suomi

Shoot, I remember when moderate Repubs existed on the spectrum where centrist libs are today. I can't recite exactly when it was but I do recall how it was. "Can it be that it was all so simple then? Or has time rewritten every line?"

Representatives of Doge gained access to the Atlanta offices of the CDC last week [snip] Doge-affiliated officials also gained access to payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) [snip] Doge representatives have also sought access to the HHS payment systems that process billions of dollars in healthcare funding, and seem to have gained access to at least some of them [snip] One of the requested systems, the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System, contains financial information about all of the hospitals, doctors and other health organizations participating in federal programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/15/musk-doge-bird-flu-pandemic

He and his henchmen will rue the day he uttered these words. He/they handed out defense pleas.

A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to temporarily lift a funding freeze that has shut down US humanitarian aid and development work around the world, and he has set a five-day deadline for the administration to prove it is complying. Contractors, farmers and suppliers in the US and around the world say the Trump administration’s funding freeze has stiffed them on hundreds of millions of dollars in pay for work already done, has forced them to lay off staff and is rapidly putting many near the point of financial collapse. Farmers and other suppliers and contractors describe fortunes in undelivered food aid rotting in ports and other undelivered aid at risk of theft. The judge ordered the administration to notify every organization with an existing foreign-aid contract with the federal government of his temporary stay. He set a Tuesday deadline for the administration to show it had done so and was otherwise complying with the order. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/trump-usaid-foreign-aid-funding

Hmmm. An exceptionally cruel and vindictive man long noted for being friendless suddenly gains the wealthiest human on the planet as his new best friend. During the honeymoon stage of that friendship, vindictive man becomes the first Repub in 20 years to win the popular vote and also sweeps the seven swing states. Wealthy new friend is gifted the keys to the kingdom and quickly demonstrates that he is vindictive man's shot caller. Hmmm.

It plays into his victim narrative. He uses his status as a victim to justify bad behavior. "Look what you made me do. You made me get in bed with Putin."

The US vice-president, JD Vance, has launched a brutal ideological assault on Europe, accusing its leaders of suppressing free speech, failing to halt illegal migration and running in fear from voters’ true beliefs. In a chastising speech on Friday that openly questioned whether current European values warranted defence by the US, he painted a picture of European politics infected by media censorship, cancelled elections and political correctness. The blistering and confrontational remarks were met with shock at the conference and were later condemned by the EU and Germany, while drawing praise from Russian state television. They signalled a deepening of the transatlantic chasm beyond different perceptions of Russia to an even deeper societal rupture about values and the nature of democracy. Vance said: “If you are afraid of the voices, the opinions and the conscience that guide your very own people … If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you, nor for that matter is there anything you can do for the American people.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/jd-vance-stuns-munich-conference-with-blistering-attack-on-europes-leaders

Trump and Musk can’t seem to locate much evidence of fraud They keep justifying their bold moves as combating fraud, but they have been unable so far to point to much of anything specific that’s actually fraudulent. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/13/fraud-trump-musk-doge-fail/

Ventilators (even portable vents) have replaced the iron lung. According to the CDC there is no specific treatment beyond antispasmodic meds, moist heat, PT, bed rest and pain relievers. The only cure is prevention.

The old guard's stake in the future is the world their children and their grands and their greats will inhabit. They realize that more than you can imagine. The youngs have fire in their bellies and are prone to shooting first and asking questions later. The participation trophy generations (plural) think the sky is the limit and everyone within earshot needs to hear what they have to say. They remind me of kids who get married while looking at what their parents currently have and somehow think they are entitled to start out with what it took their parents decades to amass. Both Dem camps need to calm tf down and tack toward the center. We can only hope that they will recognize new realities none of us can escape from and fight like hell to restore the balanced system our founders intended for us to have. It's a federal case so they will fast-track it to the Supremes where a favorable ruling is likely.

An astute WaPo commenter notes that the nursing home industry is overwhelmingly staffed by females, especially WOC, and wonders when this will be addressed.

What will the Supremes say? Missouri AG sues Starbucks, says workforce is ‘more female and less white’ The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by Andrew Bailey, a Republican, accuses Starbucks of engaging in “systemic racial, sexual, and sexual orientation discrimination” through hiring quotas, advancement opportunities and board membership. Such practices force Missouri consumers to “pay higher prices and wait longer for goods and services,” he argued, because making hiring decisions “on non-merit considerations will skew the hiring pool towards people who are less qualified to perform their work.” He did not provide evidence of how this would pass on increased costs to consumers. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/13/starbucks-dei-diversity-missouri-hiring-andrew-bailey/

US district judge Loren AliKhan: It appears that OMB sought to overcome a judicially imposed obstacle without actually ceasing the challenged conduct. The court can think of few things more disingenuous. Another federal judge, John Coughenour: It has become ever more apparent that, to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals. The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/12/trump-lawless-president https://www.instagram.com/p/DF_HtIaNvih/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

The Finns declared independence from Russia when the Russian Revolution began in 1917. Finland is Sweden's best friend and their air and naval forces are set up to work in tandem. The Finns are badass mofos and they will die on their feet before they live on their knees.

WaPo doesn't pro-rate canceled subscriptions and I still have a few months left so I continue to read what I already paid for.