The List

[canpakes]

Yet another case of the Trump Administration demonstrating its inability to cope with any opinion different from their own.

FEMA employees put on leave after criticizing Trump administration in open letter
About 180 current and former FEMA staffers sent a letter on Monday to members of Congress and other officials protesting the agency's leadership and direction.

August 26 at 9:21 PM 2025
By Brianna Sacks

The Trump administration placed some Federal Emergency Management Agency employees on leave Tuesday after they signed an open letter of dissent about the agency's leadership, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

About 180 current and former FEMA staffers sent a letter on Monday to members of Congress and other officials, arguing the current leaders' inexperience and approach harms FEMA's mission and could result in a disaster on the level of Hurricane Katrina.

By Tuesday evening, FEMA's office of the administrator had sent several people letters informing them that effectively immediately, they were on an administrative leave, operating "in a non-duty status while continuing to receive pay and benefits."

FEMA officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, the administration put nearly 140 EPA employees on leave after they sent their own letter of dissent.

In their letter, FEMA employees warned that the Trump administration is sending the agency back to a pre-Katrina era, pointing to several concerns including the lack of Senate-confirmed and qualified emergency manger at FEMA's helm; the slashing of mitigation, disaster recovery, training and community programs; and restrictive new policies that curb agency officials' autonomy.

The letter also demanded that federal lawmakers defend FEMA from
Department of Homeland Security interference, protect the agency's employees from "politically motivated firings," conduct more oversight, and ultimately take FEMA out of DHS and establish it as an independent Cabinet-level agency in the executive branch.

At least two FEMA staff members who had been part of the federal response to July's Texas flooding disaster have now been placed on leave, according to an agency employee and another person familiar with the situation.

One employee who manages cases for all disasters, including Texas helped orchestrate the letter. She had spoken to The Post on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution about the difficult decision to sign her full name on the letter. She has now been placed on leave and pulled off her disaster casework.

"The fact that 180 people signed onto the letter, with a supermajority of them still working in the building, and dozens of those people wanted to attach their real names signifies the severity of the problem," Jeremy Edwards, a former press secretary for FEMA who signed the letter, said in an interview. "They are that scared of us being so inadequately unprepared. It speaks a lot to the situation right now.”

The open show of resistance from FEMA employees was the latest example of federal workers speaking out against the Trump administration's actions and policies, in many cases putting their jobs at risk. Called the "Bethesda Declaration" movement, after the Maryland city where the National Institutes of Health is headquartered, it began in June when NIH employees issued a letter modeled after Director Jay Bhattacharya's dissent against the government's covid policies in 2020. Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and the National Science Foundation followed suit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate- ... on-letter/

[canpakes]

Trump is ready to throw the healthcare of millions of Americans under the bus as long as his pandering to anti-vax conspiracists will keep them in his circle of support.

Attempt to oust CDC director sparks key resignations by agency officials

Susan Monarez, who clashed with the U.S. health secretary over vaccine policy, refuses to step down

28 AUG 2025 5:40 PM ET
PHIE JACOBS

While still reeling from a deadly shooting earlier this month at its campus in Atlanta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was thrown into further chaos yesterday by the apparent firing of its director and related resignations of multiple top agency officials. After just a few weeks on the job, infectious disease researcher Susan Monarez reportedly clashed with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his demands to change federal vaccine policies. When she refused a request to resign, Kennedy fired Monarez, although her lawyers have challenged his authority, saying only the president has the power to terminate the CDC director—a position that now requires Senate confirmation.

This afternoon, CDC employees lined up outside the agency’s headquarters in support of departing senior officials, clapping as several left and holding signs with messages such as “Save the CDC” and “Courage. Integrity. Heroes.” Former CDC officials are aghast at the events disrupting the $9 billion public health agency.

“For 80 years, CDC has been a beacon of health protection for the United States and the world,” Tom Frieden, an infectious disease and public health physician who served as director of the agency from 2009 to 2017, said in a statement. “That beacon is now in grave danger of being extinguished, endangering all of our health.” The situation is “tragic,” adds physician-epidemiologist Anne Schuchat, who was a CDC deputy director until 2021. “There’s something very wrong at HHS,” she tells Science.

This latest turmoil follows mass firings at CDC by HHS and a 2026 budget proposal from President Donald Trump that would slash its funding by 50%. (A Senate funding committee later rejected the plan but did approve a $70 million cut.) In June, Kennedy abruptly dismissed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises CDC on what vaccines people in the U.S. should take and when. He later named eight replacement members, several of whom have expressed antivaccine sentiments and appear to have little experience with vaccine science.

And on 8 August, a gunman who blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for his health problems fired hundreds of rounds at the agency’s headquarters, shattering windows and killing a police officer. In a note to CDC employees following the attack, Monarez directly called out the dangers of misinformation.

Monarez, who holds a Ph.D. in microbiology, was not Trump’s first pick to lead CDC. He initially nominated David Weldon, a physician and former congressman whose skeptical views on vaccines alarmed scientists. The administration pulled Weldon’s nomination just hours before he was set to appear at a Senate confirmation hearing. Many in the public health community were hopeful about Monarez’s nomination, although some questioned whether she would stand up to political interference.

