#project 2025 = no regulations

[konzenkoryuu]

I found out today that project 2025 wants to repeal dietary guidelines. And the wording makes it sound very much like they want less regulation. Does that mean that food companies would no longer have to declare allergens? Or is it a complete no labels at all? That would be dangerous…

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[twinkskeletons]

anti electoralism is annoying at the best of times but when you hear the two dumbest people the heritage foundation could find discuss climate change and know that there’s a chance of their guy being in charge of the epa. it’s bleak folks

[kneworder]

the scariest part of this to me is the schedule f shit. he's gonna try to give himself the power to essentially fire and replace any government employee at will and he's pretty much guaranteed to succeed. like forget deregulation he can put any yahoo he wants in major positions of power in the FDA regardless of how unqualified and profit-motivated they are and scare anyone who knows what they're talking about into never talking at all because they'll be replaced if they're too inconvenient or piss off their republican appointed bosses too much. the EPA and the FTC and the FCC and the weather service and the CDC and the list goes on. like shit has always sucked but these used to be nonpartisan institutions and it's horrifying to think that everything from media regulations to weather reporting to environmental protections to food and drug safety laws to disease management is probably gonna end up bottlenecked and butchered by some fuckhead who doesn't believe in science. like people are going to die from this and it will have an impact on every aspect of everyday life. i really hate to be so pessimistic because it isn't helpful and it isn't hopeful but holy shit it is so hard to be anything but terrified and furious right now.

[c-optimistic]

so i know I talk a lot of shit about the dems and my irritation with them and i think the arguments of ‘gilead!’ and ‘concentration camps!’ are less than persuasive given it’s 1) fearmongering on the first point and 2) already exists, just for groups we seem to forget about when it’s the blue guys in charge on the second.

but i shall give credit where it’s due and point to a reason we should at the very least ensure the presidency remains in the hands of the blue. judges. the current administration has done a pretty swell job with nominations of federal judges, choosing civil rights lawyers and public defenders to appoint to the federal judiciary—something that hasn’t really been a focus since Carter really. this is super important because the judiciary is arguably the most powerful branch of government currently (thanks scotus, who cares about checks and balances after all?). the likelihood the senate will flip is quite high, the map is really terrible for dems, even with a high voter turnout. so ensuring someone batshit crazy can’t nominate insane people to the courts is a really really good reason to want the blue guys to win

yet despite the very real problem here it’s not something i see pointed out as often as it should be. so when you’re talking to people, the judiciary should be one of your most important points as to why this election matters. just my personal opinion

[konzenkoryuu]

I have food allergies. Because regulations have been relaxed, I don’t feel safe trusting things with ingredients that may be allergen based. And then when I call the company to ask, and double check, they can’t tell me either!

Headlines across eight years. Who you vote for really does matter. None of these headlines delve into the Boar's Head listeria outbreak because I can only post ten photos in one post. But the slaughter house self regulate headline? Yup, that's why.

[wat3rm370n]

The woke-washing of right-wingers in opposition to public health.

Spare me arguments that someone against public health is going to solve public health issues.

I’ve been a little disturbed by people trying to bully me into watching some interview, in order to “understand” that (not true) Bernie Sanders is a supporter of RFK Jr. (he’s not). And worse, that (also not true) RFK Jr. is an embattled savior against big business (he’s not).

I’m always disgusted by and suspicious of people claiming to be on the left trying to tell me I should like this or that because of this or that person - seemingly thinking someone like Bernie Sanders is like a god to people assumed to be progressive, or generally on the left. It’s an insult to my autonomy. I don’t decide to think something because Bernie Sanders says it. I almost feel like that reveals the person to be right-wing in some way. Looking for “heros” like the flag I’ve seen in a neighbor’s yard with Trump depicted like a Fabio figure from the cover of a bodice-ripping period romance novel.

I do happen to like a lot of what Bernie Sanders has to say because it happens to coincide with a lot of stuff I already thought, and witnessed for many years. And in fact a lot of the policies and issues Bernie Sanders talks about happen to be what a lot of Americans actually agree upon. But he’s not some god. He’s a politician who makes deals and compromises - he’s a U.S. Senator wheeling and dealing in Washington DC. That’s his job, and he seems to do it better than most, but that’s not my role - I’m not a representative of the entire population of Vermont who needs to find bipartisan ways to get things done or whatever. I’m a person who wants good public health policy. And RFK Jr. is objectively against basic forms of effective public health. And the idea that he’s going to get more regulation on processed food as part of an administration with highly articulated and distinctly mapped out plans to dismantle the administrative state that does the regulation in order to get rid of regulation… Well that is completely ridiculous magical thinking.

