'The FDA is a complete mess': Trump makes fate of agency chief unclear as public trust plummets

Donald Trump has signed off on a plan to fire Marty Makary, the commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, after a series of high-profile agency decisions put the FDA head in the crosshairs of the White House and Republican lawmakers.

Makary’s tenure at the FDA has been marked by several controversial decisions on drugs and vaccines amid plummeting staff morale over layoffs and the appointments of divisive officials. Recent political clashes include abortion, drugs and vaping, but decisions to pull back publications on the safety of shingles and Covid vaccines, among other immunization decisions, have also rocked public health. There have also been concerns about the transition from two clinical trials to one, the commissioner’s new priority review vouchers and “data-free” regulatory decisions.

Trump’s plan to fire Makary is not yet final and may still change, the Journal reported. Makary, “an embattled, paranoid leader”, is “one more high-profile misstep” away from losing his job, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. He is on “thin ice” with the White House because he is “not the best fit” to manage staff and navigate bureaucracy, according to Notus.

Trump “upbraided” Makary and made a series of calls over the weekend to pressure him into approving fruit-flavored vapes for the first time after Makary overrode agency scientists to halt the approval, according to the Wall Street Journal. The new flavours, reportedly part of Trump’s plan to appeal to younger voters, were approved on Tuesday. The news release does not include any comments from Makary, which is unusual, and attributes moves like these to “President Trump’s leadership”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/09/marty-makary-fda-food-drug-administration

Dipshit, it's YOUR Secretary of HHS that made it that way. Fire HIM!

'The worst kind of predator': Louisiana pastor found guilty for third time of molesting teen boys

A suburban New Orleans religious pastor has been convicted of sexually molesting two minors in what is the third instance of a man called “the worst kind of predator” being found guilty of abusing teen boys.

Terry Reed, 66, cited biblical verses and scripture to “manipulate, normalize and justify his sexual behavior” with the two victims at the center of the newest case against him, according to a statement from Louisiana state prosecutors.

One of those victims began visiting and then moved into Reed’s home at age 16 in August 2021, after the boy’s relationship with his mother became strained. Reed then abused that teenager on multiple occasions before the victim reported him to authorities, leading to his arrest in 2023.

At that point, the second victim came forward to report that he, too, had repeatedly endured sexual abuse by Reed after moving into the pastor’s home in May 2011 at age 16.

Prosecutors in Louisiana’s Jefferson parish – which is the state’s word for county – subsequently charged Reed with two counts each of third-degree rape and molestation of a juvenile. The jury in front of whom Reed was tried deliberated for less than an hour on 6 May to find him guilty as charged.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/09/new-orleans-pastor-guilty-sexually-molesting-teens

And of course he's a Talibangelical.

Botswana mourns death of Festus Mogae, the former president who prioritized HIV/AIDS fight

Festus Mogae, Botswana’s former president who made a national priority of the fight against HIV and AIDS during his tenure from 1998 to 2008, has died at the age of 86, the government said Friday. No cause of death was given.

Botswana President Duma Boko said that under Mogae’s leadership, the country earned international respect for principled, sound economic management and a commitment to democracy. He said the country would undergo three days of national mourning in honor of its former head of state.

Botswana, a sparsely populated and arid country in southern Africa, is the biggest producer of diamonds by value and the second biggest by volume behind Russia. Diamonds account for around 80% of Botswana’s exports and a quarter of its gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Mogae is credited with championing the fight against HIV/AIDS in Botswana, which he made a national priority, and launched free access to antiretroviral drugs at public health facilities in 2002 and extending it to noncitizens in 2019.

https://apnews.com/article/botswana-former-president-festus-mogae-obituary-eb9f28d90d27a6da748d71012e215231

Botswana is one of the most politically stable countries in Africa. It is also (having nothing to do with this article) the scene of the delightful "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" books.

US authorities cancel cruise ship worker visas as part of child sexual abuse images case

U.S. immigration authorities have canceled the visas of more than two dozen people, including some who worked on a Disney Cruise Line ship, amid allegations that they possessed or had viewed child sexual abuse images.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Friday that authorities boarded eight cruise ships in late April and determined that 27 people, mostly from the Philippines, were involved in “the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing” of child sexual abuse images.

The agency canceled the visas of those involved and returned them to their home countries, the statement said.

The agency did not say if any passengers aboard the ships were believed to be victims. It also did not say which ships agents boarded, why those ships were targeted or where the operations took place. The statement said no additional information was available.
(snip)

Immigrant and workers’ rights groups said they had been trying, without success, to obtain information about the status of the workers and the reason behind the enforcement action. Benjamin Prado, with one of the groups, Unión del Barrio, said they held a news conference Tuesday in San Diego after previously receiving a generic statement from Customs and Border Protection.

https://apnews.com/article/cruise-ships-border-protection-0fb090bf764932182a60828bda3e0b62

Kinda makes one wonder....

Georgia officials knew chemicals from carpet mills were polluting local water. The people did not

Growing up in northwest Georgia, Stormy Bost lived her life in the water. During summers she plucked crawdads from the neighborhood creek and played in its cool depths, racing home for dinner to beat the setting sun.

Waiting for her were pitchers of sweet tea, which her family brewed using tap water.

“Your family’s going through a gallon every day or two, and it’s cheap,” Bost said. “But it comes from the faucet.”

As a parent, Bost made sweet tea the same way for her own children — until a few years ago when she learned the local tap water contained toxic chemicals called PFAS.

