The List

[Chap]

So why is it so difficult to alleviate the homeless crisis?

Because solving the homeless crisis might involve some rich people becoming a little less rich.

And that would never do.

[Gunnar]

So why is it so difficult to alleviate the homeless crisis?

Because solving the homeless crisis might involve some rich people becoming a little less rich.

And that would never do.

Yeah, I already figured that out, which only makes the situation all the more deplorable. I think the obsession to maximize one's wealth without limit, no matter how many people they hurt or marginalize in the process, is a kind of mental illness!

[canpakes]

.
Trump’s Golden Age hasn’t yet reigned in bankruptcies, which are still on the rise.

Bankruptcy Filings Rise 11 Percent

Published on February 4, 2026

Total bankruptcy filings rose 11 percent, with increases in both business and non-business bankruptcies, in the twelve-month period ending Dec. 31, 2025.

According to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, annual bankruptcy filings totaled 574,314 in the year ending December 2025, compared with 517,308 cases in the previous year.

Business filings rose 7.1 percent, from 23,107 to 24,737, in the year ending Dec. 31, 2025. Non-business bankruptcy filings rose 11.2 percent to 549,577, compared with 494,201 in December 2024.

Bankruptcy totals for the previous 12 months are reported four times annually.
For more than a decade, total filings fell steadily, from a high of nearly 1.6 million in September 2010 to a low of 380,634 in June 2022. Total filings have increased each quarter since then, but they remain far lower than historical highs.

https://www.uscourts.gov/data-news/judi ... 11-percent

[canpakes]

.
This may not be the desired end result of whatever Trump’s strategy with tariffs was hoping to achieve.

Trade deficit soared 94% in November and was higher than a year ago, despite tariff efforts

THU, JAN 29 20269:41 AM EST
Jeff Cox

KEY POINTS

• The U.S. deficit with its global trading partners nearly doubled in November as the shortfall with the European Union swelled.

• Following a month where the trade deficit hit its lowest level since early 2009, it shot up to $56.8 billion, an increase of 94.6% from October.

The U.S. deficit with its global trading partners nearly doubled in November as the shortfall with the European Union swelled and the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs worked their way through the economy, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.

Following a month where the trade deficit hit its lowest level since early 2009, it shot up to $56.8 billion, an increase of 94.6% from October. Of that gain, about one-third came with the European Union, where the goods deficit rose by $8.2 billion. The goods deficit with China decreased by about $1 billion to $13.9 billion.

On a year-over-year basis, the deficit through November stood at $839.5 billion, or about 4% higher than the same period in 2024.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/29/trade-b ... 4d627e22f7

[canpakes]

Ars Technica reports:

Nearly half of the databases that public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were updating on a monthly basis have been frozen without notice or explanation, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study—led by Janet Freilich, a law expert at Boston University, and Jeremy Jacobs, a medical professor at Vanderbilt University—examined the status of all CDC databases, finding a total of 82 that had, as of early 2025, been receiving updates at least monthly. But, of those 82, only 44 were still being regularly updated as of October 2025, with 38 (46 percent) having their updates paused without public notice or explanation.

Examining the databases’ content, it appeared that vaccination data was most affected by the stealth data freezes. Of the 38 outdated databases, 33 (87 percent) included data related to vaccination. In contrast, none of the 44 still-updated databases relate to vaccination. Other frozen databases included data on infectious disease burden, such as data on hospitalizations from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The most common vaccination types included in the out-of-date data were vaccinations against influenza, COVID-19, and RSV. Two frozen databases included data on all three vaccines. When the researchers checked in on the databases again in December, only one had been updated, leaving 37 still entirely out of date.

The finding stood out given that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a fervent anti-vaccine advocate who has worked for decades to undermine trust in and use of life-saving vaccines.

“Given the vaccine skepticism of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, it is concerning that nearly 90 percent of the paused databases related to vaccination surveillance, with additional gaps in respiratory disease monitoring,” Freilich, Jacobs, and their co-authors write in the study.

“Damning”

Overall, a lack of updated data can make it more difficult, if not impossible, for federal and state health officials to identify and rapidly respond to emerging outbreaks. It can also prevent the identification of communities or demographics that could benefit most from targeted vaccination outreach.

