DOGE Catch-All

[nycfan]

Sweet. I work on a contract with CDC about Long Covid.

I expect a stop work order tomorrow AM.

Awesome.

Genuinely sorry to hear that.

More info:

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www.politico.com

“The Trump administration is shuttering HHS’ long Covid office as part of its reorganization, according to an internal email seen by POLITICO.

The email was sent Monday by Ian Simon, the head of the Office of Long Covid Research and Practice. It said the closing is part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ reorganization.

The office’s handful of staff were not told whether they would remain employed in the federal government or whether the office would close immediately or wind down operations over time.

… The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 6 percent of U.S. adults suffer from some form of long Covid, while the National Institutes of Health believes that as many as 23 million people have the illness, which can range in severity from mild to debilitating. …”

 

[UNCMSinLS]

Genuinely sorry to hear that.

More info:

Loading…

www.politico.com

“The Trump administration is shuttering HHS’ long Covid office as part of its reorganization, according to an internal email seen by POLITICO.

The email was sent Monday by Ian Simon, the head of the Office of Long Covid Research and Practice. It said the closing is part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ reorganization.

The office’s handful of staff were not told whether they would remain employed in the federal government or whether the office would close immediately or wind down operations over time.

… The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 6 percent of U.S. adults suffer from some form of long Covid, while the National Institutes of Health believes that as many as 23 million people have the illness, which can range in severity from mild to debilitating. …”

nyc:

I noticed your new avatar picture. Is that a drawing of Trump?

 

[EyeballKid]

Genuinely sorry to hear that.

More info:

Loading…

www.politico.com

“The Trump administration is shuttering HHS’ long Covid office as part of its reorganization, according to an internal email seen by POLITICO.

The email was sent Monday by Ian Simon, the head of the Office of Long Covid Research and Practice. It said the closing is part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ reorganization.

The office’s handful of staff were not told whether they would remain employed in the federal government or whether the office would close immediately or wind down operations over time.

… The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 6 percent of U.S. adults suffer from some form of long Covid, while the National Institutes of Health believes that as many as 23 million people have the illness, which can range in severity from mild to debilitating. …”

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]

IRS Predicts DOGE Lost Half a Trillion Dollars for the USA

The Post reports today that the IRS’ internal projections estimate that the...

talkingpointsmemo.com

The Post reports today that the IRS’ internal projections estimate that the DOGE-driven disruptions to the IRS since the inauguration are on track to have reduced tax receipts by more than $500 billion by April 15th. This, to be clear, is not a final tally. It’s not April 15th yet. It’s a projection based on historical data, the number of people who’ve filed, paid owed amounts of tax, etc. It’s worth taking a moment to put this number into some context in case half a trillion dollars doesn’t do it for you. Non-defense discretionary spending is the cost to fund the U.S. government once you take out mandatory spending (mostly Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) and the cost of the U.S. military. For 2023 that number was $917 billion. So that’s most of the stuff we think of as the government, apart from those payment programs and the military. In other words, in about eight weeks DOGE managed to lose the U.S. government — more or less light on fire — more than half of what goes to all non-defense discretionary spending.

Said it before, but this is conclusive proof that being efficient and cutting waste are obviously NOT the goal of DOGE.
This loss of revenue alone will be greater than any actual “savings” by DOGE.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

Said it before, but this is conclusive proof that being efficient and cutting waste are obviously NOT the goal of DOGE.
This loss of revenue alone will be great than any actual “savings” by DOGE.

This is nothing less than an attempt to financially starve the federal government so that services simply have to be cut whether anyone agrees with it or not. They're literally trying to ensure that even a future Democratic administration will be so financially handicapped that it will not be able to restore most of the programs they're gutting. What we're witnessing isn't an attempt to "reasonably" cut government spending or save money, it's a massive, all-out, final attempt by extreme right-wingers to roll back every progressive advance made since at least the New Deal, if not the Progressive Era of the early 20th Century. Trump loves the Gilded Age so much, well Musk & DOGE and his fellow Republicans are doing their damnedest to force us all back to that point. Trump once said years ago that he would fix it so that it would be as if Obama had never been elected, well now they're trying to fix it so that it's as if modern liberalism never happened. An epic final attempt to "own the libs" for good, so to speak.

 

[nycfan]

nyc:

I noticed your new avatar picture. Is that a drawing of Trump?

I fixed the painting he loathed so much …

 

[nycfan]

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.

Fingers crossed that your project will go on …

 

[nycfan]

 

[ChileG]

But Elon will get his tax breaks though, right? That is all that matters.

 

[nycfan]

But Elon will get his tax breaks though, right? That is all that matters.

And maybe redirect NASA to go to Mars on his timetable, yes.

 

[nycfan]

 

[Zoo_View]

How intoxicated is Bisignano or whatever his name is? He’s slurring words.

 

[DiehardHeelFan]

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

 

[dcphx]

Texas rep says that we should tell young people that their SS plan will be different so that they can get a second job for the next 40-50 years.

 

[gtyellowjacket]

Texas rep says that we should tell young people that their SS plan will be different so that they can get a second job for the next 40-50 years.

So selfish. Get a second job to pay for my retirement and you don't get the same deal at the end.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

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.

 

[finesse]

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?

 

[nycfan]

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.”

 

[altmin]

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]

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 should see what they are doing to vaccines/immunization.