11 Comments on “Thursday Cartoons: Taco Trump”

1. Mama Lopez says:

   May 29, 2025 at 9:57 am

   HHS, led by anti-vaxxer RFK Jr., just canceled a $766 million contract with Moderna to fight potential pandemic flu viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu.Moderna had just announced positive interim results from an early-stage trial of the vaccine. http://www.huffpost.com/entry/flu-va...

   — Jen Bendery (@jbendery.bsky.social) 2025-05-29T14:14:22.147Z

2. dakinikat says:

   May 29, 2025 at 10:23 am

   Why are more than 300 people in the US still dying from COVID every week?

   Experts say there is low vaccine uptake and people are not accessing treatments.

   https://abcnews.go.com/Health/300-people-us-dying-covid-week/story?id=122068959

   “More than five years after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the United States, hundreds of people are still dying every week.

   Last month, an average of about 350 people died each week from COVID, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

   While high, the number of deaths is decreasing and is lower than the peak of 25,974 deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, as well as weekly deaths seen in previous spring months, CDC data shows.

   Public health experts told ABC News that although the U.S. is in a much better place than it was a few years ago, COVID is still a threat to high-risk groups.

   “The fact that we’re still seeing deaths just means it’s still circulating, and people are still catching it,” Dr. Tony Moody, a professor in the department of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Duke University Medical Center, told ABC News.”

   • dakinikat says:

     May 29, 2025 at 10:25 am

     United States had 1.5 million excess deaths following COVID-19 pandemic

     More than 1.5 million “missing Americans” died in 2022 and 2023, deaths that would have been averted if U.S. death rates matched those of other wealthy nations, researchers reported Friday in JAMA Health Forum.

     https://www.accuweather.com/en/health-wellness/united-states-had-1-5-million-excess-deaths-following-covid-19-pandemic/1779224

     “Excess deaths in the United States have continued to mount following the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to an early demise for hundreds of thousands, a new study says.

     More than 1.5 million “missing Americans” died in 2022 and 2023, deaths that would have been averted if U.S. death rates matched those of other wealthy nations, researchers reported Friday in JAMA Health Forum.

     In fact, nearly 1 of every 2 deaths among people younger than 65 (46%) in 2023 would not have occurred if U.S. death rates mirrored those of peer nations, researchers found.

     “The U.S. has been in a protracted health crisis for decades, with health outcomes far worse than other high-income countries,” lead researcher Jacob Bor, an associate professor of global health and epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health, said in a news release.

     “Imagine the lives saved, the grief and trauma averted, if the U.S. simply performed at the average of our peers,” Bor added. “One out of every 2 U.S. deaths under 65 years is likely avoidable. Our failure to address this is a national scandal.”

     For the study, researchers tracked death record data from the United States and 21 other high-income nations from 1980 to 2023, including more than 107 million U.S. deaths and 230 million deaths among the peer nations.

     The other wealthy nations included Australia, Canada, France, Japan and Britain, researchers said.

     Overall, the United States had nearly 15 million excess deaths during the four decades in question, when stacking its death rate against that of other wealthy countries, results show.

     In 1980, the United States actually outperformed other nations, with 42,000 fewer deaths than might be expected compared to the death rates of peer nations.

     But in 1990, the United States had more than 89,000 excess deaths, leaping to nearly 355,000 in 2000 and 409,000 in 2010, results show.

     Excess deaths peaked in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 1 million dead in 2020 and nearly 1.1 million in 2021, researchers said.

     But excess deaths remained high even after scientists conquered COVID, with more than 820,000 in 2022 and 705,000 in 2023, the study says.

     “The 700,000 excess American deaths in 2023 is exactly what you’d predict based on prior rising trends, even if there had never been a pandemic,” said researcher Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota.

     “These deaths are driven by long-running crises in drug overdose, gun violence, car collisions, and preventable cardiometabolic deaths,” she added in a news release.

     In 2023, needless excess deaths accounted for nearly 23% of all deaths in America, researchers report.”

     These excess deaths show how the policies of other peer nations better protect the health of their citizens, senior researcher Andrew Stokes said in a news release.

     “Other countries show that investing in universal healthcare, strong safety nets, and evidence-based public health policies leads to longer, healthier lives,” said Stokes, an associate professor of global health and epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health.

     “Unfortunately, the U.S. faces unique challenges; public distrust of government and growing political polarization have made it harder to implement policies that have proven successful elsewhere,” he added.

     The executive actions and policies enacted under the second Trump administration threaten to drive excess deaths even higher, Bor said.

     For example, the U.S. House of Representatives’ approved version of legislation containing President Donald Trump‘s second-term agenda includes potential cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that would make excess deaths even more likely.

