NASA is sinking its flagship science center during the government shutdown — and may be breaking the law in the process, critics say "There is just a general acknowledgement that a lot of what is happening is illegal…"

More malignant stupidity from sociopaths in the current administration:

"Goddard's arm of NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance was hit particularly hard by position losses..."

Because why worry about safety when you work with explosives and toxic chemicals?

www.space.com/space-explor...

Sadly, any professionals not already fired would be on shutdown furlough. Nobody around to tell the toddler-in-chief and his minions how illegal, stupid, and unhealthy this is. Not that they'd care.

Federal agency overseeing US nuclear stockpile will furlough most of its workforce starting Monday | CNN Politics The federal agency responsible for overseeing and modernizing the US nuclear stockpile will furlough the vast majority of its staff Monday as the government shutdown drags on, according to the Departm...

The people guarding the US nuclear stockpile are being furloughed today.

Meanwhile, Trump deemed those who helped him start trolling accounts on Bluesky and who disseminated his shitpost over the weekend essential.

edition.cnn.com/2025/10/19/p...

Good call. And similar stuff could be in any of the older buildings. UVA buildings built up until the late 1970s used a lot of ACM. Portions of the ventilation ducting in Pinn (then Jordan) Hall had crysotile spray-on insulation that was only removed around 1983-84.

Washington Excavating Company Fined $140K After Inspector Stops Trench Collapse -- Occupational Health & Safety Clark County contractor cited for repeated trench safety violations; quick action prevented potential tragedy.

Who says #OSHA doesn't save lives?
ohsonline.com/articles/202...

How Trump Broke Corporate America’s Most Valuable Consultant Businesses are begging the White House and RFK Jr. to rethink their massive cuts to Niosh, a workplace research agency that saves the US billions of dollars a year.

Destroying #NIOSH: How Trump Broke Corporate America’s Most Valuable Consultant.

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

DOL Issues Spring 2025 Regulatory Agenda - Confined Space As Fall approaches, the Trump administration issues its Spring 2025 Regulatory Agenda. Several OSHA standards have been killed or put into limbo

OSHA kills infectious disease standard after thousands of Frontline healthcare workers died of COVID-19.

Workplace violence standard put on the back burner despite high injury rates among health care workers. jordanbarab.com/confinedspac...

Cow manure just killed 6 workers on a dairy farm. It happens more than you’d think. Dairy farms are among the most dangerous workplaces. Why aren’t they regulated like it?

There is an OSHA Standard requiring Confined Space safety training in General Industry, Construction, Maritime Industry - every kind of work EXCEPT agriculture.

Why isn't there a OSHA Confined Space standard for agriculture? Are farm workers considered expendable?
www.vox.com/future-perfe...
#OSHA

6 people found dead during confined space rescue at Northern Colorado dairy farm Six people were found dead Wednesday evening at a dairy farm in Northern Colorado, officials said.

People don't die in confined spaces if you test the air before entering, and ventilate the space if needed. Air monitors and ventilation blowers cost a few hundred dollars each.

Or, you can just consider your workers to be expendable:

www.cbsnews.com/colorado/new...

No More Snacks, Exercise, Or Visitors at Goddard And Wallops This is really starting to get petty Sean and Brian

The NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center does an excellent job of supporting science education in an area (Eastern Shore of MD/VA) without many resources. So of course Trump's team of morons wants it dead: nasawatch.com/personnel-ne...

The airman was killed when removing his holstered (issue holster, trigger completely covered) M18 from his belt and setting it on a table still in the holster. Multiple witnesses. Rumor is the manual safety was even on. (Unlike the civilian P320, the M18 has a manual safety.)

YouTube video by Next 9NEWS Loveland Police say ATF agent used their license plate trackers, listed 'ICE' as reason

The city council of Loveland, Colorado installed the Flock surveillance cameras to "fight crime", promising that the system would not be used for immigration enforcement.

Then Loveland PD opens the system to the Federal ATF, who proceed to run queries for ICE:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWE8...

"Trump called for the CSB’s closure during his first term but settled for leaving many investigator and agency leadership positions unfilled."

We can add Denver to the "protesters were peaceful, police were not" list.

Oddly, police in most other locations in Colorado were well behaved, even in "red" areas. But Denver PD, in particular, seems determined to live down to its reputation.

Only way of improving a liverwurst sandwich is to add some chopped up red onion!

SCIMaP - Impacts of Federal Cuts to Science and Medical Research Developed by an interdisciplinary research team, this website shows how funding cuts reduce economic activity and employment nationwide

See national impact of federal health research cuts scienceimpacts.org?CONDITION=TE...

Sure didn't take long for the irritated carbrains to show up. I'll just point out this: errors by cyclists and pedestrians might cost you 30 seconds on your commute; driver anger kills cyclists and pedestrians. Putting most of the responsibility on drivers is appropriate.

The US took in tens of thousands of Afghan refugees *in the 1980s* following the Soviet invasion. They integrated just fine (I worked with one during the 90s, great guy.)

Back then, they were welcomed. Sadly, It isn't the Afghans who've changed in the last 40 years.

Much silica exposure can be prevented by minor modifications to workplace tools and practices - things like applying a small stream of water to the area you are cutting.

It doesn't even cost that much. DOGE wants workers to die to save their employers pennies.

RFK Jr.'s layoffs expected to gut worker safety agency NIOSH, officials say More than 800 employees at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health are expected to be cut.

RFKjr keeps killing.

Almost everything I did at work for 35 years relied on #NIOSH.

- analyzing workplace air for chemicals using NIOSH methods

- responding to chemical spills using NIOSH reference works

- selecting respirators and chemical PPE tested by NIOSH

www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/rfk...

Bernie and AOC are getting a huge turnout to their rally at Univ. of Northern Colorado in Greely (one of the more conservative areas in CO) - the crowd is overflowing the venue's capacity.

Too bad our Democratic Senators and Congress critters didn't bother to show.

www.reddit.com/r/Denver/com...

It's not simple incompetence. It's deliberate. He's a traitor, a Russian agent, working with the specific intent of damaging the United States and our (former) allies in any way possible.

In botched DEI purge, OSHA trashes workplace safety guidelines The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered the digital and physical destruction of 18 publications on workplace safety practices, according to an internal February 7 email ob...

Apparently Musk's goons did a search on OSHA publications and decided anything containing the word "diversity" had to go, ordering the destruction of 18 publications on workplace safety practices.

popular.info/p/in-botched...

Might be a good time to buy that backup generator....

YouTube video by KGW News More than 100 federal workers fired at Portland-based Bonneville Power Administration

Western Area Power Administration/Bonneville Power Administration maintain electric power distribution across 15 states in the West. The linemen and electricians operating/maintaining this grid are Federal Wage Grade employees.

Musk just fired a bunch of them:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKIg...

Complete routine immunisation schedule from 1 January 2025

Once RFK Jr.'s minions are done with the CDC, who knows what will become of their vaccination schedules. Here is a schedule from the UK Health Security Agency, safely out of his reach:

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Sure, lets abandon the organization that led the eradication of smallpox and is -><- this close to wiping out polio.

Part of the new Administration's plan to Make Infectious Disease Great Again? #who

You could always come visit here to cool off:
(to be fair, the pic is from Sunday - it's actually warmed up some - low last night was actually above 0 deg. F...by 2 whole degrees)