Following another long silence, Joel summarized what we needed to do next. My description of our lifesaving work had been helpful, and we would need to develop “a very simple way to describe it to the secretary,” he told us. “To be clear, we’re not looking for a laundry list of everything you want to do, you’re going to have to cut things, it’s going to have to be draconian. You’re only going to get things that are priority number one, that is all we’re going to be able to do, so don’t even send up the things that are priorities number two, three, or four.” At that point, Nida jumped in. Out of the corner of my eye, I had noticed her picking nervously at her hands for most of the meeting, and I knew it was just a matter of time before my oft-impatient colleague spoke up. “Can I just clarify one thing?” she asked, not waiting for a response. “This group seems very focused on what GH does to respond to infectious diseases, but we haven’t spoken much about our other lifesaving work. Just as one example, we support lifesaving care to mothers for emergency inter- ventions like postpartum hemorrhaging and eclampsia, two of the leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths. You would also consider that kind of work to fit into our ‘priority number one,’ right?” Another brief silence followed as Joel watched the clock, and it was Paul Seong who broke it. “I’d say that’s more of a number two,” he said dismissively, looking to Joel and Ken for affirmation.

In Feb. 2025 when a USAID worker asked if their “lifesaving care” for “two of the leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths” would be considered a number one priority for programs to save, a Trump official responded “I’d say that’s more of a number two.”

www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usai...

“Some of the studies are testing new treatment regimens for drug- resistant tuberculosis,” I explained, hoping I could convey the very real danger in terms that would register with this audience. “Thousands of enrolled patients are at risk now that their lifesaving treatment is stopped. But that’s not the only danger. We only have limited options to treat drug- resistant TB. We’re using our antibiotics of last resort in these trials. Interrupting treatment midstream risks the development of new, even more drug-resistant strains that could be untreatable. For an airborne infectious disease, that is a serious national security risk.” Adam thought for a moment and then responded, noting that the political appointees at USAID were “not health people.” It would be hard, he surmised, for nonexperts to understand this issue. And so he suggested that we draft a simple, “Barney-style” set of slides to help the political leadership grasp the dangers, referring to the purple dinosaur of children’s television. He recommended that we use the term “Super TB” instead of “drug- resistant TB” to describe the mutations that can develop when treatment is interrupted, because it might be more likely to “catch their attention.”

A Trump guy who was part of the team dismantling USAID didn't think political appointees could grasp the concept of drug-resistant tuberculosis so he asked workers to explain it as "Super TB" in "Barney-style" slides.

www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usai...

Disappointed, though not surprised, I began to describe various life- saving components of USAID’s global health portfolio, highlighting how we prepare for and respond to emerging pandemic threats; support the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV; and immunize millions of children from the deadliest childhood diseases. I spoke for about five minutes, focusing primarily on our infectious diseases work and hoping to keep the attention of people who seemed to have no experience—or interest—in global health. When I finished, the room was silent, the political appointees looking at one another in what appeared to be disbelief. The silence was broken by Ken Jackson, who chuckled softly and shook his head. “Wow, there really is so much that USAID does that we never knew,” he said. “This is the story that needs to get out there.” Joel, also smiling, chimed in next, echoing Jackson’s amazement. “I had no idea you did all this,” he said. “As a Republican, when I think of what USAID does in global health, I assumed it was just, you know, abortions.”

This is NUTS

www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-usai...

Whistleblower says Trump officials thought USAID did 'just abortions,' asked for 'Barney-style' slides before gutting agency, per new book Read an exclusive excerpt from Nicholas Enrich's "Into the Wood Chipper"

NEW—I got an exclusive excerpt from a USAID whistleblower's new book that made me gasp multiple times. It details Trump's dismantling of the humanitarian aid agency & his team/DOGE's shocking ignorance to public health.

'Into the Wood Chipper' by Nicholas Enrich is out tomorrow. Read excerpt here:

That's great to hear. It was a busy thriving church in the 90s but it's a long time since I was there!

Ha it's such a small world! I'm from March and grew up attending St Peter's.

The Women Leaving the New Right Defectors say the movement has dropped the pretense of protecting women and is now openly “cruel and fickle.”