     “Deep cuts to public health, scientific research, safety net programs, environmental regulations, and federal health data could lead to a further widening of health disparities between the US and other wealthy nations, and growing numbers of excess — and utterly preventable — deaths to Americans,” Bor said.”

     This is awful. We’re killing people.

3. dakinikat says:

   May 29, 2025 at 10:38 am

   Judge rules effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil likely 'unconstitutional' https://twp.ai/4imt6T

   — #TuckFrump (@realtuckfrumper.bsky.social) 2025-05-29T15:37:25.000Z

   • dakinikat says:

     May 29, 2025 at 12:39 pm

     Once again, it's not "doxxing" to report the name of a government employee.

     — Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) 2025-05-29T15:37:24.350Z

4. dakinikat says:

   May 29, 2025 at 12:17 pm

5. dakinikat says:

   May 29, 2025 at 1:05 pm

   Glacier collapses, destroys 90% of Swiss village

   “A massive landslide destroyed 90% of Blatten, Switzerland, a town nestled in a valley below a steep mountainside.

   “We’ve lost our village,” Blatten Mayor Matthias Bellwald said in the wake of the landslide. “The village is under rubble. We will rebuild.”

   The landslide was triggered after a part of a glacier in the nearby mountains broke off, which sent a flood of ice, rock and debris charging down the mountainside toward the Alpine village on Wednesday.

   Fortunately, most of the town’s residents had evacuated amid growing concerns about the glacier’s instability. However, a 64-year-old man is missing in the wake of the disaster, according to The Associated Press.”

   The photos are amazing. Massive flooding in India. A tropical depression in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico. All this severe weather here.

   Tell me the fuck climate change is imaginary again. Plus, what is going to happen with the polar vortex gone to Europe?

6. dakinikat says:

   May 29, 2025 at 1:30 pm

   https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-reveals-theres-video-prove-jeffrey-epstein-killed-himself-2078571

   FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said on Fox News Thursday morning that he is certain Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, died by suicide while in federal custody — and there is video that supports it.Why It Matters

   Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender, socialized with some of the world’s most powerful people. He died in jail in August 2019 while awaiting new sex trafficking charges.

   While his death was ruled a suicide, conspiracy theories persist that he was instead murdered due to his purported “client list,” which many have speculated to contain the names of politicians including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, and Britain’s Prince Andrew.

   Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said the FBI is reviewing “tens of thousands of videos” involving Epstein with children or involving child porn, with “hundreds of victims,” urging patience as the agency works through the sheer volume of evidence.

   An initial “Phase I” release of some Epstein files in March was met with criticism since most of the information was already public, putting increased pressure on further releases to provide new information.

   Bongino made the revelation during an interview Thursday morning while speaking with Fox & Friends, saying the video would prove definitively that Epstein was alone the night he died.

   “There is nothing in the file at this point on the Epstein case — and there is going to be a disclosure on this coming shortly… there is video. That is something the public does not know,” Bongino said.

7. dakinikat says:

   May 29, 2025 at 2:31 pm

   🚨Rumors Fly As Top Trump Aide's Wife ABANDONS White House For Musk https://twp.ai/4imtYm

   — #TuckFrump (@realtuckfrumper.bsky.social) 2025-05-29T19:31:12.000Z

   • dakinikat says:

     May 29, 2025 at 2:32 pm

     She must have a thing for sociopaths

8. dakinikat says:

   May 29, 2025 at 3:27 pm

   US District Judge Rudolph Contreras has just ruled that Donald Trump’s tariffs are unlawful this morning but then an appeals court judge did this so it’s fast track two the 9 ugly white guys on SCOTUS now.

   Trump tariffs reinstated by appeals court for now

   “A federal appeals court on Thursday granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause a lower-court ruling that struck down most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

   The Trump administration had earlier told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that it would seek “emergency relief” from the Supreme Court as soon as Friday if the tariff ruling was not quickly put on pause.

   The judgment issued Wednesday night by the U.S. Court of International Trade is “temporarily stayed until further notice while this court considers the motions papers,” the appeals court said in its order.

   The pause gives the Trump administration some breathing room as it prepares to argue that the trade court’s ruling should be halted for the duration of the appeals process.

   The appeals court gave the plaintiffs — a group that includes state attorneys general and a handful of domestic businesses — one week to respond to the administration’s bid for a stay pending appeal. The U.S. will be able to reply to that response by June 9.

   “This is merely a procedural step as the court considers the government’s request for a longer stay pending appeal,” said Jeffrey Schwab, a lawyer for the business plaintiffs, in a statement.

   “We are confident the Federal Circuit will ultimately deny the government’s motion shortly thereafter, recognizing the irreparable harm these tariffs inflict on our clients,” Schwab said.”