Keeping an Eye on the NIH and That Tax Cut
Within the current mayhem is an ongoing battle of certain fossil fuel magnates vs. 'the public interest' & public health
I’m finishing a long recovery from a bad January flu (weeks ago I paused all subscription payments) so this will be brief and hodge-podge. President Trump has stated he’ll tamp down on RFK Jr.’s statements in two areas 1) vaccines and 2) energy policy. Recall that before RFK Jr. went antivaxxing he was crafting a public image as an environmental lawyer, the Kennedy combating climate change.
The incoming National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Jay Bhattacharya co-authored the weirdest document just before the COVID vaccines were ready, urging everybody to go outside under “focused protection”. It was called the Great Barrington Declaration and it was funded by fossil fuel parties who spread climate change denial.
NIH grants go out to universities in most U.S. states. If the rumored tax cut goes through, universities may be in want of donations or funds, pushing governors to raise taxes or universities to accept private donations from wealthy donors with agendas. Donors like fossil fuel companies which could pull scientific research back in their direction. If the NIH’s new director plays favorites and denies grants to universities in clean-energy states like California, their clean-energy leaders may lose favor with the public.
It’s do or die time to reckon with fossil fuels and the climate. But certain fossil fuel interests don’t see it that way. Climate affects our food supply — photosynthesis of tomatoes happens 68-95°F, and stops when the temperature is too high — which affects inflation and the economy.
President Trump right now is making a big show, saying he’s going to find wasted money like that spent on air traffic controllers, like that spent on FEMA, that some might say is enough to justify that tax cut.
Jan 27 Charles Kochs network launches $20m campaign backing Trump tax breaks | Revealed: fossil fuel billionaires Americans for Prosperity vows herculean undertaking to renew and deepen tax cuts (The Guardian) -
Do people know how to call their representatives in Congress? Because calling them has a big affect on what happens in Washington, D.C. Congressional representatives have to get re-elected. Sould FEMA disappear? If you don’t think it should, call your representative.
Last newsletter I wrote about the “decade of greed” or the 1980’s. Well the 1980s were a sharp contrast to the decade before, our first widespread reckoning with the energy that runs our appliances and our lives. Few people noted in the wake of President Jimmy Carter’s death the odd-even gas days of the late 1970’s, the last days of his first and only term as president. If your license plate ended in an odd number, you could only buy gas on dates with odd numbers. If your plate ended in even numbers, you bought on even-numbered dates. Teens would take a screwdriver and swap plates with their friends to buy gas for outings and road trips. Americans first started to notice how energy-inefficient our lives had been all through the 20th century. Soon James Hanson from NASA would issue public warnings about climate change.
Jimmy Carter lost his bid for re-election to a fossil-fuel-friendly ticket, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Then the public square slowly began to fade away. Congress voted to keep something called the “Fairness Doctrine” in place, which granted equal time to opposing views on issues that affected the public interest. Republicans *and* Democrats voted for this doctrine. But the fossil-fuel-amenable president vetoed the Fairness Doctrine. Civics was pulled from the curriculum where I lived.
Zoom forward to the 2010’s. Campaign contributions grew increasingly opaque with Supreme Court case called “Citizen’s United.” Then the pandemic happened and ten Republican governors barred schools within their state from issuing temporary mask mandates. COVID was exploited as a wedge issue.
Just as we, the people, steered away from facing climate in the 1970’s, some appear to be poised to do it again. But more people are aware now of energy sources. However our public square is smaller and more fragmented than ever. How is it that just this week I finally had a chance to look into the patents filed for by antivaxx O.G.’s O.G., Andrew Wakefield? Wakefield authored the peer-reviewed paper falsely linking the (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) MMR vaccine to autism. He’d applied for a patent for a single-disease vaccine against measles. Look into the patents for autism-testing kits and see which antivaxxers own those.
Marty Makaray spread conspiracy myths about the COVID vaccine and is poised to direct the Food and Drug Administration. Jay Bhattacharya endorsed RFK Jr. for president. RFK Jr.’s earnings ballooned when he went to work for the antivaxx Children’s Health Defense group.
We’re divided against each other. We lost our public debate forums. We’re fragmented into tiny pieces less able to see the big picture as a group.
But we may be able to find common ground and get past this mayhem. Maybe. If we can see through the chaos clouds and find a way forward. And right when we need to focus, we also need to spread out. Be whole citizens again. Because science, like in the time of Galileo, is politicized, and we have to deal with it.
