Corporation for Public Broadcasting Addresses Operations Following Loss of Federal Funding
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Addresses Operations Following Loss of Federal Funding
August 1, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 1, 2025) – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced today that it will begin an orderly wind-down of its operations following the passage of a federal rescissions package and the release of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-H) appropriations bill, which excludes funding for CPB for the first time in more than five decades.
For nearly 60 years, CPB has carried out its Congressional mission to build and sustain a trusted public media system that informs, educates, and serves communities across the country. Through partnerships with local stations and producers, CPB has supported educational content, locally relevant journalism, emergency communications, cultural programming, and essential services for Americans in every community.
Trump pulls the plug on Public Broadcasting that has been part of the media scene since 1967. More marching backwards into the dark ages.
Based on recent reports, several Republican representatives from Arizona voted in favor of a budget resolution that included cuts to Medicaid:
Juan Ciscomani: Representative Ciscomani, representing Tucson, voted for the legislation despite concerns and even co-signing a letter asking for no cuts to Medicaid. He has stated that the bill strengthens and protects Medicaid by tackling waste and fraud, implementing work requirements and stronger eligibility verification.
David Schweikert: Representative Schweikert, whose district includes Scottsdale, voted for the bill despite pressure from constituents to oppose it.
Eli Crane: Representative Crane, representing the Navajo Nation, voted for the cuts, which could leave a significant portion of his constituents at risk of losing coverage.
These votes have drawn criticism, particularly due to the potential impact on vulnerable populations and rural hospitals that rely on Medicaid funding. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has identified these districts as potentially vulnerable in upcoming elections.
It’s important to note that the term “Trump’s anti-Medicaid bill” is a characterization used by opponents of the legislation. Supporters argue that the bill includes measures to strengthen and protect Medicaid by tackling waste, fraud, and abuse.
compare 5 points in donald trumps speeches with those of adolf hitler
ChatGPT said:
Comparing speeches by Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler is a sensitive and complex task. It’s important to note that while rhetorical techniques may sometimes overlap across political figures (e.g., appealing to nationalism or using populist language), the historical contexts, ideologies, and outcomes of their leadership are vastly different.
That said, here’s a comparative look at five rhetorical or thematic points often discussed in academic or journalistic analyses — not equating the two figures, but rather examining rhetorical parallels.
1. Nationalism and “Making the Country Great Again”
Trump: Frequently used slogans like “Make America Great Again” to evoke a return to a perceived better past, often emphasizing American exceptionalism.
Hitler: Promoted “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer” (One People, One Empire, One Leader), focusing on reviving German pride and power after WWI and the Treaty of Versailles.
Similarity: Both appealed to national pride and a nostalgic vision of a lost golden age.
2. Scapegoating of Outsiders
Trump: Spoke harshly about illegal immigrants, particularly from Mexico, labeling them as criminals and calling for a border wall.
Hitler: Blamed Jews, communists, and others for Germany’s problems, using them as scapegoats to unify the majority.
Similarity: Both used scapegoating to create a sense of “us vs. them” and to rally support around a common enemy.
3. Attacks on the Press
Trump: Repeatedly called the media “fake news” and “the enemy of the people,” undermining trust in journalism.
Hitler: Called the press the “lying press” (Lügenpresse) and took steps to control and censor the media after gaining power.
Similarity: Both discredited the press as a tool of opposition, portraying it as dishonest or dangerous.
4. Populist Appeal
Trump: Framed himself as a voice for the “forgotten” American, criticizing elites and positioning himself as an outsider to Washington politics.
Hitler: Spoke as a man of the people against the political establishment of the Weimar Republic, claiming to restore the will of the common German.
Similarity: Both used anti-elitist language to appeal to mass dissatisfaction and presented themselves as the solution.
5. Strongman Persona and Law-and-Order Messaging
Trump: Emphasized “law and order” during civil unrest and portrayed himself as a tough leader who would restore order.
Hitler: Promised strict control, discipline, and the end of chaos under the Nazi regime, emphasizing authority and militarization.
Similarity: Both emphasized strength, order, and control in the face of perceived chaos or disorder.
