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erronis

(18,651 posts)
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 08:35 PM 21 hrs ago

HHS bomb going off -- Digby

https://digbysblog.net/2025/04/02/hhs-bomb-going-off/



Josh Marshall wrote this on Bluesky and I think it explains what’s going on with HHS as well as I’ve seen it anywhere:

It’s getting a lot of attn today. But even before today most of the country had very little idea of what has happened at NIH or through it the entire ecosystem of biomedical research in the US. Simply put, Musk, Kennedy & Trump exploded a bomb right in the middle of cancer cure research in the US.

On purpose. For many cancers, research has been put back years or decades. Alzheimers treatment and cure research similar story. If you know people who are survivors of these diseases and fear recurrence or have genetic dispositions or are just like everyone else and know they are liable to these and other diseases potential cures are now less likely to be there when you need them. You have to ask: what is the goal when you pull the plug on the whole ecosystem of cancer cure research? What’s the agenda? The answers are so dark and twisted most people struggle to believe it could be real.

But it is real. And it’s happened so quickly, most of the country doesn’t know it yet. Indeed, I got some key indications over the weekend that even people in the biomedical research world outside of NIH don’t get yet what’s happened. So the bomb has gone off but most people don’t realize it yet. It’s like Bobby Kennedy and Elon and Trump just drove a big semi full of fertilizer Tim McVeigh-style up in front of the national labs and detonated it.

The prospect of more life saving cures and treatments already got much bleaker. If you think you or a loved one might one day get one of these cancers, or Alzheimers, or various other dread diseases 10, 20, 30 years from now your chances have already dimmed because of what’s happened just in the last two months.

And now they’ve decided to up the pace and make it far worse because of a mix of difficult to fully comprehend pathological motives tied to political extremism, belief that AI will supplant medical research & that destroying the current research world will add to their wealth and political power and cement their hold over what was the American republic.

It will take a determined, smart, relentless and implacable counterattack to begin to undo the damage.


There are so many atrocities coming from this administration that it’s hard to decide the worst of it. But when it comes to the most harm to the most people in short, medium and long term, I think this might be it. The U.S. has been one of the most prolific leaders in medical research for a very long time and we’re giving it up because Trump wanted to cover up his support for vaccines during the pandemic — and stick it to the people who made him feel stupid about it. No one can tell him anything so he’s letting Bobby Jr play. Many people will die needlessly.

Let’s hope that we can put this Humpty Dumpty together again but the damage is already severe and it will take a massive effort. It’s heartbreaking.
20 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
HHS bomb going off -- Digby (Original Post) erronis 21 hrs ago OP
Very bad. Deep cuts with deadly wounds. cachukis 21 hrs ago #1
The only reason for them to do this is to kill people Meowmee 21 hrs ago #2
funny how Elon is all 'concerned' aboutthe breeders not having enough kids... FirstLight 21 hrs ago #6
Yes, we have not seen this kind of evil which started in 2016 for a long while here Meowmee 21 hrs ago #7
Musk and Biomedicine CitizenZero 20 hrs ago #12
And the young BonnieJW 20 hrs ago #16
brain worms running the show from the white house down nt msongs 21 hrs ago #3
If you wanted America to be destroyed, wouldn't you do this? Wingus Dingus 21 hrs ago #4
It seemed obvious when the russians put trump in the WH in 2016 erronis 21 hrs ago #8
it's gotten beyond obvious stillcool 21 hrs ago #9
My view is that all these billionaires and their posses should be... dchill 21 hrs ago #5
Despicable DET 20 hrs ago #10
"TRYING TO KILL US and DESTROY THE COUNTRY." Simple, clear headlines like that - in major media - might wake people up. wordstroken 20 hrs ago #17
By design IronLionZion 20 hrs ago #11
Motivations krkaufman 20 hrs ago #13
Don't know if it's actually true, but it's certainly believable enough. calimary 20 hrs ago #15
This is a good OP CitizenZero 20 hrs ago #14
Time for the brain drain. Crunchy Frog 18 hrs ago #18
Don't most of the BillionaireBoyzClub think eugenics and population control serve their best interests. NoMoreRepugs 18 hrs ago #19
May all their souls rot in hell! peggysue2 18 hrs ago #20

Meowmee

(8,200 posts)
2. The only reason for them to do this is to kill people
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 08:43 PM
21 hrs ago

and destroy our health and scientific research and knowledge etc.

FirstLight

(14,826 posts)
6. funny how Elon is all 'concerned' aboutthe breeders not having enough kids...
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 08:50 PM
21 hrs ago

But they wanna basically let the old, infirm, etc die off... it's really evil.

Meowmee

(8,200 posts)
7. Yes, we have not seen this kind of evil which started in 2016 for a long while here
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 08:54 PM
21 hrs ago

It is frightening.