Links
Feb 03 Great Barrington Declaration (Wikipedia) - “Signed by Sunetra Gupta of the University of Oxford, Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University, and Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University, it was sponsored by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), a libertarian free-market think tank associated with climate change denial.[6][7][8]”
Feb 03 American Institute for Economic Research (Wikipedia) - “The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) is a libertarian think tank located in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.[3][4] It was founded in 1933 by Edward C. Harwood, an economist and investment advisor, and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.[5] Since January 2022, the organization's president has been William P. Ruger, formerly of the Charles Koch Institute.[6]”
Jan 27 Charles Koch’s network launches $20m campaign backing Trump tax breaks | Revealed: fossil fuel billionaires Americans for Prosperity vows herculean undertaking to renew and deepen tax cuts (The Guardian) -
Jan 24 The Chaos in Higher Ed Is Only Getting Started | Grant reviews have been suspended at the NIH. This could be an omen. (Atlantic Monthly) - “Academics are in panic mode in the face of sudden new restrictions from the Trump administration. The Department of Health and Human Services has told employees of several health agencies, including the NIH, to stop communicating with the public. Even more disruptive for universities, the committee meetings for reviewing NIH grant proposals have also been abruptly put on hold until at least February 1.”
Jan 22 Trump orders 'blackout' at CDC, FDA, NIH as health agencies prepare for MAGA bloodbath (Daily Mail UK) - “At the beginning of Trump's first term, administration officials also asked public health agencies to cease communicating with the public it was reported at the time. At that time, the limits appeared focused on agenices overseeing environmental and scientific policy, such as the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Jan 09 Essay: Compartmentalization by industry and government inhibits addressing climate denial (PLOS Climate) - “Compartmentalizing between industries keeps public health and environmental researchers playing a game of wack-a-mole, says lead author Dr. Yogi Hale Hendlin. Not only is it exasperating, but at a certain point, its unscientific."
The Endangerment Finding (EF):
Jan 23 Can Trump Reverse the Climate Endangerment Finding? (NRDC) - “President Trumps Day one assault on the nation’s clean energy and climate policies goes even farther than he dared in his first term. His Unleashing American Energy executive order strikes at the governments foundational scientific finding that carbon dioxide, methane, and other climate-changing pollutants are dangerous to our health and well-being. That’s the endangerment finding, issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2009.”
Jan 22 The Endangerment Finding: It Looks Like Trump 2.0 Will Be Much More Fun Than Trump 1.0 (Manhattan Contrarian) - “ … as long as the Endangerment Finding remains on the books, it gives a license to the courts, and to activist left-wing judges anywhere in the federal system, to enjoin and undo all the other de-regulatory efforts of this and other energy-related EOs. However, if the EF is rescinded with a well-reasoned and well-supported basis, then all the other energy-related initiatives will have a far clearer path to success.”
Jan 20 UNLEASHING AMERICAN ENERGY (Whitehouse.gov) - “(f) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Administrator of the EPA, in collaboration with the heads of any other relevant agencies, shall submit joint recommendations to the Director of OMB on the legality and continuing applicability of the Administrators findings, Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act, Final Rule, 74 FR 66496 (December 15, 2009).”
Bird Flu
Agriculture is a complicated system of government subsidies. This system may have slowed motivation to address bird flu in a timely way.
Jan 28 How U.S. Taxpayers Bailed Out the Poultry Industry, and Helped Entrench Avian Flu (Sentient Law & Policy) - “The company’s stocks recently soared to a record high, as its net sales rose by a staggering 82 percent last quarter. Cal-Maine Foods expanded its operations last spring, paying around $110 million in cash to acquire the assets and facilities of another egg producer, ISE America. Despite culling at least 1.6 million hens on infected farms last year, the poultry corporation is getting richer and bigger.”
Joe Rogan
There’s some (very understandable) confusion among younger voters as to whether podcasters automatically are journalists. They’re not. Joe Rogan promotes supplements on his show. Not all supplement promoters are antivaxxers, but quite a few are. Also, Rogan quasi-endorsed RFK, Jr. just as the latter’s poll numbers started to fall, when Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. Days before the election, Rogan endorsed Donald Trump.