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Rhetoric has a history. The words democracy and tyranny were debated in ancient Greece; the phrase separation of powers became important in the 17th and 18th centuries. The word vermin, as a political term, dates from the 1930s and ’40s, when both fascists and communists liked to describe their political enemies as vermin, parasites, and blood infections, as well as insects, weeds, dirt, and animals. The term has been revived and reanimated, in an American presidential campaign, with Donald Trump’s description of his opponents as “radical-left thugs” who “live like vermin.”
This language isn’t merely ugly or repellent: These words belong to a particular tradition. Adolf Hitler used these kinds of terms often. In 1938, he praised his compatriots who had helped “cleanse Germany of all those parasites who drank at the well of the despair of the Fatherland and the People.” In occupied Warsaw, a 1941 poster displayed a drawing of a louse with a caricature of a Jewish face. The slogan: “Jews are lice: they cause typhus.” Germans, by contrast, were clean, pure, healthy, and vermin-free. Hitler once described the Nazi flag as “the victorious sign of freedom and the purity of our blood.”
Stalin used the same kind of language at about the same time. He called his opponents the “enemies of the people,” implying that they were not citizens and that they enjoyed no rights. He portrayed them as vermin, pollution, filth that had to be “subjected to ongoing purification,” and he inspired his fellow communists to employ similar rhetoric. In my files, I have the notes from a 1955 meeting of the leaders of the Stasi, the East German secret police, during which one of them called for a struggle against “vermin activities” (there is, inevitably, a German word for this: Schädlingstätigkeiten), by which he meant the purge and arrest of the regime’s critics. In this same era, the Stasi forcibly moved suspicious people away from the border with West Germany, a project nicknamed “Operation Vermin.”
This kind of language was not limited to Europe. Mao Zedong also described his political opponents as “poisonous weeds.” Pol Pot spoke of “cleansing” hundreds of thousands of his compatriots so that Cambodia would be “purified.”
In each of these very different societies, the purpose of this kind of rhetoric was the same. If you connect your opponents with disease, illness, and poisoned blood, if you dehumanize them as insects or animals, if you speak of squashing them or cleansing them as if they were pests or bacteria, then you can much more easily arrest them, deprive them of rights, exclude them, or even kill them. If they are parasites, they aren’t human. If they are vermin, they don’t get to enjoy freedom of speech, or freedoms of any kind. And if you squash them, you won’t be held accountable.
Until recently, this kind of language was not a normal part of American presidential politics. Even George Wallace’s notorious, racist, neo-Confederate 1963 speech, his inaugural speech as Alabama governor and the prelude to his first presidential campaign, avoided such language. Wallace called for “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” But he did not speak of his political opponents as “vermin” or talk about them poisoning the nation’s blood. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps following the outbreak of World War II, spoke of “alien enemies” but not parasites.
In the 2024 campaign, that line has been crossed. Trump blurs the distinction between illegal immigrants and legal immigrants—the latter including his wife, his late ex-wife, the in-laws of his running mate, and many others. He has said of immigrants, “They’re poisoning the blood of our country” and “They’re destroying the blood of our country.” He has claimed that many have “bad genes.” He has also been more explicit: “They’re not humans; they’re animals”; they are “cold-blooded killers.” He refers more broadly to his opponents—American citizens, some of whom are elected officials—as “the enemy from within … sick people, radical-left lunatics.” Not only do they have no rights; they should be “handled by,” he has said, “if necessary, National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
In using this language, Trump knows exactly what he is doing. He understands which era and what kind of politics this language evokes. “I haven’t read Mein Kampf,” he declared, unprovoked, during one rally—an admission that he knows what Hitler’s manifesto contains, whether or not he has actually read it. “If you don’t use certain rhetoric,” he told an interviewer, “if you don’t use certain words, and maybe they’re not very nice words, nothing will happen.”
His talk of mass deportation is equally calculating. When he suggests that he would target both legal and illegal immigrants, or use the military arbitrarily against U.S. citizens, he does so knowing that past dictatorships have used public displays of violence to build popular support. By calling for mass violence, he hints at his admiration for these dictatorships but also demonstrates disdain for the rule of law and prepares his followers to accept the idea that his regime could, like its predecessors, break the law with impunity.
