you called it
Trump administration, embarrassed by measles deaths, fudges the numbers
www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/h...Erica Schwartz, the new CDC director, ordered agency officials to challenge two measles deaths reported by PA, shunning the agency’s normal procedure of accepting state data and amplifying comments made by her boss, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Rift between state health officials and federal ones
Is that good for public health?
political interference with science is now halal
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/31/nx-s1...ific-integrity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...nt_of_CommerceThe responsibilities of [the Dept of Commerce's] major operating units include weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and fisheries management (NOAA); promoting U.S. exports and attracting foreign direct investment (International Trade Administration); producing the decennial census and other vital and economic statistics (Bureau of the Census); regulating the export of sensitive technologies (Bureau of Industry and Security); registering patents, trademarks, and copyrights (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office); managing and preserving the United States customary system of weights and measures (National Ins ute of Standards and Technology); maintaining the national interoperable broadband emergency network (FirstNet Authority); and coordinating economic recovery following a major disaster (Economic Development Administration).[1]
The Department of Commerce’s mission is to create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity for all communities.
MAGA politicizes everything
This change grants Commerce political appointees veto power over data and research releases by scientists and statisticians at NOAA, NIST, Census, and BEA.
disaster relief as political patronage
Trump wants to level the playing field for big businesses trying to get loans and government contracts through the Small Business Administration
ttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/business/economy/trump-small-business-administration.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-VA.7pvF.HzPSwk_SAgAW&smid=url-shareThe Small Business Administration is seeking to vastly expand the definition of small businesses, aiming to give much larger companies access to government contracts, loans and other assistance.
The proposal, which the Trump administration says would allow businesses to continue to benefit from the agency’s programs as they grow, amounts to a sweeping overhaul of standards that have changed little in decades.
Many business owners support some increase in the limits on revenue and employees that determine what qualifies as a small business. But the scale of the proposed increase would also place small businesses in direct compe ion with significantly larger rivals for contracts and loans, raising alarms that the agency could hamstring the very businesses it was created to help.
military prosecutors, civilian defendants
https://prospect.org/2026/09/04/mili...s-the-country/The Trump administration has sent dozens of military lawyers to prosecute civilians in three major American cities in the past year, as part of a streak of overwhelming federal law enforcement crackdowns across the country.
The decision to detail those members of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAGs), who ordinarily advise military officials on the legality of orders and defend or prosecute service members in courts-martial, has little precedent in American history and has caused former JAGs and civil liberties advocates to worry about the blurring of traditional boundaries between everyday law enforcement and the military. Democratic lawmakers tried to limit the use of JAGs in this summer’s negotiations over the must-pass defense appropriations bill, arguing they were distracting from “critical military work,” but saw those provisions axed by the GOP.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, which covers Memphis and has housed at least 20 detailed JAGs, did not respond to questions about how the office is ensuring the separation of military and civilian affairs, and about the necessity or wisdom of calling up military lawyers to prosecute street crime.
Judge finds Trump's anti-weaponization fund and IRS lawsuit were brought for improper purposes, calls out DOJ lawyer and Trump for operating in bad faith
There's a paywalled Bloomberg article today that says Judge Williams has ordered DOJ to give the names of the people involved in creating the anti-weaponization fund, but I haven't seen anything else on that yet.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-t...nd-settlement/A federal judge on Monday imposed professional penalties against lawyers representing President Trump in a civil lawsuit he brought against the IRS and harshly criticized the Justice Department for its handling of the case, concluding that the suit was brought for an "improper purpose."
In a scathing 56-page decision, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams referred one of Mr. Trump's lawyers, Alejandro Brito, to the Florida Bar for potential disciplinary action. The judge limited the ability of a second lawyer, Daniel Epstein, to practice in the Southern District of Florida.
Williams also barred the Justice Department, IRS and Mr. Trump from citing or using provisions of a deal the two sides reached in judicial, administrative, regulatory or other proceedings as evidence of a settlement in the case.
The case, Williams wrote, "was brought for an improper purpose — to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a 'settlement' that had no viable basis in law or fact." Additionally, the president and his two older sons, who were plaintiffs alongside Mr. Trump, "acted in bad faith," she concluded.