May 20 2024 Joe Rogan-backed pharma company sued for peddling health supplements with false advertising (The Independent UK) - "Rogan has been advertising and promoting the Alpha BRAIN supplement line created by Onnit on his podcast for many years."
Nov 05 2024 An Idaho health department is barred from offering COVID shots (Honolulu Star-Advertiser) - “This week, Donald Trump suggested that he may be open to banning some vaccines if he wins the election, and said he would discuss the idea with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine critic. And last week, Sen. JD Vance, Trumps running mate, voiced concerns about COVID vaccine side effects on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Nov 04 2024 Joe Rogan endorses Trump on eve of the election (CNN) - “Popular podcast host Joe Rogan officially endorsed Donald Trump on the eve of the election, a move Trumps team swiftly touted as a major win in the final hours of their campaign. Rogan on Monday released his latest podcast featuring a two-and-a-half-hour interview with billionaire X owner and top Trump surrogate Elon Musk.”
Aug 09 2024 Trump Lashes Out At Joe Rogan For Backing RFK Jr. (Forbes) - Topline Joe Rogan has drawn the ire of former President Donald Trump after the controversial host of the nations most-listened-to podcast offered his support for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a move that comes as pollsters suggest Kennedy could pull votes away from Trump at the ballot box. On Thursday's episode of The Joe Rogan Experience," the podcaster said Kennedy is the only candidate who ‘makes sense to me’ and said he felt Kennedy was the only candidate who was not trying to ‘gaslight’ or ‘manipulate’ voters.”
Jun 20 2023 Vaccine expert says anti-vaxxers stalked him after Joe Rogan pressed him to debate RFK Jr. (KHON FOX 2 Honolulu HI) - After Peter Hotez shared an article laying out the vaccine misinformation on an episode of the Rogan podcast when RFK, Jr. was the guest, Rogan amplified the moment offering money if Hotez would debate RFK, Jr. on his show “with no time limit” and soon Elon Musk joined the fray.
Feb 08 2022 Fact-Checking Joe Rogans Interview With Robert Malone That Caused an Uproar (New York Times) - “For over three hours, Dr. Malone and Mr. Rogan discussed theories and claims about the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines. The conversation included a false equivalence between the vaccine and Nazi medical experiments, baseless conjecture that President Biden is not actually vaccinated and inaccurate interpretations of government data and guidelines.”
RFK Jr.
Will RFK, Jr. be confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services?
Jan 17 Opinion: I’m the Governor of Hawaii. I’ve Seen What Vaccine Skepticism Can Do. (New York Times) - “The people of Samoa shared with me that they got very little news from outside their community, but in the months before the 2019 epidemic they had been bombarded with social media posts claiming that vaccinations were unsafe and would harm or even kill their children. Activists from other countries, including Mr. Kennedy, claimed vaccines were dangerous.”
Jan 27 Editorial: Senators, vote no on RFK Jr. who’s still a radical left lunatic hazardous to our health (New York Post) - “The president and his team insist that RFK Jr. has been fitted with a policy straitjacket that certain areas such as vaccines and objecting to energy strategy are off-limits.”
Jan 26 2024 Editorial: Why RFK Jr. is Dangerous to Public Health (Wall Street Journal) -
Jan 29 What US adults think of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his views on vaccines, fluoride and raw milk (Associated Press) - “Trump’s choice of Kennedy is especially popular among Republicans: About 6 in 10 approve, compared to about 1 in 10 Democrats. And while many Americans disagree with some of Kennedy’s controversial health stances including beliefs around reevaluating childhood vaccine recommendations and changing guidelines around fluoride in drinking water and raw milk consumption some of his other stances, like reformulating processed foods, are broadly popular.”
Movement and the Eye
Some youths say TikTok is an energy sink.
Jan 19 Opinion: I’m a 17-Year-Old TikTok Junkie. I Need This Ban. (New York Times) - “I open the comments on each to laugh and commiserate; often the harmony in our responses creates the illusion of community even though we are each very much alone with our phones. I love TikTok so much that I cannot imagine a life without it. And yet I desperately need a life without it.”
May 2007 Chapter 1 (The Assault on Reason) - “The constant and repetitive triggering of the orienting response induces a quasi-hypnotic state. It partically immobilizes viewers and creates an addiction to the constant stimulation of two areas of the brain: the amygdala and the hippocampus (part of the brain’s memory and contextualizing system.) It’s almost as though we have a ‘receptor’ for television in our brains.”