These are not jokes, and Trump is not laughing. Nor are the people around him. Delegates at the Republican National Convention held up prefabricated signs: Mass Deportation Now. Just this week, when Trump was swaying to music at a surreal rally, he did so in front of a huge slogan: Trump Was Right About Everything. This is language borrowed directly from Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist. Soon after the rally, the scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat posted a photograph of a building in Mussolini’s Italy displaying his slogan: Mussolini Is Always Right.
The Atlantic Daily: The atmosphere of a Trump rally
These phrases have not been put on posters and banners at random in the final weeks of an American election season. With less than three weeks left to go, most candidates would be fighting for the middle ground, for the swing voters. Trump is doing the exact opposite. Why? There can be only one answer: because he and his campaign team believe that by using the tactics of the 1930s, they can win. The deliberate dehumanization of whole groups of people; the references to police, to violence, to the “bloodbath” that Trump has said will unfold if he doesn’t win; the cultivation of hatred not only against immigrants but also against political opponents—none of this has been used successfully in modern American politics.
But neither has this rhetoric been tried in modern American politics. Several generations of American politicians have assumed that American voters, most of whom learned to pledge allegiance to the flag in school, grew up with the rule of law, and have never experienced occupation or invasion, would be resistant to this kind of language and imagery. Trump is gambling—knowingly and cynically—that we are not.
Meta whistleblower alleges company worked with China on censorship
Lily Jamali
North America Technology Correspondent
Reporting fromSan Francisco
A Meta whistleblower told US senators on Wednesday that the company undermined national security in order to build a $18 billion business in China.
At a congressional hearing, Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former global public policy director at Facebook, said she watched as executives decided to provide the Chinese Communist Party with access to the data of Meta users, including that of Americans.
Meta has disputed Ms Wynn-Williams’s statements.
“Sarah Wynn-Williams’ testimony is divorced from reality and riddled with false claims,” said Meta spokesman Ryan Daniels.
Mr Daniels said CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been public about the company’s interest in offering its services in China, but added. “[T]he fact is this: we do not operate our services in China today.”
Meta does, however, generate advertising revenue from advertisers based in China.
During her testimony before a Senate judiciary subcommittee, Ms Wynn-Williams also alleged the parent company of Facebook and Instagram worked “hand in glove” with Beijing to build censorship tools aimed at silencing critics of the Chinese Community Party.
Specifically, she said Meta capitulated to China’s demands that it delete the Facebook account of Guo Wengui, a Chinese dissident living in the US.
Meta maintains it unpublished Mr Guo’s page and suspended his profile because it violated the company’s Community Standards.
“One thing the Chinese Communist Party and Mark Zuckerberg share is that they want to silence their critics. I can say that from personal experience,” Ms Wynn-Williams said during her testimony.
In March, Ms Wynn-Williams released a memoir called “Careless People” about her experience at the company, which was then called Facebook.
Meta won an emergency ruling in the US that temporarily blocked her from promoting her book, which included several critical claims about her time at the company.
“[T]he false and defamatory book should never have been published,” Meta said at the time.
Wednesday’s hearing before members of the US Senate was led by Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri.
Sen Hawley opened the hearing by saying Meta had “stopped at absolutely nothing to prevent” Wednesday’s testimony by Ms Wynn-Williams, who joins Frances Haugen and Arturo Béjar as former employees who have spoken out against the social media giant.
“Why is it that Facebook is so desperate to prevent this witness from telling what she knows?” Hawley said.
At a fiery January 2024 congressional hearing at which Mr Zuckerberg also testified, Sen Hawley demanded that the CEO apologise to families who said their children had been harmed by social media.
Behind Mr Zuckerberg at the 2024 hearing sat a row of families who said their children had self-harmed or killed themselves as a result of social media content.
Mr Zuckerberg turned and told families in the audience that “no one should go through” what they had.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Sen Hawley said Meta had suggested Ms Wynn-Williams could face financial penalties for speaking out.
“They have threatened her with $50,000 in punitive damages every time she mentions Facebook in public, even if the statements that she is making are true,” Sen Hawley alleged. “Even as we sit here today, Facebook is attempting her total and complete financial ruin.”
On Wednesday, the company told the BBC the $50,000 in damages is for each material violation of the separation agreement that she signed when she departed the company in 2017.
Ms Wynn-Williams says Meta told her that creating exceptions to the non-disparagement agreement would “eat the rule,” which Meta later clarified to the BBC was the comment of an arbitrator, not the company.