The American Prospect - Dr. Strangekennedy - Or, how you should learn to worry more about illiberal politics in liberal guise by Rick Perlstein November 27, 2024 The HHS chapter includes this line: “We must shut and lock the revolving door between government and Big Pharma.” It sounds like something Bernie Sanders would say. Read the whole chapter, and you recognize it as part of a saga meant to frame all COVID-era public-health measures as an elite conspiracy to enrich what it calls “a small group of highly paid and unaccountable insiders.” Calls to ban pharmaceutical advertising, for which RFK has also received praise from some on the left, sound great, too—but in context, they come off as a Trump-style vengeance play against a rival power center: something to use as a bargaining chip to bend Big Pharma to their will.

And even if one man was able to go against the entirety of the Trump administration and all the Project 2025 big business backers, and the Great Barrington Declaration proponents, and the fossil fuel and commercial real estate interests… all who are against public health in various ways. Even if RFK Jr. could keep one one and only one regulatory body for exclusively processed foods (or more likely just foods he thinks aren’t “pure” whatever that might mean)… even so what good does that do when the rest of the food supply is contaminated with infectious diseases and we can’t get vaccines for stuff?

Perhaps people think he’s going to “raise awareness” about ultraprocessed foods and thereby solve the problem? The deal with that is we’ve been aware of the problems with ultraprocessed foods for years!

Don’t wait for the influencers. Don't Wait For Everybody - Episode 010 Chloe Humbert Sep 21, 2024 I’m all for more science. We definitely need more studies and more data, advancing science-based preventions and treatments. I’ve been shouting from the rooftops for years that we need more good science out there being published, considering all the pseudoscience product purveyors and the anti-vaxxers keep pumping out their publishing, even if some of them keep having work retracted. But information alone will not bring change, clearly, as demonstrated about the worsening climate situation we’re in. In July 2024 there was a New York Times article about ultraprocessed foods and why they’re so hard to resist. There was also a New York Times article published way back over a decade ago — in February 2013 explaining the science of addictive junk food. And yet, you can find a science publication in 2022 pointing out that ultraprocessed food is still offered in schools despite it being associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality. Awareness is not change. Publishing is not political praxis.

We’ve also been aware about climate change, and air pollution - but they’re still planning on burning tires in Pennsylvania for no other purpose than to print cryptocurrency.

None of these problems get solved via “consciousness” of anything. That’s an elitist right-wing wellness fantasy. It takes people pushing for regulations - and the right-wing agenda is the opposite of that.

And Matt Stoller seemed to think that JD Vance and Matt Gaetz were signs that Trump was leading pro Lina Kahn conservatives. But as we see, that didn’t come to pass. Already Trump has announced a guy to replace Lina Kahn who’s promising to undo the pro-worker anti-corporate agenda at the FTC and make it more pro-business.

Lina Khan Proves Right-Wing "Populists" Are Con Artists The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder Dec 11, 2024 Matt Lech: “this is one good thing that was and why it was preferable to have Democrats in power versus Republicans now um because of this sort of uh these sort of Labor policies and it is a stark difference and don't let people uh confuse you with election spending it is absolutely corrupt that Democrats take so much money from these businesses but these businesses invest in Democrats because they're worried Democrats might win and do something about them whereas they don't need to buy Republicans cuz Republicans are already theirs and just as evidence of this this is in the financial times the paper I read every day today merger Monday buying spree signals deals Revival since Trump election this was yesterday us companies forged more than $35 billion in deals yesterday marking the clearest surge in deal making confidence since Trump's election Victory including uh Mars uh the Giant Food conglomerate and a Capital One um so yeah this populism stuff or this idea that um like like very clearly we have two capitalist parties but there is one which is has the knives out and one which has a difficult Balancing Act to do and now that Trump and the Republicans have won all of these business people just get to go hug wild and consolidate and become bigger and bigger and bigger”

If there was populist demand for anti-monopoly, perhaps Republican politicians would have to budge a bit. But most conservative and liberal voters don’t speak up against corporations for fear of being called “unemployed losers” for daring to criticize “job creators”, and most anti-monopolists are Democrats who just don’t see the value in writing to their Republican senators who could’ve mounted support for Khan, because they don’t agree with their Republican senators. I hear so many people who say “I don’t need to write to my Democratic Senator because he already agrees with me” and also will say “I don’t bother writing my Republican Senator because they won’t agree with me” and this couldn’t be a worse self-own frankly, because the right-wing is very busy pressuring all your representatives, scaring their Republican representatives and persuading Democrats to “reach across the aisle” and become more conservative to please their vocal right-leaning constituent frequent fliers.

