What's new
By:

The New Dark Age


www.nbcnews.com

CPB, funder of NPR and PBS, says it will shut down after Congress cuts money

The announcement comes less than a month after Congress passed a package of spending cuts, which included stripping $1.1 billion in funding for the CPB.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced on Friday that it will begin shutting down its operations weeks after Congress canceling previously approved funding for the nation's steward of public media access.

The CPB said in a statement that it will begin an "orderly wind-down" of its operations after being in service for nearly 60 years with the support of the federal government.

It said that the majority of its staff positions will conclude with the close of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025. A small team of employees will remain on through January 2026, it added. It did not specify how many people in total were being laid off.

"Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations," CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison said in a statement. "CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care."

The announcement comes less than a month after Congress passed a package of spending cuts requested by President Donald Trump, which included stripping $1.1 billion in funding for the CPB.

Currently, the CPB helps support more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations.
 
Last edited:
Statement from NPR president and CEO.


"The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has been a cornerstone of public broadcasting in the United States for more than half a century. It has served as a vital source of funding for local stations, a champion of educational and cultural programming, and a bulwark for independent journalism — enabling organizations like ours to deliver essential news and culture across the nation.

CPB upheld the core values of the Public Broadcasting Act, including support for diverse voices, promotion of excellence and creative risk, and advancing service for the unserved and underserved. It empowered countless journalists, producers, and educators to create programming that has enriched lives, fostered understanding, and held power accountable. The ripple effects of this closure will be felt across every public media organization and, more importantly, in every community across the country that relies on public broadcasting.

The closure of CPB represents the loss of a major institution and decades of knowledge and expertise; an immediate consequence of the passage of H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025. We're grateful to CPB staff for their many years of service to public media.

As an independent, nonprofit news organization, NPR remains resolute in our pursuit of our mission: to create an informed and inspired public in partnership with our Member stations. We will continue to respond to this crisis by stepping up to support locally owned, nonprofit public radio stations and local journalism across the country, working to maintain public media's promise of universal service, and upholding the highest standards for independent journalism and cultural programming in service of our nation."
 
www.forbes.com

RFK Jr. Cancels $500 Million In Funding For mRNA Vaccine Research

The health secretary, who is a known vaccine skeptic, claimed that mRNA vaccines “fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu.”
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com

In a post on X, immunologist and former BARDA Director Rick Bright wrote: “BARDA invested in mRNA technology precisely because it could deliver safe, scalable vaccines in record time, a capability proven during COVID. By dismantling that platform, we’re crippling our front-line defense, just ahead of unknown biological threats.” Chris Meekins, who served as assistant secretary for pandemic preparedness in the HHS during the first Trump administration, also criticized the move, tweeting: “Ending BARDA’s investment in mRNA technology creates a national security vulnerability. These tools serve as a deterrent to prevent other nations from using certain biological agents. The speed of the technology to create new biodefense capabilities is a national security asset.” Epidemiologist Mike Osterholm, who serves as the director of University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told the Associated Press: “I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”

apnews.com

RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for vaccine development

The Department of Health and Human Services plans to cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.
apnews.com apnews.com

Making America stupid again:


View: https://x.com/SecKennedy/status/1952851097019633766




With no medical background, this moron makes such a decision. Maybe Kennedy can bring back bleeding as a therapy.



I have a lot of respect for shamanistic healing…


View: https://x.com/cambvace/status/1952996209305543001
 
Last edited:
The funding cut to mRNA research called “the most dangerous public health decision” ever. Going stupid at a record pace?

www.pbs.org

Federal mRNA funding cut is 'most dangerous public health decision' ever, expert says

Many public health experts and scientists say they are stunned by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s decision to cancel nearly half a billion dollars in federal funding for future vaccine development. MRNA technology was central in the battle against COVID and can be developed more quickly...
www.pbs.org www.pbs.org
 
Red said:
The funding cut to mRNA research called “the most dangerous public health decision” ever. Going stupid at a record pace?

www.pbs.org

Federal mRNA funding cut is 'most dangerous public health decision' ever, expert says

Many public health experts and scientists say they are stunned by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s decision to cancel nearly half a billion dollars in federal funding for future vaccine development. MRNA technology was central in the battle against COVID and can be developed more quickly...
www.pbs.org www.pbs.org
Click to expand...

The rate of the damage being done is wild. Crazy to think how much insanity could happen in the next 3.5 years. Trump must be stopped.
 
str8line said:
The rate of the damage being done is wild. Crazy to think how much insanity could happen in the next 3.5 years. Trump must be stopped.
Click to expand...
That begins at the midterms. That won’t be for more than a year. Voters need to get off their asses and vote. Most voters don’t care enough about their own country to vote during midterms.