The company added that she was not restricted from testifying before Congress.
But Meta declined to directly respond to a BBC inquiry about whether Ms Wynn-Williams may indeed face financial penalties initiated by the company or its lawyers for statements she made on Wednesday in front of Congress.
Ms Wynn-Williams told lawmakers that all of this had taken a personal toll on her.
“The last four weeks have been very difficult,” she told members of the Senate committee. “Even the choice to come and speak to Congress is incredibly difficult.”
Greenland is in strategically important territory.
Most of Greenland lies within the Arctic Circle, a region that the world’s powers are vying for over for its untapped natural resources and its proximity to emerging shipping corridors that would accelerate global trade. Already, melting Arctic ice has transformed the region that was once largely unnavigable into an area of competitive commerce, as more ships traverse the Arctic Circle and countries with land in the region scramble to lay claim to as much of the seabed as possible.
Routes between Asia and Europe, or Asia and the United States, are about 40 percent shorter through the Arctic than either the Suez or Panama Canals, according to the U.S. Naval Institute. That makes the question of who controls the seas there critical for both financial and security purposes, especially given the claimants also happen to be rival geopolitical superpowers.
Only five countries can claim to have an extended continental shelf into the Arctic: Canada, Russia, Norway, Denmark via Greenland, and the United States via Alaska. Acquiring Greenland would give the United States a significantly bigger claim in the Arctic.
“We need Greenland for national security and even international security,” Mr. Trump said in March during an address to Congress, adding the territory was “very, very important for military security.”
The United States has had troops in Greenland since World War II, and keeps a small missile defense base there called Pituffik Space Base — formerly Thule Air Base, before Mr. Trump renamed it during his first administration. The delegation will be touring that base on Friday.
It is possible that base could become part of the “Golden Dome” missile defense system, modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome system, that Mr. Trump has said he wants to build to protect the entirety of the United States from potential threats from adversaries, especially China. In an executive order, Mr. Trump told Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, to produce the plans for that missile defense shield by March 28.
But there are market-based threats Mr. Trump is concerned with as well. Russia and China are already cooperating on Arctic shipping routes, and with Russia’s extensive presence in the region — it has the largest area of Arctic coastline — that partnership threatens to remain the dominant economic force in the area.
Greenland could be a rich source for rare earth minerals and energy.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Arctic holds 13 percent of undiscovered oil resources and 30 percent of undiscovered natural gas, most of it offshore. Controlling Greenland would give the United States an expanded claim to those seabed resources.
But Greenland also has huge stores of rare earth minerals that are vital to the production of batteries, cellphones, electric vehicles and other technology — and the Trump administration has been looking globally to augment its rare earth mineral holdings.
Rare earth minerals have been an instrumental part of an agreement that the United States has been trying to strike with Ukraine. Greenland’s stores of cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium, zirconium and other minerals have proven challenging to mine, but there is another incentive for the United States to seek to control that market: China.
China dominates the world’s raw mineral market, and has already attempted to make inroads in Greenland. Acquiring the territory would allow Mr. Trump to check Beijing’s efforts to exploit minerals there and expand America’s holdings.
Part of the reason it has been difficult to exploit Greenland’s resources to date is that it is so darn cold. But with climate change, melting ice is creating new opportunities for resource exploitation. In the last 30 years, about 11,000 square miles of ice sheet have melted, an area about the size of Maryland.
Denmark has also recognized the potential of Greenland’s resources to be vital in the global transition to greener forms of energy. The local population sees the potential for an economic boon from mining as helpful in its bid for independence, which a majority of the population wants.
But the development of the industry has been slow. Greenland has taken steps to limit the potential for environmentally destructive mining practices through laws, including a ban on uranium mining in 2021. But those could be overturned if the United States acquires the territory.
A correction was made on
March 25, 2025
:
An earlier version of this article misstated how much of the world’s undiscovered resources are in the Arctic. It holds 13 percent of undiscovered oil resources, not gas resources.
What is the cost to move ships through the Panama Canal?
The cost to transit the Panama Canal depends on the vessel’s size and type, with fees ranging from a few thousand dollars for smaller private boats to hundreds of thousands, or even millions, for large commercial ships, especially when bidding for expedited slots. (Retrieved Internet 3/31/25)
Donald Trump and his cronies can just get ready to pay for the service to use the Island just like everybody else. Let’s stop this nonsense about military takeovers before someone gets hurt. Donald have you totally lost your mind??????
