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Jessica Foglesong's avatar

Thanks for reporting the key targeted actions. The chaos is purposeful to obscure, and the spray radius has been severly damaging. Core principles include reversing progress & return to a homogenous patriarchy, retribution, to weaken democracy. Dismantling of headstart is targeted, just like anti-contraception is all about preventing upward mobility of poor, women, and minorities but harder to disguise as religious freedom.

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Jeff Biss's avatar

Understand that the GOP has been working to destroy government since Reagan claimed it was the problem. The GOP's donors want to privatize everything that the government does. If you want good government, hen eliminate the GOP. Oh, and Trump and the congressional GOP should hang for their willful violation of the constitution.

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Judith Hofeditz's avatar

Thanks, just subscribed to the newsletter, great resource!

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Jackie Banks's avatar

Poor children = future replacement workers for deported immigrants! Gotta love MAGA’s family values!!!

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Linda Brown's avatar

News for anti-vaxxers: Kennedy finally said that a vaccine is the best way to prevent measles. It only took the death of two children to get him to do it. Pathetic. How about charges of negligent homicide?

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Wendy E's avatar

We're watching! Love your show!

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Rick G's avatar

RFKjr is a scumbag unhinged conspiracy theory believing nutter. He sold whatever soul he had left to destroy Americas health.

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Linda Brown's avatar

From what I read, Kennedy threw votes to Trump by pulling out of the election so Trump repaid him with this. During the confirmation hearing, Michael Bennett did a good job of nailing him about the Lyme disease conspiracy theory. But someone should have asked him about the dead bear, cutting up a dead whale, whirling up dead birds and mice in blender to feed his hawks, and the dead worm he said he has in his brain. Yowser. But he UNDERSTANDS health problems so that qualifies him.

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Lynn  Bentson's avatar

truly a question . If he admits the vaccine works can someone sue him (hold laughter ) over some poor horrible action like American Samoa

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Rick G's avatar

He did put out a statement, perhaps under duress, before heading to Texas that the MMR vaccine was most effective way to prevent Measles. He still pushes his unhinged conspiracy theories in person and by policy.

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Linda Brown's avatar

Rick--I've noticed that Trump does the same. He throws out statements from every angle, probably so he can come back and say "I said that" or "I never said that, I said this." I don't have a mind that can conceive of such devious tactics, but I can see it when others use them. Scary in our top officials because it's hard to pin them down and hold them accountable.

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Christopher Perello's avatar

May I make a forlorn plea to use "decimation" correctly?

The term---meaning loss of a tenth---comes from Roman military practice two-millennia-plus ago. A legion (call it 5,000 strong) that broke and ran from combat might be sentenced to undergo decimation. After being deprived of its eagle, the legion's standard, it legionaries would be divided into groups of 10 legionaries. They would draw straws, the loser being killed by the other nine. The survivors would be retained in service and given a chance to earn back their eagle, and their honor. Loss of a tenth is heavy but not disastrous---the legion would still be a viable combat unit.

We have come to use the word as equivalent to wholesale slaughter, completely wiped out, utterly destroyed, annihilated. Since we have so many other words to describe extreme losses, can we please decimation to mean a self-imposed loss something less to total loss.

Sorry, pet peeve.

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Bruce's avatar

Thank you. Great information that I did not know. Although I don't use the word "decimated" I see it employed often to mean almost total destruction. Old dog new tricks. Now I can show the lads how smart I am next time somebody uses it in conversation down at the pub!

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Benjamin Seltzer's avatar

I've made my grumbling peace with this particular linguistic drift.

However, my secret to keeping lower blood pressure (alas, for this issue alone) is to substitute "devastated" every time I see "decimated" as a matter of cognitive protection.

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Christopher Perello's avatar

That's not a bad idea, but it's a purely personal fix. My concern is that one of these I'm going to use the word to mean what it actually means (I write military history) and my readers may misinterpret it. The arc of language is toward simplicity, but I fear the arc of American (it is NOT English according to my English---NOT British---friends) is so sharp it's really aimed for illiteracy. Just saw a very interesting youtube video on the decline of reading in Late Antiquity mirroring the decline of the Roman Empire. Illiteracy breeds ignorance, ignorance breeds passivity (read: stupidity), and passive/stupid people can be led more easily.

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gerri caldarola's avatar

you are right Twitter was destroyed -- That's the point, I guess

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gerri caldarola's avatar

We have to accept that Trump et al do not believe government should do anything for people -- just for security, corporations, business, etc. They really and truly think gov has no place in that realm. It's a total difference in what the role of government is --

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gerri caldarola's avatar

Head Start staff here in Seattle all fired...

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Judith Hofeditz's avatar

Yikes, I am just north of Seattle… so I can only assume it’s happened in other cities like Everett, Spokane…

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Janie Coulter's avatar

Of all the Kennedys to be the last one standing...

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Linda Brown's avatar

Caroline is still here and has served her country despite everything. A strong lady who does credit to her father and uncle..

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Patricia Carlson's avatar

The gold standard study from North Carolina - Abcedarian Project see https://abc.fpg.unc.edu fully documents the critical importance of programs like Head Start… instead of MAGA this administration is creating Make America White Again from ICE, to Smithsonian, to IMLS, NEH / NEA, National Archives etc… just start calling it what it is..

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Judith Hofeditz's avatar

It is a stated Project 2025 goal to get rid of Head Start and other family supportive programs.

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James Woodruff's avatar

The fact that RFK Jr. is seen as a spokesperson for wellness is a sign of the level of desperation and ignorance people have over public health.

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Peter Rustin's avatar

“Badly”

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Slide Guitar's avatar

The adverbial -ly is dying.

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Linda Brown's avatar

-ly's can almost always be eliminated by using a stronger verb. But this is a pretty serious subject. I think I can tolerate a few grammar violations as well as my own abundant typos. You?

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