquire a medical condition, get one that is common enough that the doctor recognizes it immediately, and one that has a well-established protocol to follow.
I can tell you from my cataract surgery that they don’t let you see the knife, they turn up the anesthesia before getting their sharp instruments in your line of vision.
Good luck and keep us posted.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: Ugh. I think that’s in my future as well. Keep us posted, we’ll be thinking good thoughts for you.
sab
RFK asshole says autistic children tear fanilies apart.
Apparently of course they are, they lobotamized a sister and never saw her again. And these are supposed to be normal okay peoplel.
E.
@arrieve: I got a broken bone set in a remote Guatemalan hospital in the 1980’s and not only was the whole experience really swift and straightforwardly and courteously done, but when I tried to pay for the service they said they had no system in place to bill or take payments!
satby
lowtechcyclist
My local CVS (Maryland) had had the new Covid vaccine, but they ran out. They’re expecting more, so I’m going to check back in a couple of days. I figure I’ll get the flu shot at the same time.
arrieve
@E.: I’m still waiting to be charged. There is no charge for emergency room visits in the UK, even for foreigners, as long as it’s an actual emergency, but I was actually admitted to the hospital and had tests, so I know there are charges for that. I had travel insurance so I can get reimbursed for whatever it costs but don’t have any bills yet.
That’s another thing–being allowed to leave a hospital without having to go over the charges with the billing department. It was such culture shock.
lowtechcyclist
@satby:
Wow. Another excerpt:
Folks, read the whole thing.
WereBear
@satby: Gosh, yes.
Oregon Girl
In Oregon, as of 9/8/2025, Safeway Pharmacy requires a prescription, even for those over 65.
Jackie
@sab: Can all of us please use Jr. in addition to RFK? RFK Sr. was an honorable man who was assassinated trying to make America better.
RFK Jr is trying to assassinate Americans. Thanks.
sab, NOT singling YOU out – plenty of posters do the same and obviously, it’s a frustration for me. RFK was adored – Jr, not so much.
Jackie
Duplicate
frosty
@Scout211: The thing that stood out was that CVS wasn’t offering the updated COVID vaccine in PA because it didn’t have ACIP approval.
Time to swing south of the M-D Line and see what Maryland pharmacies are doing.
Baud
I’m not a huge Lincoln Project fan, but they did a nice job with the image in this tweet (reposted on Reddit)
WaterGirl
@Baud: Did T or anyone in the cabinet actually say those words out loud, in public?
That releasing the Epstein files would end his presidency?
Jackie
@Oregon Girl:
That’s exactly why I jumped and got double vaccinated SAT. Blue states are getting squeezed, too. OR today, could mean WA and/or CA tomorrow.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I think someone said it, but not the Trump people.
Librettist
He won’t move on the Brain Worm.
Trump’s salad days were when “The Kennedys” were at the nexus of political and celebrity culture. Anyone under fifty is wondering why Arnold was playing shirtless tennis, but those were the circles Trump desperately wanted in then, and wants that glow reflected on him now.
pajaro
Spousal unit and I got both the new Moderna covid vax and flu shots today from our Maryland pharmacy. I had an appointment; as I was coming into the pharmacy, the pharmacist was on the phone with my wife and telling her to just show up. There was no charge.
2liberal
testing
2liberal
@2liberal: Firefox has issues …. trying brave
tobie
@frosty: I had no luck at Walgreens in Maryland (Kent county). The clerk at the pharmacy told me that they had returned all remaining doses of the previous COVID booster but had yet to receive the new booster. CVS is saying they will administer the vaccine without a prescription for those under 65 but Walgreens has made no public comment as far as I know. What a shitty way for a country to be run!
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
Sounds like Barrasso has been talking to Collins.
Jackie
WHOA!
lowtechcyclist
@frosty:
The local CVS said they had had the new Covid vax before they ran out, but they’re expecting more.
Scout211
@Oregon Girl: @Jackie:
Oregon is one of the states that require the vaccine panel approval. Even 65 and over are required to get a doctor’s prescription for a shot right now.
The Governor is looking at ways to fix that.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek weighs standing order to protect COVID-19 vaccine pharmacy access
Jackie
@Jackie: The WSJ confirms the photo:
Eric S.
@BC in Illinois: good to hear. I’m heading out of state for a couple of days but I’ll get Dad and I scheduled when I return.
Scout211
@Jackie: I’ll have you know that Trump’s
spokesmodelsspokespersons are very clear that, THAT IS NOT TRUMP’S SIGNATURE and THAT IS NOT TRUMP’S DRAWING! And they WILL FILE LAWSUITS!Methinks they protest a bit too much.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Jackie: I use RFĶ². He’s just too… square.
Jackie
@Scout211: OR changed the requirements TODAY. Prior to today, no prescriptions were required.
We can’t assume what today’s requirements are, will be the same tomorrow in ANY state.
Scout211
@Jackie: Okay. Got it. At least the Governor and the state health board are looking at ways to fix it.
