TRUMP REGIME

New Republic- If confirmed, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a perch that would give him enormous influence over government guidance on vaccines, the pace of developmental research on vaccines and other drugs, and the way data is used to communicate to the public about all manner of medical research, including vital information about the immunizations that help prevent many adults and children alike from getting seriously ill.

There are limits to the power that would be put into Kennedy’s hands. But while he wouldn’t be able to scrap school vaccine mandates wholesale, which is a matter that’s currently decided on the state level, Kennedy could nevertheless do major damage to the public education system by using the power of his office to regularly fearmonger about the phantasmal threat of childhood vaccinations.

New Republic -  Trump shouldn’t be naming anybody IRS commissioner. The current one, Danny Werfel, was appointed in 2022 to a five-year term; like FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom Trump wants to replace with Kash Patel, Werfel is supposed hold his job until 2027. Werfel’s presided over a revitalization of the IRS thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which pumped $80 billion into the underfunded agency ($20 billion of which House Republicans later clawed back ). Last summer the agency reported collecting more than $1 billion in past-due taxes from individuals earning $1 million or more. In October Geraldine Brooks documented in The Washington Post the important role that the IRS plays in the war on terror.

Don’t expect the good news to keep flowing. When Long was in Congress, he co-sponsored, in three consecutive sessions, a bill to abolish the IRS and replace the income tax, the payroll tax, the estate tax, and the gift tax with a 30 percent sales tax.

 New Republic -  Pete Hegseth is hoping you’ll forget he thinks women aren’t suited for combat roles in the military. Too bad he enthusiastically declared it on camera a little over a month ago.The vitriolic television host, who is also Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, appeared on Fox News Monday to try to clean up comments he made disparaging all female U.S. soldiers. It was less than convincing.

 

“I also want an opportunity here, to clarify comments that have been misconstrued that I somehow ‘don’t support women in the military.’ Some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors out there are women, who serve—raised their right hand to defend this country, and love our nation, want to defend that flag, and they do it every single day around the globe,” Hegseth said.

But little more than a month ago, Hegseth said he doesn’t believe women are even fit for active duty. “I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated,” Hegseth said during an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show in November.

Joshua Benton - Wanna work for RFK Jr. at HHS? Be prepared for questions about:

— “I don’t have much interest in having sexual experiences with another person” 

— “As an adolescent, I had bizarre fantasies or preoccupations” 

— “I consistently use my physical appearance to draw attention to myself”

Washington Post -Donald Trump’s pick for a key justice role has alarmed civil rights leaders. Harmeet Dhillon would oversee federal efforts on voting rights cases. But she’s a fierce Trump loyalist, and backed his baseless claims of widespread election fraud in 2020.