Then Trump must be defeated in 2028 when he attempts to run again. And it shouldn’t matter who the Democratic nominee is. Unfortunately, voters have impossible expectations for democrats and no standards or expectations for Republicans. “Sure he might be a pedophile rapist, but Kamala’s health care plan didn’t specify what the copayment would be for ingrown toenails.” In our binary system, voters right now have a choice between a moderate and imperfect political party and a cult of personality fascist cult that idolizes the Nazis. So even though the Democratic party and candidate might not be perfect, they’re still superior to the fascists. Voters need to realize this and remember it for more than one cycle.

In my lifetime now, I’ve seen the GOP run the country off a cliff twice with immoral forever wars, incompetent hurricane responses and pandemic responses, torture and cruelty, and now three economic catastrophes (the third one is beginning right now). Each time the country has had a Democratic candidate and party bail it out. They burn entire terms fixing the problems republicans have created only to be rewarded for not fixing things fast enough or for being too boring.

It’s why the Democratic Party has no direction right now. They’ve tried building up the country. They’ve tried competent governance. Where has it gotten them politically?

Meanwhile, Trump and his GOP mock their own voters everyday, belittle science and expertise, and blow off laws, only to be rewarded with more and more power and influence. The country rewards assholes and racists while punishes good leaders and builders.

Again, compare the Bush and Trump presidencies to Obama and Biden. And the country keeps rewarding republicans over and over and over again. The gop will keep doing fascism until the voters reject them. Thus far, the message has been for fascism. Blacks, immigrants, trans people, women, vaccines, the climate, laws, etc can go to hell as long as Im promised to get cheap eggs.
 
Last edited:
Ron Mexico said:
Pretty high hopes that will even matter.
Click to expand...
Ya project 2025 is in the process of making elections obsolete

Sent from my OPD2203 using Tapatalk
 
The Thriller said:
It’s why the Democratic Party has no direction right now. They’ve tried building up the country. They’ve tried competent governance. Where has it gotten them politically?
Click to expand...
Counting on the Democrats just means we are screwed, and transitioning into Trump’s version of totalitarianism.

www.theatlantic.com

How Democrats Tied Their Own Hands on Redistricting

Their threat to match Republican gerrymandering could be difficult to fulfill.
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com

“It is fair to say that Democrats in New York and around the country vastly underestimated the willingness of the Republican Party to cross every line, break every norm, and do so with enormous speed,” he said. “We’re in a period of adjustment. We better adjust really damn quickly.”
 
Red said:
Counting on the Democrats just means we are screwed, and transitioning into Trump’s version of totalitarianism.

www.theatlantic.com

How Democrats Tied Their Own Hands on Redistricting

Their threat to match Republican gerrymandering could be difficult to fulfill.
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com

“It is fair to say that Democrats in New York and around the country vastly underestimated the willingness of the Republican Party to cross every line, break every norm, and do so with enormous speed,” he said. “We’re in a period of adjustment. We better adjust really damn quickly.”
Click to expand...
That’s on voters, not Democrats. Kamala was good enough. Literally any Democrat is good enough than whatever the cult is putting forward. Voters have to decide whether they want to live in a free democracy or an unfree authoritarian cult of personality. If voters can’t care enough about the well-being of their country then they don’t deserve freedom. Thus far, voters have shown that they care more about being entertained to death than freedom and democracy.
 
Last edited:
The Thriller said:
That’s on voters, not Democrats. Kamala was good enough. Literally any Democrat is good enough than whatever the cult is putting forward. Voters have to decide whether they want to live in a free democracy or an unfree authoritarian cult of personality. If voters can’t care enough about the well-being of their country then they don’t deserve freedom. Thus far, voters have shown that they care more about being entertained to death than freedom and democracy.
Click to expand...
That’s your opinion, and you’re entitled to it. I’m not letting Democrats off the hook. The party of saps and chumps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PJF
Red said:
That’s your opinion, and you’re entitled to it. I’m not letting Democrats off the hook. The party of saps and chumps.
Click to expand...
If American voters lack so much civic virtue that they see their neighbors being hauled out of their communities by masked thugs led by a Putin loving pedophile racist who just took away their health care for tax cuts to his rich billionaire buddies and says utter nonsense everyday, then it really doesn’t matter what the Democrats do or say.