This week’s standoff between Monarez and Kennedy stems from tensions over the latter’s desire to impose new restrictions on U.S. vaccines, including COVID-19 shots. The Food and Drug Administration, also under HHS, this week limited who is eligible for the updated COVID-19 vaccines and, according to The Washington Post, Kennedy wanted CDC’s public support for the changes. The Washington Post, STAT, and others reported that Monarez was fired when she reportedly refused to follow orders to dismiss top CDC officials or support ACIP recommendations. “I knew there was friction, but I am stunned,” said one senior agency scientist, who called Monarez’s removal “devastating.”

“Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” HHS announced Wednesday evening in a post on X. “We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people.”

Hours later, however, lawyers representing Monarez released a statement accusing Kennedy of “weaponizing public health for political gain” and asserting that Monarez had neither resigned nor been fired. “When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated public health experts she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda,” lawyers Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell wrote. “For that, she has been targeted.”

Later that evening, White House staff formally notified Monarez that she had been fired—a notification her lawyers have rejected as “legally deficient.” According to reporting by The Washington Post, the White House has named Jim O’Neill—currently deputy secretary of HHS—as acting director of CDC.

Four other prominent CDC officials have resigned: physician-epidemiologist Jennifer Layden, director of the agency’s Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology; Daniel Jernigan, an epidemiologist who served as director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Demetre Daskalakis, a physician who served as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD); and physician Debra Houry, chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at CDC. “These are ethical, serious, highly capable public servants,” Schuchat says.

CDC employees are “very discouraged” by the departures, says Anna Yousaf, a physician and researcher at NCIRD. “Vaccine policy is being completely undermined by people who neither know or care what harms they are unleashing,” she adds, emphasizing that she is speaking only for herself and not the agency. “People are feeling that this is the beginning of the end for evidence-based vaccine recommendations from CDC.”

Several of those who resigned detailed their reasoning in emails or social media posts. “For the good of the nation and the world, the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations,” Houry wrote in an email explaining her decision. She called out proposed budget cuts and reorganization plans at CDC, as well as the rise of vaccine misinformation. “I am committed to protecting the public’s health, but the ongoing changes prevent me from continuing in my job as a leader of the agency. This is a heartbreaking decision that I make with a heavy heart.”

Daskalakis also penned a lengthy resignation letter: “Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.”

Jernigan told The Washington Post that his decision to resign came after he was forced to work with David Geier, a proponent of the long-discredited claim that vaccines cause autism, who was recently hired by HHS.

Senator Bill Cassidy (R–LA), posted on X yesterday that “These high profile departures will require oversight by the HELP Committee.” The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), which Cassidy chairs, oversees HHS and its underlying agencies. Cassidy, a physician and advocate of vaccination, grilled Kennedy during his nomination hearing, asking Kennedy whether he would “commit that you will revise any CDC recommendations only based on peer review, consensus-based, widely accepted science?” Kennedy responded: “Absolutely senator. I’m not going to go into HHS and impose my preordained opinions on anybody. … I’m going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their job and make sure that we have good science that’s evidence based.”

Cassidy then provided a crucial vote in favor of Kennedy’s nomination. Today, he called for postponing the next ACIP meeting where recommendations would have been made for the new COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Some lawmakers are demanding more. Senator Patty Murray (D–Washington), former chair of HELP, yesterday called for Kennedy’s firing. “We cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of the CDC and our other critical health agencies to the ground—he must be fired. I hope my Republican colleagues who have come to regret their vote to confirm RFK Jr. will join me in calling for his immediate termination from office.”

Today, in response to questions from reporters, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monarez was fired because she was “not aligned” with the president’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, adding that a new nominee for CDC director would be announced “very soon.”

Kennedy, who appeared today on the Fox News show Fox & Friends, declined to comment on Monarez’s removal. He sharply criticized CDC, saying there is deeply embedded “malaise at the agency.”

With reporting by Jeffrey Brainard and Meredith Wadman.

https://www.science.org/content/article ... -officials

.
The dismantling of the CDC’s scientific knowledge base in favor of hiring opportunists and ideologues has been swift:

[canpakes]

The resignation letter of Dr. Demetre C. Daskalakis:
…

Dear Dr. Houry,

I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business.   I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested.

This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough.

While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people.  This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles.

I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.  The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.   The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership.  This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors.  Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.

It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC.  The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense.  Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function.  Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC.

The recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader.   Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.  Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc.

I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again.  I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season.  Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.”  We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary.  I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us.  Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources.  At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him.  To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information.

The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer.  I believe in nutrition and exercise.  I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability.  Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.

The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning.  My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so.  I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud.   I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur.  I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.

For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics.  I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision.

Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest.

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically.

Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution.  If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.

Sincerely,

Demetre C. Daskalakis MD MPH (he/his/him)

[canpakes]

There seems to be so many folks who think that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not fit for his position that even Fox News has to report on the controversy.