CitizenZero

(647 posts)
12. Musk and Biomedicine
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 09:16 PM
20 hrs ago

Some people don't get it. Musk has probably never had a major illness or a real brush with death. Such an experience changes you. Some people think that they are invulnerable or immortal. It is just not true. If you live long enough, you will likely suffer some sort of malady. Only a few people get through their lives without a major illness or medical threat to their lives.

Anyway, with Musk he may one day find out. All the money in the world won't matter if you get a cancer for which there is no current treatment or cure. Musk is big into rockets and tech, but he apparently knows nothing about biomedicine and the government and university complex that keeps that sector of the economy moving.

Private biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies will be diminished also, as much basic biomedical research is either done by the NIH or is funded by them at universities and hospitals. Private companies build on this basic research and will be much more limited without the basic science that NIH funds. It is a bad situation all around.

BonnieJW

(2,838 posts)
16. And the young
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 09:55 PM
20 hrs ago

Babies and little kids are very vulnerable. So he wants more babies so they can die before age 5

Wingus Dingus

(8,890 posts)
4. If you wanted America to be destroyed, wouldn't you do this?
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 08:45 PM
21 hrs ago

Of course you would. Nothing they do is intended to help us.

erronis

(18,651 posts)
8. It seemed obvious when the russians put trump in the WH in 2016
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 08:54 PM
21 hrs ago

Even more so now.

Filling the cabinet with the exact opposite of the types of people that should be there? Obvious.

Removing any knowledgeable staff from agencies/departments that could help keep the government functioning? Obvious.

Purging the top brass of the US military so that the incompetents and commissars can run the show? Yet again, obvious.

stillcool

(33,484 posts)
9. it's gotten beyond obvious
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 08:59 PM
21 hrs ago

but then, not at all. So hard to make sense of this county with so many versions of reality.

dchill

(41,799 posts)
5. My view is that all these billionaires and their posses should be...
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 08:47 PM
21 hrs ago

... trying to plot their way out of very lengthy prison terms. It shouldn't be too tough if your lawyer is in the next cell.

DET

(1,919 posts)
10. Despicable
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 09:08 PM
20 hrs ago

I doubt that this has gotten any traction in MAGAtville since I can’t imagine that FOX is covering it. I also don’t know if scientific research is important to these people. But even if it isn’t, these kinds of cuts highlight the sheer cruelty of what TSF and DOGE are doing. This is as bad or worse than kicking Grandma out of the nursing home.

I wish that we would state bluntly that TSF is TRYING TO KILL US and DESTROY THE COUNTRY. I hate to sound like a National Enquirer headline, but this sort of rhetoric might actually get people’s attention when nothing else will. Republicans wouldn’t hesitate to say this, especially if it wasn’t true.

wordstroken

(928 posts)
17. "TRYING TO KILL US and DESTROY THE COUNTRY." Simple, clear headlines like that - in major media - might wake people up.
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 09:56 PM
20 hrs ago

As well as independent media like Meidas Touch Network, and progressive social media like BlueSky, etc. Especially if they all coordinated with each other. Let’s hope they see your post, DET, and realize what you already figured out.

IronLionZion

(48,278 posts)
11. By design
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 09:10 PM
20 hrs ago

since Trump didn't like their work during and after the last pandemic to save American lives. The pro-life party wants lots of deaths.

krkaufman

(13,825 posts)
13. Motivations
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 09:19 PM
20 hrs ago
we’re giving it up because Trump wanted to cover up his support for vaccines during the pandemic — and stick it to the people who made him feel stupid about it.


This makes as much sense as anything; same as the general assault and harm to the country being rooted in hurring everyone responsible for his losing the 2020 election … i.e. everyone.

calimary

(85,674 posts)
15. Don't know if it's actually true, but it's certainly believable enough.
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 09:28 PM
20 hrs ago

I can easily imagine the tirade inside the Oval Office or wherever he parks his sorry ass these days. Hurricane donald. Blowing again. Or maybe it should be "Blowing it again."

CitizenZero

(647 posts)
14. This is a good OP
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 09:26 PM
20 hrs ago

To quote it--

"It will take a determined, smart, relentless and implacable counterattack to begin to undo the damage."

That is right on. We need an implacable counterattack. Democracy and freedom are under attack, as well as our health and national prosperity.

Crunchy Frog

(27,467 posts)
18. Time for the brain drain.
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 11:25 PM
18 hrs ago

I'm sure there are lots of countries that would like to take America's top scientists.

NoMoreRepugs

(11,137 posts)
19. Don't most of the BillionaireBoyzClub think eugenics and population control serve their best interests.
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 11:30 PM
18 hrs ago

Let the sick and the weak die off so government needs less money to assist them and therefore needing less revenue - corp taxes go down.

peggysue2

(11,728 posts)
20. May all their souls rot in hell!
Wed Apr 2, 2025, 11:40 PM
18 hrs ago

I don't know what's worse--the stupidity or the callousness. With Agent Orange there's always the petty vindictiveness.

But all of this, the destruction of institutions, people and knowledge?

It's just flat-out evil.

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