Bost and her husband are raising two daughters in Calhoun, the same small river town dominated by the region’s multibillion-dollar carpet industry where she was reared. For decades, textile mills relied on PFAS in popular brands like Stainmaster and Scotchgard for stain resistance. Some of the chemicals that didn’t stick on carpets were flushed with the industry’s wastewater into local sewer pipes and, eventually, the region’s rivers.

The same odorless, colorless chemicals in tap water here have accumulated in Bost’s body, blood tests show. Her PFAS levels are higher than national health guidelines consider safe and, at 34, she has been diagnosed with liver and thyroid conditions — the types of ailments that research has linked to PFAS.

https://apnews.com/article/pfas-water-contamination-georgia-alabama-f99eddb12d52583cf763613001e2eb8c

How many of the rest of us are dealing with the same kind of thing from carpet mills, furniture plants, chemical factories, agricultural waste, etc., and don't know it?

33 dead vultures dumped in Great Smoky Mountains spur investigation

An investigation is underway after more than 30 dead vultures were found dumped along a roadway in Great Smoky Mountains National Park last month, according to the National Park Service.

Park officials said rangers discovered 33 dead black vultures along the side of Foothills Parkway West in Tennessee on April 6 at approximately noon local time. The birds were found between Chilhowee and Walland, according to a May 5 park service release.

The black vulture is federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, making it illegal to harm or kill the birds without a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"Dumping of anything in a national park is illegal," park officials said in the release.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/05/07/dead-vultures-great-smoky-mountain-national-park-investigation/89977056007/?tbref=hp

Look, y'all. Vultures may be ugly, but they serve a very useful purpose. As my late Israeli friend, who had made quite a study of them, once said, "Think how bad the world would smell if not for them. Nobody loves a garbageman."

As enrollment falls, old schools find new life as apartments

In a once-thriving neighborhood in the southeast part of Atlanta, Lakewood Elementary served families who came to work at the General Motors assembly plant, a sprawling 100-acre landmark that became a path toward economic mobility for entry-level workers. At its height in the late 1970s, the plant employed as many as 5,700 people.

But by the early ‘90s, when Gloria Hawkins-Wynn moved into the community, signs of decline were evident. The last Chevy Caprice rolled off the assembly line in 1990, and a popular antique market at the now-defunct Lakewood Fairgrounds shut down in 2006. The closure of the elementary school two years earlier further contributed to neighborhood blight, turning the abandoned structure into a hotspot for criminal activity.

“We get prostitution. We get drug dealing. We get drive-by shootings,” Hawkins-Wynn told a local news station four years ago. A neighborhood representative, she urged city leaders to turn the eyesore over to a developer.

Former students begged the city to save the school, home to some of their earliest memories: Dick and Jane books, dances in the auditorium, a principal named Mr. Hinkle. Still visible on the school’s deserted playground is a faded map of the United States.

“Please don’t demolish it,” wrote one woman. Walking to Lakewood with her mother, who died when she was 7, is a cherished memory.

Now the old school is one of several in Atlanta slated to become apartments. It’s a transformation that is increasingly taking place across the country as city leaders and developers look to give new life to vacant buildings once bustling with students and teachers, The 74 reports.

https://www.wkow.com/news/as-enrollment-falls-old-schools-find-new-life-as-apartments/article_bfe03335-0a05-5274-9165-61a0a3a14c79.html

In Knoxville, TN, the old Knoxville HS became senior apartments. They are lovely. In Georgetown, KY, the former Catholic girls' school I lived in for the first half of my first travel nursing assignment fell victim to condo developers. Not so nice.

Madison dementia care village ditches locked doors for family-style living inspired by Dutch model

Madison non-profit hospice group Agrace will break ground on its dementia village in two weeks, the first of its kind in the country.

The village is modeled after The Hogeweyk Village in the Netherlands.

Right now in the United States — caring for those with cognitive decline means prioritizing safety.

"We sort of warehouse them," said Dr. Zorba Paster, a doctor and former nursing home director. "We put them into a place. We lock the doors so they can't get out."

But that could soon change with the new approach coming to Madison.

"They have almost 190 people that live in their [The Hogeweyk] village," said Lynne Sexton, president and CEO of Agrace. "And we were astonished. We didn't see anybody on oxygen, which is very common as you get closer to the end of life."

https://www.wkow.com/news/madison-dementia-care-village-ditches-locked-doors-for-family-style-living-inspired-by-dutch-model/article_1dc2dde3-f237-4613-9d12-b60e836a6d2f.html

More of these, please!

'Not the president's consigliere': Obama slams Trump over DOJ directives

Former President Barack Obama called out President Donald Trump for directing the Department of Justice to prosecute his political opponents and critics, saying the attorney general, who leads the DOJ, isn't the president's "consigliere."

Obama made the comments in an interview that aired on May 5 with Stephen Colbert, who hosts CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

"The White House shouldn't be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever," Obama said when asked about what powers he believes presidents should not have.

"The idea is that the attorney general is the people's lawyer. It's not the president's consigliere," he added. "Consigliere" is a term for an adviser or counselor to the leader of a criminal organization, such as a Mafia family.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/05/06/obama-decries-trump-colbert-interview/89961790007/?tbref=hp

Shitler probably doesn't even know what "consigliere" means, despite the fact that he acts exactly like a mob boss.

Nic on JD in the month of May