In an accompanying editorial, Jeanne Marrazzo, CEO of the Infectious Disease Society of America and former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated the concern in starker terms, writing: “The evidence is damning: The administration’s anti-vaccine stance has interrupted the reliable flow of the data we need to keep Americans safe from preventable infections. The consequences will be dire.”

The study authors note that the unexplained pauses could be due to the direct targeting of vaccine-related data collection by the administration—or they could be an indirect consequence of the tumult Kennedy and the Trump administration have inflicted on the CDC, including brutal budget and staff cuts. But Marrazzo argues that the exact mechanism doesn’t matter.

“Either causative pathway demonstrates a profound disregard for human life, scientific progress, and the dedication of the public health workforce that has provided a bulwark against the advance of emerging, and reemerging, infectious diseases,” she writes.

Marrazzo emphasizes that the lack of current data not only hampers outbreak response efforts but also helps the health secretary realize his vision for the CDC, writing: Kennedy, “who has stated baldly that the CDC failed to protect Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, is now enacting a self-fulfilling prophecy. The CDC as it currently exists is no longer the stalwart, reliable source of public health data that for decades has set the global bar for rigorous public health practice.”

Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, sent Ars Technica a statement saying: “Changes to individual dashboards or update schedules reflect routine data quality and system management decisions, not political direction. Under this administration, public health data reporting is driven by scientific integrity, transparency, and accuracy.”

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/01/ ... es-frozen/

[Gunnar]

Ars Technica reports:

Nearly half of the databases that public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were updating on a monthly basis have been frozen without notice or explanation, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The study—led by Janet Freilich, a law expert at Boston University, and Jeremy Jacobs, a medical professor at Vanderbilt University—examined the status of all CDC databases, finding a total of 82 that had, as of early 2025, been receiving updates at least monthly. But, of those 82, only 44 were still being regularly updated as of October 2025, with 38 (46 percent) having their updates paused without public notice or explanation.

Examining the databases’ content, it appeared that vaccination data was most affected by the stealth data freezes. Of the 38 outdated databases, 33 (87 percent) included data related to vaccination. In contrast, none of the 44 still-updated databases relate to vaccination. Other frozen databases included data on infectious disease burden, such as data on hospitalizations from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The most common vaccination types included in the out-of-date data were vaccinations against influenza, COVID-19, and RSV. Two frozen databases included data on all three vaccines. When the researchers checked in on the databases again in December, only one had been updated, leaving 37 still entirely out of date.

The finding stood out given that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a fervent anti-vaccine advocate who has worked for decades to undermine trust in and use of life-saving vaccines.

“Given the vaccine skepticism of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, it is concerning that nearly 90 percent of the paused databases related to vaccination surveillance, with additional gaps in respiratory disease monitoring,” Freilich, Jacobs, and their co-authors write in the study.

“Damning”

Overall, a lack of updated data can make it more difficult, if not impossible, for federal and state health officials to identify and rapidly respond to emerging outbreaks. It can also prevent the identification of communities or demographics that could benefit most from targeted vaccination outreach.

In an accompanying editorial, Jeanne Marrazzo, CEO of the Infectious Disease Society of America and former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated the concern in starker terms, writing: “The evidence is damning: The administration’s anti-vaccine stance has interrupted the reliable flow of the data we need to keep Americans safe from preventable infections. The consequences will be dire.”

The study authors note that the unexplained pauses could be due to the direct targeting of vaccine-related data collection by the administration—or they could be an indirect consequence of the tumult Kennedy and the Trump administration have inflicted on the CDC, including brutal budget and staff cuts. But Marrazzo argues that the exact mechanism doesn’t matter.

“Either causative pathway demonstrates a profound disregard for human life, scientific progress, and the dedication of the public health workforce that has provided a bulwark against the advance of emerging, and reemerging, infectious diseases,” she writes.

Marrazzo emphasizes that the lack of current data not only hampers outbreak response efforts but also helps the health secretary realize his vision for the CDC, writing: Kennedy, “who has stated baldly that the CDC failed to protect Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, is now enacting a self-fulfilling prophecy. The CDC as it currently exists is no longer the stalwart, reliable source of public health data that for decades has set the global bar for rigorous public health practice.”

Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, sent Ars Technica a statement saying: “Changes to individual dashboards or update schedules reflect routine data quality and system management decisions, not political direction. Under this administration, public health data reporting is driven by scientific integrity, transparency, and accuracy.”

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/01/ ... es-frozen/

It is tragic how Trump and RFK have effectively seriously undermined the invaluable work and reputation of the U.S. Government's CDC which, before Trump, had been the world's gold standard for monitoring and preventing infectious diseases and pandemics.

[canpakes]

I don’t think that bombing Iran was on Trump’s pre-election List, but with inflation troubles at home and that whole Epstein files problem nipping at his heels, he probably figured that it was as good a time as any for a good distraction, and has attacked over the weekend for reasons that he’s been unable to articulate.

Here’s where things stand at the moment:

• Pentagon briefing: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the goal of the strikes on Iran was not regime change, “but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it.” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said the war against Iran would not be a “single, overnight operation.”

• Expanding war with Iran: Iran’s top official said Tehran “will not negotiate” with the US. Israel and Hezbollah are trading blows as the conflict widens, while explosions have been heard in Gulf cities including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.

• Fighter jets shot down: Three US fighter jets were accidentally shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses in an apparent “friendly fire incident,” according to the US military. All crews have been recovered and are in stable condition.

• Death toll grows: At least 555 people have died in Iran since the US-Israeli strikes began, according to the Red Crescent Society. President Donald Trump acknowledged there could be more US casualties after four US troops were killed in Kuwait.

Courtesy of CNN: https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/ira ... 6-intl-hnk

[canpakes]

While the Trump Administration is trying to figure out what it wants to do in its war with Iran, it has come to light that the campaign promise of DOGE has been discarded and the agency instead is being Investigated over how people within that department have possibly illegally accessed and carried off with private Social Security information on hundreds of millions of Americans.

The government is investigating new claims that DOGE misused Social Security data

Congress and the SSA's Inspector General are investigating whistleblower claims about whether Department of Government Efficiency staff may have misused Social Security data.

MARCH 11, 20269:53 PM ET

Stephen Fowler
Jude Joffe-Block
Shannon Bond

Congress and the SSA's Inspector General are investigating whistleblower claims about whether Department of Government Efficiency staff may have misused Social Security data.

An internal government watchdog and members of Congress are separately investigating new allegations that a Department of Government Efficiency staffer potentially misused sensitive Social Security data.

The Social Security Administration's inspector general notified the leaders of several House and Senate committees on Mar. 6 that it is reviewing an anonymous complaint "on matters relating to the potential misuse of SSA data by a former DOGE employee, among other allegations," according to a copy of the letter obtained by NPR.

This week, Congressional Democrats investigating DOGE's access to Social Security data also announced an expanded probe after receiving whistleblower information alleging a former DOGE software engineer at SSA claimed to have retained copies of sensitive databases filled with personal information about almost every living American. The whistleblower's allegations were first reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday.

According to the Post's reporting, the former DOGE employee claimed at least one database was held on a personal thumb drive, and claimed to have retained "God-level" access to SSA systems, the whistleblower alleged. The former staffer also allegedly told colleagues they wanted to share the data with their private-sector employer, the Post reported. NPR has not reviewed the whistleblower complaint.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the House Oversight committee's top Democrat, called the allegations "deeply disturbing" and said they show the Trump administration's "callous disregard for the safety and security of Americans' most sensitive information."

"Not only has an ex-DOGE bro been accused of running around with the Social Security information of every American on a flash drive, he also may have the ability to edit and manipulate data at the Social Security Administration at will," Garcia wrote in a statement.

The Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration declined to comment, saying it doesn't confirm or deny the existence of law enforcement investigations.

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/11/nx-s1-57 ... estigation

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Apparently this Administration is for DEI hires now:



We truly live in a simulation. Also, unredact the Epstein files. Also, gtfo of Iran for Pete’s sake. Wtf.

[Chap]

What useful advice could Erika Kirk give the US Air Force?