NEW: Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die.
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Multiple sources in the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that houses the CDC, say that RIF notices began going out around 5:00 am ET on Tuesday. Employees across HHS offices arrived at buildings only to discover that their badges no longer worked, sources tell WIRED.
The demolition of American science continues apace. Even if it is possible to repair the damage done — and that's a big "if" — it will take many years.
“The cuts today at CDC targeted programs that address all aspects of American lives,” a source at the CDC tells WIRED. “This will lead to worse health outcomes, greater risks to the US public, and will contribute to the decline in US life expectancy."
I don't understand why Trump wants to kill people: maybe he will get sick and there will be no Medical specialist to treat him.
That is going to happen to many people.
“We’re going to have patients die,” says Jade Pagkas-Bather, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Chicago who also specializes in HIV prevention. “Unnecessary, preventable death.”
Eventually blue states may have to leave the union to protect their citizens from mass death. U.S. already has very low life expectancy and other health metrics, it will only worsen from here.
Democrats have been criticized for overselling the threat of Trump. If anything, we've undersold it. But we have REALLY undersold the republican congress and right-wing media threat by complaining they are complicit. When in fact, they are active participants in this coup!
right wing media being active participants is a given, but it should have been extended to corporatist media under the guise of being liberal/centrist. they're guilty of downplaying everything as well
I agree, overall the Dems have undersold the danger, especially the gerontocracy. (Schumer & the rest)
I’m so frustrated with their inability to adapt and adjust as needed to counter the threat. Trump is still ultimately responsible, but come on now Dems, stop missing opportunities to resist.
They had Jack Smith, he was blocked by Judge Cannon. Then Trump won and Smith had to resign. Don’t blame Dems and Jack Smith, blame the voters to sent Trump back to the White House who then appointed Pam Bondi.
Perhaps it was only going to be a matter of time, before disregard towards the impact of gun terror on public health & safety, - (largely ignored as a preventable critical health issue by congress), -would eventually spill over in devouring all areas of health prevention policy, to serve greed.
Previously, some believed that there was only so much we could do to halt the threat of gun terror, while some touted false 2A narratives, as the excuse for a shameful inaction & disregard for the impact of GV on our lives.
Who would have believed that those “protected” areas of scientific research & development, would ever be endangered as gun violence research was, - stifled, silenced, & research prohibited because guns were unjustly
The cuts do not target ''áll aspects of American lives." These cuts are targeted against non-whites, quite openly and brazenly so. What do these experts think ending DEI and similar programs aimed at the health needs of non-whites will do other than disable and kill non-whites? Get the point yet?
HRSA is one of those agencies. All of the HRSA programs are cancelled. All of the grants are cancelled. People who depended on HRSA for help are shit out of luck. The Fed employees are suddenly looking for insurance, jobs and wondering if they will lose homes and cars. Where is Congress?
RIFs, by law, rule & regulation, have due process. The lawsuits write themselves. It will cost the American people millions all because Krasnov thinks he is above the law. Meanwhile, he is deliberately cruel to the very citizens who took an oath to serve the constitution and the American people.
I'm beginning to wonder if that's the point. Every agency suffering big cuts has the potential to directly affect the lives of individuals. Many, many people will suffer, and many will die as a result of these cuts.
Republicans literally make us less safe. Unlike Democrats, they can stop this but they choose not to. They choose RFK Jr, Trump, and Death for untold numbers of Americans and humanity.
This signals that the United States is not serious about bringing back manufacturing. Disease prevention, poison control and occupational health and safety are essential to a human work force... unless oh wait... what if the workforce is going to be legions of robots?
Where is Senator Dr Cassidy during all of this? He went to the floor and touted his cooperation agreement with RFK Jr. So, how has selling his professional integrity worked out for him? Is he satisfied with the HHS Secretary's actions?
Why aren't we hearing from Senator Dr. Cassidy? He touted the cooperation agreement he reached with RFJ Jr. So, how has selling his professional integrity worked out? Is he pleased with RFK Jr's actions? Where is he?
Abandoning our youngest kids to be poisoned by lead who through no fault of their own, are born into and live in poverty is yet another unconscionable insult. There is no place bad enough to send the guys who engineered this.
I just got off the phone with someone at the CDC asking about the hantavirus ( which I'm afraid I'm breeding in my storage ). She was so helpful. I made sure to leave a review, but I'm horrified that this service and expertise will not be available to the public now. JFC...Fuck RFKjr.