The country is ****ed if we can’t see beyond our own noses. There’s such a thing as civic virtue. Rejecting Trump isn’t just a policy issue, it’s a moral issue. And if Americans lack the morality to reject the evil that republicans are doing… then what can the Democrats do to change that? There’s no persuasion in attempting to instill morals and values in the immoral and valueless.
 
The Thriller said:
If American voters lack so much civic virtue that they see their neighbors being hauled out of their communities by masked thugs led by a Putin loving pedophile racist who just took away their health care for tax cuts to his rich billionaire buddies and says utter nonsense everyday, then it really doesn’t matter what the Democrats do or say.

The country is ****ed if we can’t see beyond our own noses. There’s such a thing as civic virtue. Rejecting Trump isn’t just a policy issue, it’s a moral issue. And if Americans lack the morality to reject the evil that republicans are doing… then what can the Democrats do to change that? There’s no persuasion in attempting to instill morals and values in the immoral and valueless.
Click to expand...
In my admittedly over emotional affected opinion, both Democrats, and just as important, the media, need to be urging the American people to overthrow the government. Ridiculous? Well, yeah, that would be quite the change of pace, lol. But, like Edward R Murrow in the 1950’s and the “Red scare”, the time is long past for all of the major news networks to broadcast this message to their viewers: “Donald Trump is attempting to establish a fascist totalitarian state in the United States. And we must remove him from our body politic. Trump is a cancer in our society”. Will it trigger Trump and MAGA? Of course, it will be quite the scene. But we might as well bring it to a head, because it’s not ending, and we should, by now, be sick and tired of seeing a fascist takeover of our government presented as “nightly news entertainment”. Carefully presenting “both sides-ism”, guaranteed to accomplish nothing whatsoever.

I do know all hell will break loose if Trump and MAGA have to confront mainstream outlets insisting Trump is a fascist totalitarian, and therefore, the most anti-American president ever. And saying as much every single day. But our polarized state is not ending by playing nice toward fascism!

Yes, cable news does provide some of that political bias. MSNBC tells it like it is. But, so what? Fox and Newmax present their versions of reality, and in theirs, Obama is hung for treason. What we need is our media urging us to reject and find someway to defeat the arrival of fascism in the United States. The major networks are not doing so. Spell it out already. We are in a civil war, or a conservative revolution, which, as the creator of Project 2025 said “will be non violent, if the liberals allow it”. All networks should be urging the removal of Trump from office. Spell it out! We are not going to avoid going though this. So, bring it on! Just admit we are in the midst of an existential crisis, and that Donald Trump is America’s, and America’s higher angels and values, enemy #1. Call him what he is: a man who would bring the entire country to its knees to retain power, a man who would attack and destroy whatever higher angels of our human nature we ever nurtured, and elevate our darker angels, create a nation known for cruelty, not a nation known for promoting human freedom.

Don’t let a nightly news broadcast pass without reminding viewers who and what Trump is, and what he represents. Bring it on. Throw every spotlight you have on the reality of our situation. We are so polarized as to be living in two mutually exclusive realities. Trump created an alternate universe, and we should all be sick and tired at seeing it presented as an option! It ain’t an option! It’s fascist totalitarianism, no doubt eventually fully endorsed by the SCOTUS. The news presents MAGA’s view as if it were an actual option moving forward.

(BTW, I do know this will affect mainstream media $$$, making my suggestion unrealistic, money first, country an afterthought when it’s $$ involved. Capitulation, which we’ve seen from media, universities, law firms, is a thing. Sadly of course. But that’s capitalism for you, and one big reason why “the people” need to be in the streets more. Need to be marching on Washington more. If Democratic leadership is rudderless, if the mainstream networks love “both sides-ism”, then we the people need to take up the slack and take to the streets. Get in the way of ICE at every opportunity.)

Enough with both sides-ism. The media is supposed to be a watchdog, not an equal opportunity story teller! And yes, every Democratic leader needs to join the fight. It’s a war. We can’t deny that reality forever, while every plank of Project 2025 is shoved down our throats.
 
Last edited:
Red said:
In my admittedly over emotional affected opinion, both Democrats, and just as important, the media, need to be urging the American people to overthrow the government. Ridiculous? Well, yeah, that would be quite the change of pace, lol. But, like Edward R Murrow in the 1950’s and the “Red scare”, the time is long past for all of the major news networks to broadcast this message to their viewers: “Donald Trump is attempting to establish a fascist totalitarian state in the United States. And we must remove him from our body politic. Trump is a cancer in our society”. Will it trigger Trump and MAGA? Of course, it will be quite the scene. But we might as well bring it to a head, because it’s not ending, and we should, by now, be sick and tired of seeing a fascist takeover of our government presented as “nightly news entertainment”. Carefully presenting “both sides-ism”, guaranteed to accomplish nothing whatsoever.