More than 1,000 HHS workers demand Kennedy resignation over CDC director firing and agency changes

Letter cites firing of CDC director Susan Monarez and appointment of 'political ideologues'

By Anders Hagstrom - Fox News
Published September 3, 2025 7:50am EDT

More than 1,000 current and former employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signed a letter calling on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign on Wednesday.

The employees cited Kennedy's recent ousting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Susan Monarez. They also accused Kennedy of appointing "political ideologues" to positions of authority.

"We believe health policy should be based in strong, evidence-based principles rather than partisan politics. But under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, HHS policies are placing the health of all Americans at risk, regardless of their politics," the letter says.

"Should he decline to resign, we call upon the President and U.S. Congress to appoint a new Secretary of Health and Human Services, one whose qualifications and experience ensure that health policy is informed by independent and unbiased peer-reviewed science. We expect those in leadership to act when the health of Americans is at stake," the letter continues.

HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon brushed off the letter in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"Secretary Kennedy has been clear: the CDC has been broken for a long time. Restoring it as the world’s most trusted guardian of public health will take sustained reform and more personnel changes. From his first day in office, he pledged to check his assumptions at the door—and he asked every HHS colleague to do the same. That commitment to evidence-based science is why, in just seven months, he and the HHS team have accomplished more than any health secretary in history in the fight to end the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again," he said.

The letter comes just days after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also called on Kennedy to resign, citing his actions at the CDC. The Trump administration announced the removal of Monarez last week, less than a month after she was confirmed, after she refused Kennedy's directives to adopt new limitations on the availability of some vaccines, including for approvals for COVID-19 vaccines.

Four other senior CDC officials resigned in protest after Monarez's ouster, pointing, in part, to anti-vaccine policies pushed by Kennedy. Hundreds of workers at the agency also walked out of the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta in support of their former colleagues.

Sanders wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times that Kennedy is "endangering the health of the American people now and into the future," and accused the secretary of firing Monarez because she refused "to act as a rubber stamp for his dangerous policies."

"Despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community, Secretary Kennedy has continued his longstanding crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts," Sanders wrote.

"It is absurd to have to say this in 2025, but vaccines are safe and effective," he added. "That, of course, is not just my view. Far more important, it is the overwhelming consensus of the medical and scientific communities."

The Trump administration has defended Monarez's ouster, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Thursday that the president has the "authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission."

"The president and Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring trust and transparency and credibility to the CDC by ensuring their leadership and their decisions are more public-facing, more accountable, strengthening our public health system and restoring it to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases, investing in innovation to prevent, detect and respond to future threats," Leavitt told reporters.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cdc-di ... call-quits

[Jersey Girl]

If RFK Jr remains in office some of us are simply doomed. Enough is enough, indeed!

Innovation my a$$.

[Some Schmo]

The number of people Trump will have a hand in killing by nominating RFKJ to his anti-vaccine post will rival the number he helped kill with his COVID response.

Of course, his fans think he's damned Jesus. That's how damned stupid they are. They think the incompetent is divine. damned morons.

Trump support only makes sense if you remember his voters are damned retarded.

[Jersey Girl]

(I briefly caught FOX New earlier today where a woman was criticizing using the Nat'l Guard in US cities. I didn't hear who she was but she was certainly laying out her objection end to end and right on FOX.)

[Jersey Girl]

The number of people Trump will have a hand in killing by nominating RFKJ to his anti-vaccine post will rival the number he helped kill with his COVID response.

YES!

Of course, his fans think he's damned Jesus. That's how damned stupid they are. They think the incompetent is divine. damned morons.

Trump support only makes sense if you remember his voters are damned retarded.

At this point I have NO idea what his fans think about any of this or why. How they can swallow this death sentence is anyone's guess when you consider the fact that many of them have LIVED in a pre-vaccine Polio world and were of the generation given the privilege of receiving the first vaccines when we lined up in our elementary school gyms after hours and ate our sugar cubes like we were told to do.

All of this anti-vaxx stuff is insanity. I had mumps, measles, and chicken pox as a pre-vaccine child. Measles and mumps within weeks of each other...I remember how sick I was. Mumps, swollen and it hurt. Measles I had to wear sunglasses inside due to light sensitivity. Chicken pox not so bad. Itchy, scabby, not horrible.

This is what he's visiting on the American people then in the next breath he advises that we shouldn't take health advice from him. Heck I wouldn't so much as take a handshake from him!

I read somewhere that Real F-ing Kook, Jr. promises a statement within the next month with regard to autism. AYFKM???? The man is a total crackpot!

Sometimes I think his father must be doing barrel rolls over in Arlington.

[Jersey Girl]

Not meaning to disrupt the flow of the thread but I have to post this. RFK Jr is old enough to remember this just like I do! You "live" in these things full time until you die.

"Life" pre-polio vaxx



Today's iron lung

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

“Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods.”

“You take a look at bacon and some of these products. Some people don't eat bacon anymore. And we are going to get the energy prices down."

“Prices will come down. You just watch. They’ll come down and they’ll come down fast.”

"Groceries went through the roof and I campaigned on that. I talked about the word ‘groceries’ for a lot, and energy costs now are down. Groceries are down.”