Perfect timing. Just as we might be facing an Avian Flu Pandemic. Apparently the COVID pandemic taught us nothing. We’re as unprepared now as we were in 2020. More so because COVID is still actively circulating and they just fired the only people trained to combat what’s coming.
Conservative, Republican voters oppose government programs pursuing "welfare state" objectives like science relating to the welfare of the people. In their view, if anyone does research on preventing health issues, it should be private corporations, and only to the extent they can make a buck.
It's called market utopianism. "How much private medical research did the lead mining industry do on lead poisoning? Whatever it was, that was the ethically correct, socially optimal amount. Don't try to distort or interfere with the optimal allocation of resources." And where's my Nobel Prize?
Congratulations "Pro-Life" Republicans! I mean we all knew you don't give a shit about poor children, but thanks for blatantly proving us right. GOP voters are truly the most heartless dupes in the world
Most war dead are killed by a virus, or disease. The USA has a war budget to defend against human threats that is 100X larger than the health budget to defend against those viruses and diseases that kill many Americans every year. So of course this evil admin wants to gut that too
You get what you choose. Even if you didn't vote, because not voting is a choice. Because you don't care, and you agree that D & R are the same. Good luck.
👆🏾👇🏾”NUEVO: A miles de empleados de los CDC que trabajaban en la prevención del VIH y la intoxicación por plomo, entre otras áreas, se les ha informado que están sujetos a una reducción de personal. Expertos advierten que esto costará vidas.”
What difference will that make to the MAGA Messiah, King Donald I or his chief techno-nazi Musk? Having RFK-lite at HHS likely furthers their goal of reducing the excess population to eliminate taxes on Trump's billionaires.
Are there any conservatives making, at the very least, a coherent argument for this? Do they think the states are going to do this work? WTF? I just don’t understand how anyone would think this is a good idea.
Trump's revenge on the American people who investigated his shady businesses and kept him from killing all of us during his first term. Recall the entire unqualified Trump Administration.
I'll take, "what happens when redirecting the trolley to kill one person is murder, but there is no culpability for doing nothing and letting five people die?" for $500, Alex.
Can someone explain to me like I'm in HS, how are these RIF's legal? How can Mush and his crew legally fire federal employees who have rights and protections in their contracts?
$270 million + dollars donated to a certain Presidental campaign. When an efficiency group is given unmoderated authority to whatever they like to whoever then the rights of anyone is fair game.
Dark times ahead.
I still don't understand how these employees can be legally thrown out. They have contracts, employment agreements, salary agreements, etc. Mush is not an agency head or federal employer. Trump giving him the go ahead to do this doesn't mean it's legal, right?
So this is just trump and Mush spreading their legs on the bus, taking up as much space as they can until the courts remind them to stay in their seats?
Thousands will die because of this. And it isn’t going to be the rich ones because they will secretly be getting their vaccines just like Kennedy Junior.
I didn’t need to be an expert to say this to my mom an hour ago. Some of this shit is just common sense. Not to mention we are going to have a brain drain. They will go overseas and work then what happens?
They have told everyone in the NIOSH building in WV to be out of the building by the end of the day today. Over 200 people. Not sure what they're going to do with all of the animals in animal quarters, but I have a bad feeling that I can guess.
Infuriating! “…CDC’s DEHSP center…is “slated to be eliminated in its entirety.” The division includes the Asthma and Air Quality Branch, the Climate and Health Activity Branch… the Environmental Public Health Tracking Branch, the Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch…”
All to save money to give the rich another tax cut. The biggest savings would be cutting the military budget but that would impact politician's stock holdings.
Death is what Trump Admin seeks to save $$ for billionaire tax breaks by reserving health care affordability to a few+then privatization. Trump promises to take care of countries he'll force invade+takeover.
They are countries with free education +health care-but DJT threatens+says US will cherish.
Thousands of workers are losing their vital jobs! To save money to give to Elon Musk and the Pay Pal mafia bc they want HUGE tax cuts. And they can afford to buy those votes. $$ Billions more to them and the big squeeze for us.
It’s not death of their loved ones—we already had that with covid and now measles. Maybe if fox went off the air, the lights didn’t turn on, the store shelves were empty?? Whatever it is, it will be so bad we aren’t going to come back from it 😭
Tough shit but they lost all credibility and any chance we had of taking Public Health seriously when they repainted the transmission map from red to green overnight to give zombified Biden a W.
Any experts who can see that 50,000 brown children, women, elderly are dead in a year under US bombs? Because ordinary people everywhere can see that and wonder why public health workers and educated people in US seem so clueless about stopping a white racist from using US power to kill non-whites.
