- Messages
- 23,009
DOGE Catch-All
- Thread starter nycfan
- Start date
- Replies: 802
- Views: 26K
- Politics
- Messages
- 23,009
Fingers crossed that your project will go on …Background on the program I work with. Rs have been fighting funding every step of the way, and are now pretending to be shocked that we still don’t know the full scope of Long COVID effects.
5 years later, long Covid is still a medical mystery: What scientists have learned
Why do some people develop disabling chronic conditions after the initial viral infection?www.nbcnews.com
To be clear, I work in communications and scientific editing. So I’m not on the front lines…but I help write/edit studies and get media stories published, and write/edit website content, as well as guidelines for researchers and a bunch of other stuff. My work is funded by the RECOVER initiative, which is apparently what’s being shut down.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that 1 in 20 adults in the U.S., or about 14 million, are living with long Covid. Other data shows that up to 5.8 million childrenmay be affected by the condition as well. However, experts say these numbers are likely underestimated because there’s no official surveillance system in place.
A $1 billion research initiative called RECOVERlaunched by the National Institutes of Health to find the causes of long Covid, as well as potential treatments, has fallen short on its promises, scientists and patient advocates say.
Meanwhile, experts fear that the Trump administration’s extreme cuts in federal spending may undermine long Covid research efforts, which could further delay the discovery of therapies. Just last month, President Donald Trump terminated the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID.
Dr. W. Michael Brode, medical director of UT Health Austin’s Post-COVID-19 Program in Texas, said, “We’re building the boat while we’re at sea, trying to figure it out together [with patients] … but we absolutely need to build on the progress we’ve already made.”
………………………
ETA: I probably should’ve read the info at the link NYC posted above.
“The HHS staffer said that as far as the team has been told, the NIH’s more than $1 billion Recover Initiative funding clinical trials related to long Covid will continue. But even if that is the case, current and former employees warn that closing the office will hurt collaboration and communication among researchers as well as social services for patients.
“Long COVID impacts every facet of somebody’s life — their ability to go to school, their ability to take care of their children, their ability to go to work and get health care,” the staffer said. “So it’s not just clinical trials that need to happen. How does somebody who can no longer take care of themselves, and there’s no medical solution yet, how do they live a life?”
……………………
So perhaps my job is safe for a couple weeks, till the admin decides to shut down the RECOVER initiative.
ChileG
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 1,960
But Elon will get his tax breaks though, right? That is all that matters.
- Messages
- 23,009
And maybe redirect NASA to go to Mars on his timetable, yes.
How intoxicated is Bisignano or whatever his name is? He’s slurring words.
DiehardHeelFan
Esteemed Member
- Messages
- 592
Trump wants DOGE to look at voter rolls
Trump wants DOGE to look at voter rolls
Donald Trump wants the DOGE office to help find potential non-citizens on voter rolls.
www.businessinsider.com
gtyellowjacket
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 2,123
So selfish. Get a second job to pay for my retirement and you don't get the same deal at the end.
Mulberry Heel
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 2,550
This is all part of the plan, and is a feature and not a bug of what they're doing. Make SS as inefficient as possible to increase public complaints and dissatisfaction, and then use those complaints as an excuse to cut or privatize it. Unfortunately Republicans have gotten really good at this sort of thing - deliberately arranging it so that government programs can't and won't function very well, then use the inevitable public complaints as an excuse to cut said program or agency even more, or just abolish or privatize it entirely.
You mean like when they stuck USPS with that preposterous advance retirement funding mandate that left them with a huge financial issue?
Last edited:
- Messages
- 23,009
Social Security Administration delays and curtails new anti-fraud policy
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/politics/social-security-administration-anti-fraud-changes/index.html
“… The planned policy, which was set to take effect Monday, would have required all those filing benefit applications who cannot verify their identities through their online “my Social Security” account to visit a field office to complete the claim in person.
But now the new identity verification policy will only apply to those filing for retirement, survivors or family benefits and will take effect on April 14. …
People applying for disability benefits, Supplemental Security Income and Medicare will continue to have the option of filing their claims over the phone.”
- Messages
- 3,064
Elon Musk’s ‘Big Balls’ Doge Staffer Reportedly Ran Tech Support for a Cybercrime Ring
Reuters published new details about the storied past of 19-year-old Doge staffer Edward Coristine.
gizmodo.com
The 19-year-old DOGE staffer known as “Big Balls” online, whose grandfather was a KGB spy, reportedly ran tech support for a cybercrime ring before taking his job in Washington.
Big Balls’ real name is Edward Coristine and, according to Reuters, he ran a company called DiamondCDN in 2022 while he was still in high school. DiamondCDN’s website is now defunct, but the Internet Archive has a copy. The service purported to protect clients from Distributed Denial of Service attacks and claimed to have a “near instant reaction” when such attacks happened.
Wired and Krebs on Security had previously reported on Coristine’s connection to DiamondCDN, but Reuters has more details. One of DiamondCDN’s clients was a cybercrime ring called EGodly. On Telegram, EGodly bragged about cryptocurrency theft, hijacking phone numbers, and doxxing an FBI agent. It even made prank phone calls to the FBI agent and posted audio of it on Telegram.
In another post on Telegram, EGodly thanked Coristine’s DiamondCDN for its services. “We extend our gratitude to our valued partners DiamondCDN for generously providing us with their amazing DDoS protection and caching systems, which allow us to securely host and safeguard our website,” EGodly said in a post on Telegram, according to Reuters.
ChileG
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 1,960
You should see what they are doing to vaccines/immunization.
- Messages
- 3,064
Trump Admin Plans to Cut Team Responsible for Critical Atomic Measurement Data
The team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology publishes measurement data crucial for advanced research in areas like astrophysics, nuclear fusion, and semiconductors.
“We were recently informed that unless there is a major change in the Federal Government reorganization plans, the whole Atomic Spectroscopy Group will be laid off in a few weeks, in particular, since our work is not considered to be statutorily essential for the NIST mission,” Yuri Ralchenko, the group's leader, wrote in the email, which was seen by WIRED.
...
The Atomic Spectroscopy Group studies how atoms absorb or emit light, allowing researchers to identify the elements present in a given sample. It then collects and updates those calculations in the Atomic Spectra Database, a catalog of industry-leading spectroscopy information and measurements that plays a crucial role in fields like astronomy, astrophysics, and medicine. In a blog post published last week highlighting the importance of the database, NIST said it receives an average of 70,000 search requests worldwide each month.
It is “really difficult to overestimate” the importance of this data, says Evgeny Stambulchik, a senior staff research scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel who started a petition to gather signatures from other researchers and members of the public who oppose the cuts to the atomic spectroscopy team. The petition currently has over 1,700 signatures.
Stambulchik, whose speciality is plasma spectroscopy, says that atomic spectroscopy is essentially the only tool that can be used to interpret remote objects in space, like those observed by the powerful James Webb telescope. It’s also basically the only tool for investigating “matter at temperatures reaching tens of million degrees,” he adds, such as inside a nuclear fusion reactor.
gtyellowjacket
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 2,123
I didn't realize it was just one email address. That's hilarious. I thought it went to like the management of the department or something. I wonder if there was one guy that was tasked with going through 2 million five bullet point emails per week with no particular expertise in any federal agency.
Duke Mu
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 1,365
Just Jack
@jack-e-smith.bsky.social·
3h
“The 5 things Pete Hegseth did last week”
- Shared classified attack plans on an unsecured commercial chat application.
- Denied doing it.
- Denied the plans were classified.
- Denied the plans were plans.
- Attacked the journalist who proved he was lying.