Jackie
@Scout211: They can howl FAKE NEWS all they want…
The article I posted about wasn’t about FFOTUS’s birthday sketch to Epstein. It was a photo about Epstein jokingly selling one of his victims to FFOTUS at a discount.
Of course the WH will deny that, too. I’m glad the conservative WSJ confirmed they saw the photo, too.
Eyeroller
@Gin & Tonic: I haven’t had it myself but I replied to you when you first brought this up, but late in the thread. So did some others like Redshift who’s actually had it.
i have a macular pucker in one eye but it’s not bad enough to warrant such a surgery. And for me that eye has too many other issues to make this a consideration. I also have a posterial vitreal detachment in the other (good) eye that causes a lot of floaters and haze, but have been told it’s not bad enough for a vitrectomy. If a vitrectomy is being recommended to you, you should probably do it since it’s not something they recommend lightly.
It’s a big surgery as ophthalmological surgeries go, but you should not worry about it. I assume it will be done by a retinologist. They are very well trained and do it all the time. If it’s due to a macular pucker/epiretinal membrane, they will remove the vitreous, then use a teeny-tiny forceps to peel off the scar tissue.
I don’t know whether this requires a gas or oil bubble to keep the retina flat. If so, you’ll have to keep your head down for a while. That’s the biggest hassle for this surgery.
I assume you have an artificial lens in that eye already–if not it will require cataract surgery within a year or so.
Jackie
@Scout211: Sorry if I sounded strident; I’m heading to FL to see my daughter and grandkiddos soon, and it is imperative that I be fully vaccinated prior. She and the grandkiddos can’t get the Covid vaccine, thanks to DeStupid, and, as of today, flu vaccines aren’t available. I’ll be taking KN95 masks with me, too.
mrmoshpotato
Second thoughts? OH REALLY?!
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie:
DeathSantis, please.
Double WTF!
Jackie
@mrmoshpotato: Supposedly they WILL be, but Sec. Brainworm’s death committee has to make a final decision later this month… DeathSantis
DeStupidis waiting for that meeting and so… I’m not gambling on the flu vaccine being approved AND AVAILABLE, plus, as a visitor, I don’t have a physician in FL to give me a prescription for a covid vaccine.Eyeroller
@Ohio Mom: For a vitrectomy they would probably do at least a retrobulbar nerve block. You don’t see or feel anything in the eye with that. Sometimes they do general anesthesia for such a big surgery.
I’ve increasingly chosen to have a general for my eye surgeries. Just a lot easier for me. My ophthalmologist has gone along with it the last couple of times.
My last one was a Baerveldt glaucoma shunt (or “tube” as we call them) and I went with a general for that.
MagdaInBlack
@mrmoshpotato: Implies they think at all, which I doubt.
Glidwrith
@kindness: Really? I called and they said it would be offered in September but it wasn’t here yet. This was yesterday, SoCal area.
Calling again….
Scout211
Another California county is losing its only hospital after feds refuse to step in
A very red, rural county full of Trump voters. This will be repeated over and over.
That’s the Representative who will be pushed out if redistricting passes this November. And Oz is, of course, the charlatan in charge of CMS.
Glidwrith
@Glidwrith: Nope, not available, evaluating what the FDA says. Needless to say, I gave my opinion on waiting on those charlatans.
Kayla Rudbek
@Nelle:
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I had to drive across state lines to get my Covid vaccine this weekend, as my doctor’s office here in Virginia refused to write me a prescription despite the fact that I’m a diabetic cancer survivor. Time to write nastygrams to my doctor’s office, my state and federal representatives, and that waste of oxygen Youngkin.
Kayla Rudbek
@Elizabelle: Oxon Hill MD Walgreens had it in stock and no requirement for a prescription (just age/health verification, click the button). Also no charge by my insurance (at least at the moment). The pharmacy assistant said they’d been getting a lot of business from Virginia and DC for vaccines.
Elizabelle
@Kayla Rudbek: Thank you! Good to know.
JAM
The Walgreens here in OK said my insurance wouldn’t pay unless it was given at a medical facility and since my primary doesn’t offer vaccinations, they suggested the health department, but the HD said they are not giving covid shots ( Yet? Ever? Answers unclear.) The other vaccines were no problem. I was always able to get covid shots at the pharmacy before this year with the same insurance. So anyway, I think I can get it in OK, but with much more difficulty than usual.
Msb
“Public health responses must be coordinated at the national level in order to be effective, since health risks are shared across state borders.”
Because Trump was too stupid and corrupt to coordinate or permit a national response to COVID, over a million Americans died. I grieved when I realized it was happening, and still do.
satby
@lowtechcyclist: yeah, so much in that was so shocking, especially when collected in one place. Jim Crow never went away, it expanded.
Iron City
@frosty: Got the latest Pfizer COVID at a CVS in Frederick MD last week for 26 and 18 yo family members. No prescription, no described preexisting condition, no problem.