I just have to share this:
President William Henry Harrison had a better first 100 days [than Trump], and he spent 70 of them dead.
Term: March 4, 1841 - April 4, 1841
Remember when he negotiated the Afghanistan withdrawal with the Taliban, but to the exclusion of the Afghanistan National Congress?
This is that: Trump negotiated his tariff scheme with his family, with Peter Navarro, and with his Cabinet members, but to the exclusion of the American taxpayers, investment community, captains of industry, and consumers.
Surprise!
Republicans want to tax EV drivers $200/year in new transport bill
Internal combustion engine drivers would pay only $20 a year, and only from 2030.
If it passes, all battery EVs would be subject to a new $200 tax. Hybrids—defined as vehicles that are propelled by both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine or other power source (which would include fuel cell EVs)—will pay $100. But someone who commutes 90 miles a day in a particulate-belching Ford F-350 Duramax diesel pickup truck gets away with a mere $20 a year, and only from October 1, 2030; until then they get to drive for free.
To make things even better, the bill requires these fees to be linked to inflation and should be increased each year, until 2034 when the tax expires for unelectrified vehicles, or 2035, the last year that EVs and hybrids would be taxed like this. So, a $200 registration fee in 2026 becomes a $250 registration fee in 2035.
They study Ebola at USAMRIID (the Army), not NIH. They corrected that in a later post. They are both at Ft. Detrick in Frederick, MD.
I saw a video recently where the hosts claimed RFK, Jr. believes infectious disease caused by microorganisms occur because the bugs colonize the body after gaining access because of things like poor nutrition.
See, germs are a symptom of disease, not the cause.
I can’t find the video, but I did find the article on his book The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health by Paul Offit, co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine.
Understanding RFK Jr.
If you want to know why RFK Jr. believes so many weird things, just read his book, The Real Anthony Fauci. Four pages explain everything.
RFK Jr. believes many weird things about the causes, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases. These false beliefs might seem disparate and unrelated, but they’re not. They’re all rooted in a single belief described on pages 285-288 of his book, The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health . In short, RFK Jr. doesn’t believe in the germ theory. He believes in something called the miasma theory.
The miasma theory is a long-abandoned medical theory that holds that diseases are caused by poisonous vapors (i.e., miasmata) that are generated by rotting organic matter, such as trash sitting out on the street. According to the miasmists, diseases aren’t passed from one person to another; rather, they are the product of poor hygiene and sanitation.
Nonetheless, in a section in his book titled “Miasma vs. Germ Theory,” RFK Jr. continues to embrace the miasma theory, writing the following statements:
“The ubiquity of pasteurization and vaccinations are only two of the many indicators of the dominating ascendancy of germ theory as the cornerstone of contemporary public health policy. A $1 trillion pharmaceutical industry pushing patented pills, powders, pricks, potions, and poisons and the powerful professions of virology and vaccinology …The miasmist approach to public health is to boost individual immune responses .” If you want to avoid infection, according to RFK Jr., all you need to do is maintain a healthy immune system. This explains why he has said that no vaccine is beneficial, that the polio vaccine killed more people than it saved, that young parents shouldn’t vaccinate their children, that HIV does not cause AIDS, that HIV is not spread from one person to another, and that the anti-AIDS drug AZT was an example of “mass murder”. It also explains why he drinks raw, unpasteurized milk.
“Anthony Fauci [said that] vaccines have already saved millions and millions of lives. Most Americans accept the claim as dogma. It will therefore come as a surprise to learn that it is simply untrue .” This explains why RFK Jr. has claimed that improvements in sanitation, as promoted by miasmists, not vaccines, have accounted for a decrease in infections. [snip]
…
“Imperialist ideologues find natural affinity with the germ theory .” This explains why he has said that scientists who promote vaccines, like Anthony Fauci, should be put in jail.This is not a man who should be leading the largest public health agency in the United States.
USAMRIID is an Army research institute under the DoD. Will Hegseth decide to fuck with it?
Someone should take him to the Broadwick Street pump.
Things are just getting more and more surreal. Republicans have been trying for decades to kill funding for public broadcasting, because truthful information has a way of undermining their lies. The new tyrant-in-chief just did it with a single scribble of a Sharpie:
Holy crap. How soon before Trump signs another executive order establishing a US-TASS? Only Trump-approved news and programming, of course.
In other news, I hear that servings of Victory Gin at the Chestnut Tree Cafe come with a complimentary dash of bitters.
I just came to post that, too. 
Well, since the MAGAts don’t listen to or watch it, they won’t even notice.
For an extra Trump Coin you can get it with Lib Tears too.
Cool. I had no idea someone had compiled a book for RFK Jr to claim as his. I will be looking for it used. No money to him.
I teach classes to seniors. I have not done even the pandemic, as they would just have stopped me in the 45 minute talk at every point to ask “are vaccines safe?”
Anyway, it is neat to have all the misinformation compiled in one book.
You can never have ALL the misinformation compiled in one book. Pretty much by definition, misinformation is more numerous than information. It’ll expand to take up all available space. And then some.
I assume the book is something like “RFK Jr’s Greatest Hits”, not necessarily complete, but a fair collection. There was a video compilation on last Sunday’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver of RFK Jr going around saying a bunch of stuff, every single one of which was wildly incorrect. The man is totally delusional.
Veterans Day is now to be called “Victory Day for World War I”. Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?
Staring last month, we have had something like this in Pennsylvania. Gov. Shapiro signed the bill. But it is only for EV’s and plug-in hybrids, not plain hybrids:
Outside the Trump context, a replacement for fuel taxes is reasonable, but any new federal tax will poll poorly. So I’m sure Trump will block this. He wouldn’t be above signing the bill and then refusing to implement.
Aha! But we get another holiday! ‘Victory Day for World War II’ on May 8.
May 8 is VE Day, so we’ll also have to make ‘Victory Day for WW II (Part 2: Electric Boogaloo)’ on September 2, to celebrate VJ Day. Three holidays! 
(Of course Memorial Day will need to be done away with. Dead soldiers are ‘losers’.)
That will be “Defeat Day For Vietnam”.
Whatever - I’m still calling it “Flaming Moe’s Day.”
Without Congressional action, this executive order is performative. This has generally been a problem with coverage of Trump’s executive orders – they’ve been treated as firm law that goes immediately into effect. The reality is that some do, most don’t.
Same goes for Harvard’s tax-exempt status – it’s still in place. Trump’s Truth Social posting matters not a whit.
Back to public broadcasting – should federal funding go away, there will be effects, but they’d be a long, long way away from summarily ending NPR and PBS:
Federal funding for public media flows through the congressionally chartered Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Congress allocated $535 million for the CPB for the current fiscal year — an amount affirmed in a recent stop-gap bill passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. House and Senate.
According to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Congress has fully funded it through Sept 30, 2027.
Two quick reads about federal funding and public broadcasting to help underpin the current news coverage:
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/02/nx-s1-5384790/trump-orders-end-to-federal-funding-for-npr-and-pbs
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/16/nx-s1-5366040/npr-federal-funding-katherine-maher
I sure hope they give us do-nothing gov’t employees an extra day off! 