Craig Hooper

a man in a blue and yellow striped uniform is standing in front of a wall and the word scofield is below him ALT: a man in a blue and yellow striped uniform is standing in front of a wall and the word scofield is below him

As a USCG advocate, I have always advocated DHS Secretaries grant ICE a brand new, high-tech, you-must-wear-this-on-duty-or-be-fired uniform. Like 👇

Anybody taking odds on if we trip a stock market circuit breaker today?

What happened to the Shipbuilding Executive Orders guys?

I am begging blue state governors to have lunch this week with your adjutant general of the National Guard.

Cannot stress enough how important this relationship is going to be in the near future.

*Tiredly looks up from bar, mutters something colorful about "obviously sending in our very best" and slowly turns back to a grubby, well-worn crossword*

I'm so old I remember when Pakistan and Russia shut down our various supply routes into Afghanistan.

Russia and China would love to have an isolated American detachment they can cut off relatively at-will, and we can burn up our carriers to fly pointless air support missions again.

Agreed. but, 1) How has that strategy been working so far? and 2) By asking the question and posing the grim hypothetical--the natural outcome of the GOP ethos and FAFO rhetoric--you might start getting some of these policymakers to engage a bit more in supporting the policies we both agree upon.

But more people are wearing seatbelts, right?

True. But the dynamics of chronic disease are different from infectious disease outbreaks. That burger you ate that gave you heart disease doesn't usually risk your neighborhood's health or access to care. Chronic diseases also manifest slowly and don't slam/overwhelm/beak hospitals as much.

We are in TOTAL agreement here. But, in an environment where we're not funding these resources to provide this level of care and support, then you gotta take steps that make the most difference for the lowest cost sometimes.

We are already seeing this dynamic play out elsewhere in society. Try getting an insurance company to pay out for injuries after an auto accident if you didn't fasten your seatbelt. The difference is that an antivax person risks cascading consequences across the community's medical infrastructure.

By risking the threat of serious consequences, you force institutions to do a better job of educating their charges on the potential ramifications of their right to exercise their liberties. Society (and insurance companies) shouldn't be under any obligation to support bad decision-making.

Aww, that's nice. Still not re-subscribing though.

Put another way, is being compassionate to the individual who doesn't vaccinate cruel to the community out there that suffers due to the disease the unvaccinated person might cause?

I get that. But...Unless people face consequences for their actions, they won't change. And, also, civilization and the things that bolster it (like public health) are often tough--almost ruthless--trades between things that benefit many and hurt some.

Immunologist here. Measles is a terrible death. I know we hate being confronted with uncomfortable images, but somebody needs to start posting old images of infants that died of measles. Sometimes the best thing for holdouts is a reminder that the disease is horrible, here, and could hurt you.

Maybe it would be time to embrace the FAFO ethos, and Democrats to say, "fine, don't take vaccines, that's your right, ok" but then charge for the privilege--no Medicare/Medicaid support unvaccinated victims of a vaccine preventable disease, forced payment of medical care for cases linked to unvaxed

As a public health/infectious disease immunologist, I'm biased towards vaccines. They work, and while the mortality rates may seem low (lots of anti vax people scoff at the "save 500 people" stats about measles vaccination" but everybody kind of forgets the costs associated with just getting measles

Maybe it's a time to ask pointed questions--not necessarily about mortality--but about the cost of the morbidity associated with measles? I mean, if a cent of Medicare or Medicaid money is being spent due to this outbreak, it might be good to pursue it just a bit you know?

I dunno about Democratic strategy, but if you're in the midst of an outbreak of a disease that vaccines had exterminated from the United States, wouldn't it be a good time to put a little pressure on the Administration's anti-vaccine HHS Secretary?

It'll be interesting to see how the officer corps responds to the Pentagon's forthcoming purge. I'll be comparing it to the wailing and rending of garments that accompanied the Fat Leonard investigation.

Also, no de-minimus tariff implementation plans seem to be in evidence anywhere, leaving a big, giant hole in tariff collection and fentanyl smuggling efforts...

We're days away from Trump's third deadline on imposing and across-the-board 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico. But it's totally off the radar.

USCG Polar Security Cutter Program Offers DOGE An Easy “Win” President Trump likes icebreakers. With America's big icebreaker, the Polar Security Cutter, billions over budget and years behind schedule, DOGE can get an easy win.

www.forbes.com/sites/craigh...

What's the over/under odds on the White House kicking the Mexico/Canada tariffs back another month?

I'm fascinated that this EO dropped when JD Vance was on his first trip out of the country.

Interesting this EO drops when JD Vance is....out of town.

What's the odds that the Kennedy Center is gonna be fitted out for boxing and MMA bouts?

As a former academic who had to contend with silly amounts of overhead (50-70%) on grants, I am ok slapping a limit on overhead rates.

There's a lot of administrative and service bloat in higher ed, and we could all do with far fewer deans/administrators.

Facing Threat Of U.S. Invasion, A Deal Is Panama’s Best Defense With few options and time running out, a deal may prove to be Panama's best defense. The cost of occupying the canal may make U.S. taxpayers consider other options.

There's likely going to be an ugly phone call tomorrow and I'm betting we'll be talking about a Panama invasion all weekend long.
www.forbes.com/sites/craigh...