I do know all hell will break loose if Trump and MAGA have to confront mainstream outlets insisting Trump is a fascist totalitarian, and therefore, the most anti-American president ever. And saying as much every single day. But our polarized state is not ending by playing nice toward fascism!

Yes, cable news does provide some of that political bias. MSNBC tells it like it is. But, so what? Fox and Newmax present their versions of reality, and in theirs, Obama is hung for treason. What we need is our media urging us to reject and find someway to defeat the arrival of fascism in the United States. The major networks are not doing so. Spell it out already. We are in a civil war, or a conservative revolution, which, as the creator of Project 2025 said “will be non violent, if the liberals allow it”. All networks should be urging the removal of Trump from office. Spell it out! We are not going to avoid going though this. So, bring it on! Just admit we are in the midst of an existential crisis, and that Donald Trump is America’s, and America’s higher angels and values, enemy #1. Call him what he is: a man who would bring the entire country to its knees to retain power, a man who would attack and destroy whatever higher angels of our human nature we ever nurtured, and elevate our darker angels, create a nation known for cruelty, not a nation known for promoting human freedom.

Don’t let a nightly news broadcast pass without reminding viewers who and what Trump is, and what he represents. Bring it on. Throw every spotlight you have on the reality of our situation. We are so polarized as to be living in two mutually exclusive realities. Trump created an alternate universe, and we should all be sick and tired at seeing it presented as an option! It ain’t an option! It’s fascist totalitarianism, no doubt eventually fully endorsed by the SCOTUS. The news presents MAGA’s view as if it were an actual option moving forward.

(BTW, I do know this will affect mainstream media $$$, making my suggestion unrealistic, money first, country an afterthought when it’s $$ involved. Capitulation, which we’ve seen from media, universities, law firms, is a thing. Sadly of course. But that’s capitalism for you, and one big reason why “the people” need to be in the streets more. Need to be marching on Washington more. If Democratic leadership is rudderless, if the mainstream networks love “both sides-ism”, then we the people need to take up the slack and take to the streets. Get in the way of ICE at every opportunity.)

Enough with both sides-ism. The media is supposed to be a watchdog, not an equal opportunity story teller! And yes, every Democratic leader needs to join the fight. It’s a war. We can’t deny that reality forever, while every plank of Project 2025 is shoved down our throats.
Click to expand...
A few thoughts

1. Democrats are expected to preserve institutions and respect laws and norms

-AND-

Start a revolution to help ward off fascism. That’s a tall order that I don’t think has ever been done by any other political organization in the history of the modern world. And when you talk about revolution, all I hear are right wingers laughing because now they have the talking pts that will persuade millions of low info voters who get their info from dudebro podcasts, church, Fox News, and social media.

2. Democrats governed successfully and were still rejected for fascism. It’s hard for people like me to get on your call for “revolution” when I live in a red state and know what crap the country voted for last fall. Quite honestly, the country through either sitting out the election or voting for Trump, voted for fascism last fall. And a big part of me wants them to get it and get it hard.

3. I don’t believe democratic organizing should rely on the Democratic party’s organization. If good people in this country cannot reject fascism and resist, then they just don’t reserve democracy. If last fall really wasn’t “who we are” then people should be able to organize and reject Trump and project 2025 by voting against fascism, rejecting fascist oligarchs, etc. But if they can’t continue to vote for Repubs because they’re Mormon and white and part of their Republican tribe, then honestly let fascism take over. Maybe after a generation or two of authoritarianism, people will learn to value the freedom and prosperity that democracy provides. This is what happened In Brazil and chile in the last 50 years. It’s what happened in Poland recently. People need to want democracy over “eGg PrIcEs” or “tHe WoKe.”

If people can’t reject Trump and republicans over what this regime is doing to vaccines, Ukraine, and immigrants, then the United States doesn’t deserve to be a democracy anymore. as you said, the people should get in the way of ICE. But if we’re too busy on social media or watching the kardashians or desperate Mormon housewives to care, then it doesn’t matter what the Democrstic party does.

Btw, I attend a ward here in Lehi and members still bitch about woke schools, gay marriage, abortion, illegals, and masks. It’s like we’re locked in 2020… or 2004. Forever. Most voters (especially in red states) are low info tribal voters. They only care about tribalism and culture war issues. It’s like vaccines, project 2025, Ukraine, and Epstein don’t exist. So keep that in mind.
 