The Dark History Behind RFK Jr.'s Health Policies The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder Dec 11, 2024 in the case of uh RFK Jr um couple points can be made one is that you know um even though you know a lot of what he says is you know very enticing and sounds quite humanitarian you know taking apart big Ag you know uh nailing big pharma to the wall which is also a big part of Project 2025 uh even though it sounds enticing uh it often means kind of eviscerating the kinds of institutions that it actually requires to do those things but the other point I made in the piece is that actually there's actually a long tradition on the right of this kind of purity - bodily purity politics which is actually one of the scarier kind of fascist traditions on the right - right and I gave as you know the example from the early 60s uh the right-wing crusade that held that fluoridation of water was a communist plot right so anyone who's seen Dr. Strangelove knows you know that hilarious scene in which the right-wing General says that um the Communists are trying to sap our purity of essence and have you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water right

I see it all as more evidence that humane people need to step up into putting more pressure on politicians. I don’t think we’re going to have anything but more backsliding into a new dark age in the immediate future. But sometimes the payoff isn’t seen immediately - it’s the support that’s built up for the future which needs to be communicated now. The right-wing have been at this for years while the left has been divided and co-opted.

So we can’t wait for anybody else. Certainly not some weirdo who buys into right-wing eugenicsy kind of stuff. And casting about for “signs” of hope that something good will come from “behind the scenes” or “where we least expect it” is not going to lead anywhere good. But there are things you can do. Organizing does work. But there’s something you can do without without having to commit to any political party, or having to formally join any organization - and that’s speaking up to your elected politicians about what you actually care about.

You don’t need RFK Jr. You don’t need Bernie Sanders either. You can start lobbying the government right now on processed foods or about any other public health concerns you have.

American Journal of Public Health - LAW AND LEGISLATION - JAMES A. TOBEY, LL. B., DR. P. H. Pass the Parker Bill - 1928 (NIH.gov) Though the Parker Bill by the amendments lost a certain effectiveness, it is still a very important measure, especially in its provisions for allowing the detail of U. S. Public Health Service personnel to other government bureaus; in granting a commissioned status to sanitary engineers and other scientific personnel of the service; in providing for a Nurse Corps; and in setting up a national advisory health council. Sanitarians are still interested in this excellent measure and keenly desirous that it be passed now. If it is not, the bill must be reintroduced and passed all over again in the next Congress. It would be helpful if sanitarians would communicate with their United States Senators and Representatives regarding this important matter. Do it now.

Join me. Write your reps. Do it now.

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." — Alice Walker

(crossposted)

[rjptalk]

SCARIER THAN HALLOWEEN

SCARIER THAN HALLOWEEN, Project 2025 #Trump #Danger #Politics

The scary facts that follow appeared recently on the SERENDIPITY website. Project 2025 Worst Ideas, by Rich Paschall The Heritage Foundation’s document of almost 1000 pages, Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, takes aim at some of the basic protections of our federal government. More than that, it works toward eliminating democracy and moving toward a more authoritarian theocratic government.…

[geezerwench]

Pregnancy begins with a penis.

[universe-of-peoples]

I don’t know how anyone is supposed to go about their everyday lives working/doing school/doing housework when the crushing weight of local, national, and global politics is just looming over our heads

[mantra4ia]

The apex predator is not a human.

It's a corporation.

We treat corporations like humans, they are not. We defer to them as people in how they spend their money to pedal influence, except that they are not subject to the law and the way that people are, because corporations can bankroll the law as it applies to them.

There should be no Citizens United. There should Be-no-B(ill)ionaires. There should be no unregulated capitalism, monopoly, class warfare, and wealth stratification that make our nation ill. 100% taxation on every dollar over $999,999,999.

[bronwynhillside]

2 years ago there were massive baby formula shortages in America. A major producer was shut down over safety and cleanliness issues. Parents had to drive long distances to feed their kids. Not everyone has breast milk or enough. Some kids need specialiality milk eg lactose.

In Australia, we occasionally have shortages of baby formula. It tends to be that in China someone broke the rules and killed and injured babies with tainted baby formula.

So the buyers and international students buy baby formula to send home. And our shops limit purchases to 2 tins a customer.

And you guys want to invite that?

Jeese

STOP Project 2025.

Republican's don't care about children.

[liberalsarecool]

Every regulation was in response to a horrible situation that hurt innocent people or ruined the environment.

No one makes a regulation up. It's a response to corruption, manipulation, or corporate negligence.

Now, deregulation is an answer to a problem that does not exist. It's just for greed.

MAGA and Project 2025 will prove how bad deregulation is for the country.

