And another one’s gone, and another one’s gone, another one bites the dust. Here we are, singing along with Queen, as another cabinet member exits quietly, stage right. And this one was actually pretty quiet. To mangle Bon Jovi: here he goes again, on his own. Yes, this is a musical mood piece. But only kinda. With respect to Raw Story:
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary stepped down from his position on Tuesday following a long dispute with President Donald Trump over flavored vape nicotine products, making Makary’s exit the “fourth high-profile departure of a member of the Trump administration this year,” NBC News reported.
Apparently, it’s good to watch the (very) depressing news – or keep up with websites, it seems. But in the meantime, high profile? This was a lot quieter than Gnome or Blondi. Memory is not being helpful about the third person. One sec. Ah. The Labor Secretary Lori Chavez. There we go. So, he’s the fourth. His resignation was unexpected.
The dispute centered around Trump’s growing frustration with Makary over his apparent inability to move “quickly enough” in approving flavored vape products for retail sale.
The Trump administration pushed to expand the availability of flavored vape products earlier this year, but was rebuked by Makary after his office issued a memo that “prevented the authorization of several flavors,” The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
That’s … surprising. Mr. Makary did not approve several flavors. Trump must have been furious. Unfortunately, there’s no way for me to see the WSJ article without it being expensive. Could it be possible that he had some morals? Or was there another reason for not approving the flavors? Since he pushed back on Trump, he could have had some morals, which is a rare thing in Trump’s ‘cabinet’. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s certainly possible that he earned that benefit.
Makary quickly found himself “on thin ice” with the president. And on Tuesday, Makary officially left the Trump administration, according to a U.S. official who revealed the news to Politico on the condition of anonymity.
“The decision to move on from Makary was months in the making, according to a senior administration official granted anonymity to discuss the Johns Hopkins surgeon’s tenure,” reads a Tuesday report from Politico. “His stint was marked by mass layoffs, persistent churn among senior leaders and policy fights with lawmakers, drugmakers and President Donald Trump.”
Well, it’s still hard to tell if he had morals. He certainly had the knowledge for his position, even if he was picked by Trump. Pushback against all of the above is impressive. Hopefully, he’ll be able to find another position elsewhere. Those are some impressive credentials.
See you soon!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula






















There is no room in this regime for anyone with moral standards.