The Thriller said:
If last fall really wasn’t “who we are” then people should be able to organize and reject Trump and project 2025 by voting against fascism, rejecting fascist oligarchs, etc. But if they can’t continue to vote for Repubs because they’re Mormon and white and part of their Republican tribe, then honestly let fascism take over. Maybe after a generation or two of authoritarianism, people will learn to value the freedom and prosperity that democracy provides. This is what happened In Brazil and chile in the last 50 years. It’s what happened in Poland recently. People need to want democracy over “eGg PrIcEs” or “tHe WoKe.”
Click to expand...

Yeah, see, what blows my mind is I think I’m supposed to feel this way about where we are, but I don’t want to, lol: “OK, if the people have spoken, and their message is ‘we want some type of fascist authoritarianism”, then that is the way we have to go. I don’t like it, but the people elected a fascist, and that’s that until the people no longer want that”. The situation we are in has always struck me as absurd. As if to say: “if Americans no longer, or never did, understand how ugly and dangerous fascism is, that’s a shame, but it does not mean they cannot elect a fascist leader hell bent on cruelty to human beings, because it’s their right to approve fascists hell bent on cruelty, and supported by Big Lies”.

Maybe to myself it’s always been the darker angels of human nature vs. the higher angels of human nature. Sometimes people make the most regrettable choice hindsight can provide. MAGA has always been characterized by “joy in the performance of cruelty against fellow Americans and ‘the other’”. There seems to be no question that Trump recognized our darker angels, knew what segments/elements in American society would resonate with his anger, his own hatred of “the other”, dark skinned undocumented humans, and there is nothing saying a candidate cannot appeal to our worst instincts and emotions and establish an administration dedicated to expressing the darker angels of our human nature.

And it should be bad enough for people to grow tired of it, as you suggest. So maybe we will learn the hard way, and somehow emerge, or maybe this is us for a long time to come. Teach me to take junior high school history teachers telling us Americans always wear the white hats seriously, lol.
 
Red said:
Yeah, see, what blows my mind is I think I’m supposed to feel this way about where we are, but I don’t want to, lol: “OK, if the people have spoken, and their message is ‘we want some type of fascist authoritarianism”, then that is the way we have to go. I don’t like it, but the people elected a fascist, and that’s that until the people no longer want that”. The situation we are in has always struck me as absurd. As if to say: “if Americans no longer, or never did, understand how ugly and dangerous fascism is, that’s a shame, but it does not mean they cannot elect a fascist leader hell bent on cruelty to human beings, because it’s their right to approve fascists hell bent on cruelty, and supported by Big Lies”.

Maybe to myself it’s always been the darker angels of human nature vs. the higher angels of human nature. Sometimes people make the most regrettable choice hindsight can provide. MAGA has always been characterized by “joy in the performance of cruelty against fellow Americans and ‘the other’”. There seems to be no question that Trump recognized our darker angels, knew what segments/elements in American society would resonate with his anger, his own hatred of “the other”, dark skinned undocumented humans, and there is nothing saying a candidate cannot appeal to our worst instincts and emotions and establish an administration dedicated to expressing the darker angels of our human nature.

And it should be bad enough for people to grow tired of it, as you suggest. So maybe we will learn the hard way, and somehow emerge, or maybe this is us for a long time to come. Teach me to take junior high school history teachers telling us Americans always wear the white hats seriously, lol.
Click to expand...
I want people to have the type of government they voted for. The American people had a pretty easy and clear choice less than one year ago. They made it. And now they should feel the consequences of their choices. That’s how representative democracy is supposed to work. I don’t like it when Americans vote for universal health care (Obama) and the minority party throws sand in the gears so we end up with romneycare. Likewise, I think if people wanted mass deportations and high tariffs, they should get em. And get them ****ing hard!

No more tacos. Bring on the ****ing tariffs and bleed trailer park Cleutis, suburban dudebro drive a ford 450 to Costco, and lip filler Mormon wife of 5 kids all under 4 Mandy, dry. They need to feel their fellow neighbors and ward members suffer and be deported. Then maybe next time they’ll take a demagogue a little more seriously.

Red, you reside on the east coast, right? I think you could benefit by spending some time out here in the Rocky Mountain west. These people live in a stupor a mass psychosis. And the only way out is pain. They need to feel their poor electoral choices. If the hope stove burns no one then people will keep touching it. And next time it might not be with someone as old, incompetent, or stupid as Trump.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page
Back
Top