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #13

April 5-12 2024

President Biden announced the cancellation of a student loan debt for a further 277,000 Americans. This brings the number of a Americans who had their debt canceled by the Biden administration through different means since the Supreme Court struck down Biden's first place in 2023 to 4.3 million and a total of $153 billion of debt canceled so far. Most of these borrowers were a part of the President's SAVE Plan, a debt repayment program with 8 million enrollees, over 4 million of whom don't have to make monthly repayments and are still on the path to debt forgiveness.

President Biden announced a plan that would cancel student loan debt for 4 million borrowers and bring debt relief to 30 million Americans The plan takes steps like making automatic debt forgiveness through the public service forgiveness so qualified borrowers who don't know to apply will have their debts forgiven. The plan will wipe out the interest on the debt of 23 million Americans. President Biden touted how the plan will help black and Latino borrowers the most who carry the heavily debt burdens. The plan is expected to go into effect this fall ahead of the election.

President Biden and Vice-President Harris announced the closing of the so-called gun show loophole. For years people selling guns outside of traditional stores, such as at gun shows and in the 21st century over the internet have not been required to preform a background check to see if buyers are legally allowed to own a fire arm. Now all sellers of guns, even over the internet, are required to be licensed and preform a background check. This is the largest single expansion of the background check system since its creation.

The EPA published the first ever regulations on PFAS, known as forever chemicals, in drinking water. The new rules would reduce PFAS exposure for 100 million people according to the EPA. The Biden Administration announced along side the EPA regulations it would make available $1 billion dollars for state and local water treatment to help test for and filter out PFAS in line with the new rule. This marks the first time since 1996 that the EPA has passed a drinking water rule for new contaminants.

The Department of Commerce announced a deal with microchip giant TSMC to bring billions in investment and manufacturing to Arizona. The US makes only about 10% of the world's microchips and none of the most advanced chips. Under the CHIPS and Science Act the Biden Administration hopes to expand America's high-tech manufacturing so that 20% of advanced chips are made in America. TSMC makes about 90% of the world's advanced chips. The deal which sees a $6.6 billion dollar grant from the US government in exchange for $65 billion worth of investment by TSMC in 3 high tech manufacturing facilities in Arizona, the first of which will open next year. This represents the single largest foreign investment in Arizona's history and will bring thousands of new jobs to the state and boost America's microchip manufacturing.

The EPA finalized rules strengthening clean air standards around chemical plants. The new rule will lower the risk of cancer in communities near chemical plants by 96% and eliminate 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution each year. The rules target two dangerous cancer causing chemicals, ethylene oxide and chloroprene, the rule will reduce emissions of these chemicals by 80%.

the Department of the Interior announced it had beaten the Biden Administration goals when it comes to new clean energy projects. The Department has now permitted more than 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects on public lands, surpass the Administrations goal for 2025 already. These solar, wind, and hydro projects will power 12 million American homes with totally green power. Currently 10 gigawatts of clean energy are currently being generated on public lands, powering more than 5 million homes across the West. 

The Department of Transportation announced $830 million to support local communities in becoming more climate resilient. The money will go to 80 projects across 37 states, DC, and the US Virgin Islands The projects will help local Infrastructure better stand up to extreme weather causes by climate change.

The Senate confirmed Susan Bazis, Robert White, and Ann Marie McIff Allen to lifetime federal judgeships in Nebraska, Michigan, and Utah respectively. This brings the total number of judges appointed by President Biden to 193

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Russell at LGBTQ Nation:

As public awareness of Project 2025 has increased in recent weeks, Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from the troubling set of policy plans for a potential second term crafted by the far-right, anti-LGBTQ+ Heritage Foundation. In a July 6 post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the former president claimed to “know nothing about” Project 2025, writing that he disagrees with “some of” the plan’s proposals while he considers others “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal.” Of course, by now we’re all well aware of Trump’s propensity for telling lies and spreading misinformation, so it’s hard to imagine anyone seriously believing his claims about Project 2025, which, among its many proposed regulations and executive orders aimed at radically reshaping the federal government in its far-right, Christian nationalist authors’ image, also aims to dismantle federal protections for LGBTQ+ people. [...]

The Trump campaign has posted many of its own anti-LGBTQ+ plans and proposals on its website, in a section called “Agenda 47,” featuring videos of the former president outlining his plans and pledges. On one page, Trump promises to pass a federal law banning what he characterizes as “child sexual mutilation” — despite the fact that gender-affirming surgeries are almost never performed on minors — and to “ask Congress to permanently stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures.” He also pledges to “ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female — and they are assigned at birth,” and says he will direct the Department of Education “to inform states and school districts that if any teacher or school official suggests to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body, they will be faced with severe consequences, including, potential Civil Rights violations for sex discrimination, and the elimination of federal funding.”

Donald Trump’s Agenda 47 is just as fascistic and harmful to LGBTQ+ Americans as The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.