As Trump pushes to remove the US from the armed conflict in the Ukraine, the European nations under the banner of ‘Coalition of the Willing’ scramble to find men, material and resources to fill the gap if and when the US withdraws.
The arguments for the US this are many and mostly center around the enormous cost of continuing a war that looks to have no end in sight.
Should Americans be forced to foot the bill for a war on the other side of the world, regardless of our sympathies for the Ukrainian people?
The answer may be yes and no.
Most European nations have a lack of trained military personnel and weapons. They have been largely depending on the US military to supply that. While it is true that we have probably the best trained, supplied and weaponized army in the world; should we give all this away for free?
It may be time to put out the US Army for hire. This would not be a ‘security force’ or ‘security company’ but the actual US Army hired out to individual nations to continue their peace keeping efforts. Places like Germany, Sweden, the UK and France might have more in the way of money than actual military resources. Under the joint command of European/US command, the army can be ‘on loan’ for a fee. The conditions of what they either do or do not do can be ironed out in advance. A win-win situation; the American people, the president and Congress can all be happy that we are recouping some of our losses (unlikely to be a profit maker) and the other countries involved get the additional resources they desperately need and quickly too. All of this requires some real thinking outside the box, but it is probably time and maybe over-time to consider.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of militaries that recruit foreign applicants. This includes any individuals who are aliens of the polity whose armed forces they are being recruited to join by professional recruiters. The foreigners do not need to be legal residents of that nation, but may gain legal residence status by joining the armed forces. More than 90 states have implemented such recruitment policies between 1815 and 2020.[1]
Permanent residents who can prove they have applied for citizenship. Or permanent residents who are ineligible to apply for Australian citizenship as long as they are prepared to apply for citizenship within 3 months of commencing service (or 6 months if in the ADF Reserve). If permanent residents refuse citizenship or fail in their application, their ADF service will be terminated. On July 5, 2024, New Zealanders, followed by other foreigners who have legal residency status for one year and has no record for working in a foreign military for two years (previously) can join the ADF and be awarded Australian nationality.[2]
The forces in Bahrain are made up of Sunni foreigners, mainly Arabs and Pakistanis serving within them. This has become a topic of debate; the majority Shia Bahrainis are not happy with foreigners in the positions of power while the native Bahrainis are barred from them.[6][unreliable source?]
Canadian Armed Forces – On November 11, 2022, the CAF announced that Canadian permanent residents are eligible to join.[11] Prior to this, PRs were allowed to be recruited through the Skilled Military Foreign Applicant (SMFA) program.[12]
Croatian Armed Forces – Any ethnic Croat or a person of partial Croat ancestry has the right to obtain Croatian citizenship, thus becoming eligible to join the Croatian Armed Forces. This practice has been commonplace for ethnic Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, upon enlistment, potential personnel are required to renounce their dual citizenship with Bosnia & Herzegovina, in case they hold one.[citation needed]
Danish Defence – Foreign nationals already living in Denmark or in another EU country may apply to join the Danish armed forces. Rumors have circulated[clarification needed] that it’s required that they have lived one year in Denmark if applying within or six years if applying within an EU country. However, they must be fluent in Danish and must be able to write it as well.[14]
Hellenic Armed Forces – Ethnic Greeks accepted to the military academies for officers or non-commissioned officers of the Greek armed forces (according to the special law governing each school) or who enlist in the armed forces as volunteers (according to the law governing each branch) acquire Greek nationality automatically from the time they enter the academies or are enlisted. Knowledge of Greek language at fluent level is required.