The right wing's comfort with casual misogyny, and the women who—after having put up with it for years—have finally had enough.
nymag.com/intelligence...

It puts you off bothering doesn't it?

True! My one lifeline is that near the office there are a few shops including M&S and Zara but Oxford Street on my lunch break is a bit of a mission.

And yes I am still grumpy about our John Lewis closing down five years ago 😂

Yep. I actually gave up bothering with Clarks for shoes when the boys were little as you'd go in and get measured only for them to tell you they only had one suitable pair of shoes in the size you needed.

Locally there is constant moaning when 'another café or restaurant' opens in the city centre. People claim they want independent stores but whenever they pop up, they're generally selling a load of rubbish.

Very familiar! In recent years I can think of numerous occasions like this. Most recently, school trousers. None in age 9 in the city centre or at the retail park. I don't have time to keep going back to see when things will be in stock!

Adult clothing...basically no point even bothering in my local city centre any more. You need to travel to the affluent town up the road, or for bigger things, Cambridge.

Problem is, with all the shop closures and the growth of online, there have been so many times I've gone into the city centre or even local retail park to get something and simply cannot get it. Nothing in stock. Children's shoes and clothing seem to be a particular issue.

It's tiiiimmmmee 😍

Church Of England - Digital Labs Officer

I'm currently recruiting for a role in our fab Digital Labs team - 12 month FTC helping local churches build confidence in using digital platforms. Looking for a confident communicator who can write blogs and present webinars!

Closing 4 January - www.cofepathways.org/members/modu...

Jesus Christ is always at the centre of Christmas. And everyone's invited to experience it with us.

Come and celebrate Christmas at a church near you.

Find services and events in your local community at AChurchNearYou.com/christmas.

Please hear me when I say that

1) these anti-medical woo birth movements have been a primary feeder into anti-vaxx eugenic movements

2) they pre-date the age of social media

3) they exist because we have not addressed medical sexism and specifically obstetric violence

The funniest thing about the theobros sharing this approvingly over at the other place is that they spend most of their time cancelling people and having tantrums...

View along the nave of St. Wendreda’s Church, March, showing the magnificent medieval angel roof with carved wooden angels soaring above the slender stone arcades.

🚴John Betjeman said that it was worth cycling 40 miles in a headwind to see them.
🪽The early C16th Angel Roof at St Wendreda in Cambs is adorned with over 100 oaken angels.

The same pattern we see so often

"In an age that craves certainty and tribalism, Anglicanism offers something quieter and stronger shaped by prayer and lit from within by the glory of Christ. That is what gives me hope."
– The Rt Rev and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, Archbishop of Canterbury-designate, in her address this morning 🕯️

Most people in Britain don't know who Kirk was. This is who he was

Kirk’s murder is horrible and political violence is unacceptable.

But he was not a “conservative” talking “common sense”. TPUS is not best known for getting the vote out.

We can condemn the killing without sanitising his views and actions.

Every single Democrat should instantly condemn him for this and demand a retraction and apology. Blow it up. He's supporting domestic violence! It's nightmarish!

Never made them, but maintained folders of them organised by theme and spent hours choosing exactly which ones to use once I got the ability to have the maximum number of them on a paid account 🤣

Book burning, Latin prayers – and a lot of kids: inside the American ‘trad family’ movement The movement towards simple, Christian living can be a yearning for order in a chaotic age. It’s also alarmingly retrograde

Book burning, Latin prayers – and a lot of kids: inside the American ‘trad family’ movement

TPUSA’s Young Women’s Leadership Summit vision for women The pitch: Trade feminism for femininity, ditch your career aspirations, and focus on finding your husband and becoming a stay-at-home mom.

Antifeminist women’s summit: ‘The kitchen is where the real revolution starts’ << each new paragraph brings more 🤮

www.splcenter.org/resources/ha...

‘There is no safe way to do it’: the rapid rise and horrifying risks of choking during sex Now thought to be the second most common cause of stroke in women under 40, it can also lead to difficulty swallowing, incontinence, seizures, memory problems, depression, anxiety and miscarriage. How...

Everything about this is horrifying. Strangulation now thought to be second leading cause of strokes in women under-40. As one expert says - if this is supposed to be about sensuality, why is it mostly men strangling women?

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...