I guess we failed to see Putin's true reach...
Carole Cadwalladr (she broke the Cambridge Analytica scandal) and Peter Jukes present: "Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring", details Russian involvement since 2011 in British Gov't; plus Russian influence of Trump, et al, & election interference.
working in a HIV clinic the past 6 years and in harm reduction (long rooted in the history of HIV/AIDS prevention) the past 15+ years, i can co-sign that sentiment and the stress experienced with it being widespread down to the frontlines & our patients.
Diseases that the world hasn't seen in years will now be common place. Even if they don't start in the US, they will arrive here very quickly. Reminder - Trump was responsible for so many deaths during Covid. Maybe we can inject everyone in the world with bleach??
I sincerely thought someone had slipped me crazy pills all those years ago when Trump and the far right made *mortal enemies* of the CDC, the WHO and Dr. Fauci. I was like wait, what?
Those were the other 2 things that made me nuts. 1) everyone's out of work so let's.... give like 3 trillion dollars to.... the billionaires! and 2) oh dear a respiratory ailment EVERYBODY BUY TOILET PAPER we are too stupid to survive.
And other nations including China are putting out welcome mats for these scientists. Reminds me of the US extending invitations to German scientists before WWIl.
1/ They're doing it today so the news reports are treated as April Fools stories. There's no prank about it - this is the wanton, premeditated destruction of America by Nationalist Christians. It's high time we take our country back, and consider banning Christianity with a new constitutional
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That is going to happen to many people.
Full story here:
#Resist
I’m so frustrated with their inability to adapt and adjust as needed to counter the threat. Trump is still ultimately responsible, but come on now Dems, stop missing opportunities to resist.
They accurately call Trump a fascist dictator but then make sure he's not prosecuted when Dems are in power.
They sell the threat but then don't act like he's a threat when they're in power.
All at the hands of trump/Musk.
They are doing eugenics, that is why they need to dismantle the medical sciences.
Do people not understand the danger?
The last time this happened was Nazi Germany. I think we all know how that ended.
Like the Industrial Revolution before workers had any rights.
This is your future: SERFDOM
Maybe Trump is mad because more Americans didn’t vote for him and just wants us to all die?
NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION - SATURDAY, APRIL 5
========================================
💙 Show up!
💙 Make signs!
💙 Bring friends!
💙 Alert local media!
💙 And keep up the boycotts!
Never did, never will.
Sociopath
They want to keep us sick, hungry, homeless, and stupid, so were compliant
Fuck that Shit !!!!!
#fiftyfiftyone #5Calls https://indivisible.org #Teslatakedown #MomSky #HandsOffHerVote #SheShed
F-ing GOP. It’s important to blame All of them for supporting this.
Winning
https://www.ngrippel.com/ngr-politics.html
#SNAFU
https://bsky.app/profile/wired.com/post/3llr65tgab22g
Like the prom scene in Carrie
Hopefully they'll settle somewhere in "reasonable" territory because this is just stupid.
Angry backlashing generally doesn't fix jackshit.
Dark times ahead.
Wild West shit.
He is going to kill more of us than he did with covid the last time
Trump begins mass layoffs at FDA, CDC, other health agencies https://www.staradvertiser.com/2025/04/01/breaking-news/trump-begins-mass-layoffs-at-fda-cdc-other-health-agencies/
Fewer kids to put through schools. Fewer retirees to support. Somehow, this equation works for the budget.
https://www.science.org/content/article/bloodbath-hiv-field-reeling-after-billions-u-s-funding-axed
(⬆️ includes sarcasm, anger, and disbelief it’s happening)
"Experts" have zero credibility after lying about covid, the climate, the economy and politics
I am no expert and I say that, toom
Can't help noticing, that's a great looking building. Wonder who is going to snap up all this recently vacated prime real estate?
They are countries with free education +health care-but DJT threatens+says US will cherish.
April 5th we’ll be showing the nation,
Our disgust with this administration.
Mark your calendar. Make a sign.
Time to be loud in a protest line!
https://handsoff2025.com
Sucks to suck.
How the mighty have fallen.
Carole Cadwalladr (she broke the Cambridge Analytica scandal) and Peter Jukes present: "Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring", details Russian involvement since 2011 in British Gov't; plus Russian influence of Trump, et al, & election interference.
People will die.
This constitutes a Crime Against Humanity.
All of a sudden, the 1.2 million ppl who died of Covid seem a small number compared to the victims of this disaster.
That’s the goal. Trump and Musk are intentional mass murderers.