Indian Army – Recruits Nepalese and Bhutanese citizens, and refugees from Tibet who intend to permanently settle in India.[17] Recruits of Indian origin who have migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India may also join.[17]
Overseas: A serving member of another military can join the New Zealand Defence Force. The requirements are to be a current or recently serving (within 6–12 months) member of the UK, Australian, US or Canadian Armed Forces, have been a citizen of either the UK, Australia, US, or Canada for a minimum period of 10 years, or have been living in NZ for a minimum period of 5 years, be eligible for release from current service within 18 months of applying, and meet current vacancy criteria at the time of application.[24]
The Russian Armed Forces accepts foreigners of any country to their ranks. Under a plan, posted on the ministry’s web site in 2010, foreigners without dual citizenship are able to sign up for five-year contracts – and are eligible for Russian citizenship after serving three years. According to the amended law, a citizen of any foreign country aged 18–30 with a good command of Russian and a clean record can sign an initial five-year contract to join the Army.[26][27]
Singapore has always made use of Gurkhas to help with special military and police roles. During the colonial days, many soldiers were brought to Singapore from other British colonies. From 2011, Second-generation male permanent residents are bound by Singapore’s conscription laws to the same extent Singaporean citizens are, and therefore must do the standard active and reserve service in the military, police, or civil defense force.[28]
Slovakia allows some foreigners to join, on the condition that they are citizens of an EU member state or a state that is a member of an international defence organisation from which Slovakia is a member.[29]
Any person of demonstrable Ukrainian heritage descent can become a citizen through military service. According to the website of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine,[31] the foreigners of age 18–45 (in exceptional cases up to 60 years old) can be contracted by Ukrainian Army for the 3–5 years term, depending on qualification. The legislation was in place since 2015.[32] It has been reported that EU, UK,[33] Georgian and Belarusian citizens have been serving in the Ukrainian Ground Forces since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War.[32]
There are people from other Arab or nearby Muslim countries, who have served in the UAE, mainly in non-uniformed positions. This was mainly after independence from the UK in 1971, when the UAE government was still evolving.[34] Prior to that, the UK stationed their own troops and equipment in the region (known as the Trucial States)[citation needed]
British Armed Forces – The British Army has continued the historic practice of recruiting Gurkhas from Nepal to serve in the Brigade of Gurkhas. They are selected and recruited in Nepal, and are expected to keep their Nepali citizenship throughout the length of their service.[35]
Vatican City’s sole armed forces, The Swiss Guard, is made up entirely of Swiss Catholics; however, Swiss Guards are granted Vatican citizenship while they serve.[43]
I hate to date myself; I really do, but guess I have to.
In my lifetime, I have met three people who had suffered from polio infections. All three were women. One a friend, had fortunately only gotten it in one leg. She walked a bit stiffly on that leg, but that was the only noticeable thing. Another women had gotten it in both legs. She was able to reeducate other muscles in her legs. However, she took up running, over-worked the legs and eventually was back on crunches and her husband left her (creep.)
The third was a woman in our church. She had gotten a full body infection and it affected every part of her body to include her organs. She was a small woman, never in very good health and constantly beleaguered with health problems. Each of these individuals were a bit older than me and had contracted the illness in the late 40’s before the Salk vaccine was available.
I remember being in kindergarten when the Salk vaccine was administered at our school. We all lined up in the cafeteria and the nurses had little white cups, each with one sugar cube each, and the vaccine had been dropped on the sugar. We all ate our sugar cubes. I feel comfortable saying I have never known anyone in my generation to contract polio.
Two years ago, I was working with a church group that was assisting individuals from Mexico and Central America coming to this country on sponsorships. All individuals at that time were tested for Covid before they were allowed to enter. I remember that one entire bus came up positive.
About that time, there was also a report of a active case of polio being reported from an immigrant person residing in New York. It was then I went to Walgreens and asked for a polio shot. I was told insurance would not cover it as ‘polio isn’t a problem in this country.’ I told them to give me the shot anyway as there is some concern that the vaccines we given as children might not still be effective. I paid the money and was glad to do so.
As soon as I heard that JFK, Jr., the anti-vaxxer, had been approved as Health Secretary, I dialed up my Walgreen’s account and checked on my vaccines. I have a short list of boosters for this year. I will be sure to get them soon before Medicare starts to tell the pharmacies, “those aren’t covered.”
The advantage for someone like me is that: 1) I have the resources to cover the vaccines even if Medicare doesn’t pay, 2) I know full well what happens to people who don’t get the shots and I will get them regardless.
Not everyone has either this knowledge or these resources. I fear that we are heading into the waters of misery that few of us have ever known. It will be very difficult to re-invent the wheel in these situations. Unfortunately, it is usually the most vulnerable of our society: children and low-income folks who end up paying the price. What’s new.
webby1dotnet 