“I want people to know that that’s not what we’re about. You can be a part of it, you can exercise daily and eat healthy and not have to be a fitness guru, not have to talk about it all the time. You just do it.”
The post MJ Karp: The Calisthenics of Community appeared first on Qween City.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) offered an apology to fired CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez on Wednesday during the Senate Health Committee hearing, surprising CNN anchor Brianna Keilar.
"That apology from Sen. Kaine was really something," Keilar said, adding that officials who heard her testimony over her resignation called her and other CDC officials who resigned "heroes."
Monarez was fired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy disputes. In the hearing, Monarez testified that Kennedy asked her not to talk to senators and pressured her to give him full pre-approval over any changes to vaccine policies at the agency. She, along with other ousted colleagues, warned the senators that Kennedy is risking Americans' public health.
“Dr. Monarez, I owe you an apology," Kaine said. "When you were here for your confirmation hearing, I questioned you very significantly, not on your qualifications – you got over the qualifications bar easily – but my worries about the direction of HHS made me question you very significantly on your backbone, a trait that is not in long supply in this town. And then when I voted against your confirmation. I cited that as the reason. Again, no concern about your qualifications. I had concern about your backbone. And I was wrong and I apologize to you for being wrong. I think it’s important when you’re wrong to admit you’re wrong.”
Democrats had voted unanimously against her confirmation.
Kennedy, who is known for his anti-vaccine advocacy, later fired 17 CDC employees and replaced them with his own selected staff who follow his views.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel that issues vaccine recommendations, is scheduled to meet Thursday, according to reports.
Leaders at the ACLU on Tuesday joined other rights advocates and elected Democrats in condemning US President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Memphis with a Monday order he signed beside Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
“When military troops police civilians, we have an intolerable threat to individual liberty and the foundational values of this country,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, in a statement.
“President Trump may want to normalize armed forces in our cities, but no matter what uniform they wear, federal agents and military troops are bound by the Constitution and have to respect our rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, and due process,” Shamsi continued. “State and local leaders must stay strong and take all lawful measures to protect residents against this cruel intimidation tactic.”
While Lee expressed his gratitude to Trump for the order, some other elected officials in Tennessee have spoken out since Trump previewed his plans for Memphis on “Fox & Friends” last Friday.
The Associated Press reported on local opposition Monday:
“I did not ask for the National Guard, and I don’t think it’s the way to drive down crime,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young told a news conference Friday while acknowledging the city remained high on too many “bad lists.”
Young has also said that now the decision is made, he wants to ensure he can help influence the Guard’s role. He mentioned possibilities such as traffic control for big events, monitoring cameras for police and undertaking beautification projects.
At a news conference Monday, some local Democrats urged officials to consider options to oppose the deployment. Tami Sawyer, Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk, said the city or county could sue.
State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-86), whose district includes parts of the city, declared, “We need poverty eradication, not military occupation!”
Denouncing Trump’s targeting of Memphis on MSNBC, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said that “having the National Guard here is unnecessary and it is a stunt. It’s just a Trump show, to show his power and his force.”
“I think this may be the first representation of his changing the Department of Defense to the Department of War, because he likes to put the National Guard at his direction, as his being the great warrior, into cities and going to war,” he added.
According to a White House fact sheet, Trump’s memorandum tasks Secretary of War Pete Hegseth with requesting Lee “make Tennessee National Guard units available to support public safety and law enforcement operations in Memphis,” and further directs Hegseth to “coordinate with state governors to mobilize National Guard personnel from those states to support this effort.”
The order also “establishes a Memphis Safe Task Force tasked with ending street and violent crime in Memphis to the greatest possible extent, including by coordinating closely with state and local officials in Tennessee, Memphis, and neighboring jurisdictions to share information, develop joint priorities, and maximize resources to make Memphis safe and restore public order.”
Trump has already deployed the National Guard to Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, California, and threatened to do so in Chicago, Illinois, where his deadly “Operation Midway Blitz” targeting immigrants is already underway.
“Expanding military involvement into US civilian law enforcement is dangerous and unwarranted,” Tanya Greene, US program director at Human Rights Watch, said Tuesday. “The Trump administration’s continued deployment of military forces in cities with populations primarily comprised of people of color, like Memphis, risks exacerbating violence against immigrants, unhoused people, and poor people in general.”
“While communities desperately need food, affordable housing, and healthcare,” she added, “hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being squandered on these deployments.”