"In sum, the facts before this Court demonstrate there was never adverseness between the Parties; there was never a case or controversy; and there was never a question as to who would prevail," she said.
the federal government quibbling with state mortality determinations is a novelty and undermines the credibility of public health ins utions generally
for some reason the feds want to minimize the worst outbreak of measles in the US in 30 years rather than fight it
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/u...smid=url-shareEscalating a political fight over two deaths in Pennsylvania, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that it did not have any records to indicate “measles is the underlying cause” of any deaths in the country this year.
secret transfer of appropriated funds
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02799-5The US National Ins utes of Health (NIH) is seeking to redirect research projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars from its infectious-diseases ins ute to military biodefence programmes at the US Department of Defense (DOD), according to two NIH employees.
They confirmed to Nature that the NIH and the DOD, also called the Department of War, have signed an agreement for the arrangement. The NIH is now identifying projects it would transfer to the DOD and aims to complete the agreement by the end of September, when the fiscal year ends and some funds expire, according to a third NIH employee who is a senior official at the agency. (The employees spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.)
An NIH spokesperson says, “This partnership will only take place on a project-by-project basis, and all research will be within the scope of NIH’s mission. There is no blanket transfer of funds”.
secret immigration courts
https://www.npr.org/2026/09/04/g-s1-...dden-tribunalsImmigrants are being told last minute about new in-person hearings at previously undisclosed courtroom locations.
That's according to five immigration attorneys who reviewed notices or observed the hearings and spoke to NPR about them.
The last-minute notifications appear to be another tactic in a broader strategy from the Trump administration to short-circuit immigrants' already limited due process options to speed up arrests and deportations.
NPR has learned that over the past few weeks, immigrants who were scheduled to appear in coming months for hearings out of the Hyattsville and Baltimore immigration courts in Maryland and the Sterling court in Virginia have instead been rescheduled to two other buildings: one in Washington, D.C., and another in Falls Church, Va. Neither of these buildings currently has an immigration court that's set up for in-person hearings. The D.C. location has no listed affiliation with the Justice Department. Instead, the building is listed as being occupied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to one source familiar with the project who was not authorized to speak publicly.
moar sekrit media influencers on the government payroll
DC Circuit panel blocks IRS from sharing taxpayer information with ICE
https://storage.courtlistener.com/re....2191763.0.pdf
Jimmy Kimmel takes James Talerico interview off-air after FCC threats
The FCC pulled the same when Talerico went on Colbert -- still millions watched and Talerico raked in $2.5 million
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...rr-1236696255/“You know, for a lot of years, for the whole 20-plus years of our show, in fact, I’ve been interviewing Americans who are running for office with no problem at all, just like Letterman did, Leno did, Arsenio, etc. etc., I’ve interviewed a lot of political candidates. From Hilary Clinton to Ted Cruz to Donald Trump,” Kimmel said. “I interviewed Donald Trump when he was running for president in 2015, and at that time, when he was the one sitting next to me, he seemed to have no problem with the idea of talk show hosts interviewing candidates. In fact, he was very eager to come back for another interview, which he did just before he became the nominee in 2016. But for some reason, and I can’t seem to figure out what that reason is, something has changed.”
coming from a guy who has been accusing Democrats in public for various crimes for 30 years -- evidence-free -- this is quite the statement
Joe Di Genova was in charge of Trump's deep-state conspiracy prosecution
blast from the past
Pirro and DiGenova both refusing to bring political prosecutions -- stumbling blocks for Trump's weaponization of justice
Trump's favorite question -- a political loyalty question for civil service applicants -- is temporarily blocked
Deprofessionalization and politicization of federal bureaucracy is a big theme in Trump 2.0
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/20...ations/415952/“Requiring federal job applicants to answer politically motivated questions goes against the very nature of the nonpartisan civil service, and we are pleased the judge has put an immediate stop to the administration’s loyalty question,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “Federal employees should be hired based solely on their ability to perform the job—not their allegiance to any particular administration.”
“For more than a century, civil servants have been hired based on their merits, not based on allegiance to a partisan political agenda,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward. “Today’s decision—stopping the Trump-Vance administration’s required loyalty question for public servants—reaffirms the importance of a nonpartisan civilian workforce that serves the American people.”
DOJ appeals order nullifying the corrupt settlement of Trump's collusive lawsuit against the IRS
www.do entcloud.org/do ents/28...DOJ appeals judge's order nullifying settlement in Trump v. IRS. Deal was to have set up the Anti-Weaponization Fund & still ends all existing tax claims against Trump. Acting DAG McCotter files appeal though DOJ never formally appeared in case.
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