The Dictatorship

Thanks to Trump and RFK Jr., the FDA is suspending milk inspections. That’s a mistake.

Published

1 year ago

April 29, 2025

Thanks to Trump and RFK Jr., the FDA is suspending milk inspections. That’s a mistake.

Under President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.the reach of the Food and Drug Administration is being scaled back by executive fiat. Reporting indicates that the FDA is suspending inspections that help ensure the safety of the nation’s food, amid broader staff cuts at HHS imposed by the new administration. Reuters recently reported that, among the inspections paused, the FDA “is suspending a quality control program for testing of fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division.” More specifically, “the agency suspended its proficiency testing program for Grade ‘A’ raw milk and finished products.”

It is only thanks to the power of the federal government that the United States has historically enjoyed safe food. Thanks to the efforts of an array of agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, we can reliably trust that the food we buy is safe and, if not, know about any outbreaks or recalls.

While some reformers succeeded in creating local agencies, by the 1920s, milk had earned a dangerous reputation.

It was not always like this and milk is the perfect food to show why. The dairy industry started off selling so-called “swill milk” to urban consumers in the mid-1800s. Such milk came from city-based dairy cows fed on mash and leftovers from nearby distillers and brewers. Reformers at the local and state levels campaigned for the construction of local milk regulators and against swill milk, because they feared its corrupting influence and low-grade grains in the feed.

While some reformers succeeded in creating local agencies, by the 1920s, milk had earned a dangerous reputation. Dairies spread dysentery, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria and — most of all — bovine tuberculosis. Scientists at one of the precursors to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even worried that milk was more dangerous than ever, with one writing, “Milk is second in importance only to water as a vehicle of disease transmission.”

Out of Alabama, a plan emerged from a cooperative program organized by the state Board of Health and the public health service to begin coordinating the local, state and federal regulations into one inspection system. Their reasons included the failure of the current patchwork system, the failure to align regulatory standards, the ability of the dairy industry to overpower the fragmented inspection system and the necessity of milk being pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria. By the end of the 1920s, the federal government began to build just such a coordinated system. Out of these efforts was born the use of grading, including grade A, as well as the unpasteurized but still regulated raw milk sector.

The White House’s justification for scaling back federal authority is that the states will pick up the slack and take charge of their own consumer marketplaces. But historical examples show why a patchwork system of ad hoc state and local regulations was ineffective at ensuring milk was healthy.

As of 1938, when the national inspection system had not yet fully come together, milk was responsible for 25% of all foodborne disease outbreaks. In the subsequent three decades, the dairy inspection system grew in fits and starts, particularly during World War II and the Korean War. By 1965, that number had declined to 2.5%. That year, the federal government formally united milk inspection and created a unified standard for inspecting dairy products.

Milk regulations united the efforts of the federal government’s fragmented system to protect consumers.

The unified federal milk ordinance finally allowed the country to tackle a long-simmering problem. Milk is not only a perfect vector for bacteria to thrive, but it is also an excellent way for agricultural and industrial toxins to get into the food system and into the bodies of the people who consume milk, particularly children. No toxin was more feared at that time than residues of DDT, the once-formidable chemical that had ushered in a whole new chemical age in farming In 1965, the federal government forced all milk inspections to also test for pesticide residues. States like California had spent years trying to hammer out their own DDT regulations, but only federal power was able to force producers’ compliance.

Milk regulations united the efforts of the federal government’s fragmented system to protect consumers. In addition to the CDC ordinances, the FDA tested for residues and set ingredient standards; the USDA regulated agricultural uses of pesticides and other related chemicals and focused on eradicating animal diseases; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleaned up the environment to keep the cows safe from pollutants, including banning DDT in the mid-1970s.

An example of how these organizations had to work together to keep milk safe to consume was with the feed additive DES. The synthetic hormone was widely used to enhance cattle growth in the mid-20th century, following USDA approval. But the government continued monitoring its use in animal agriculture, and studies found that DES was carcinogenic. By the end of the 1970s, the FDA banned DES because it posed a threat to human health.

The FDA could ban chemicals like DES because Congress empowered it to do so. Its roots go back to public outcry unleashed by Upton Sinclair’s 1906 book “The Jungle.” But not until 1938 did Congress give the FDA the authority to directly regulate ingredients. Two decades later, another law gave the FDA the power to ban any substance known to be a carcinogen from entering into the consumer marketplace. Taken all together, agencies like the FDA provide Americans their only serious way to have a say in what they put into their bodies. As history shows, not only did producers put toxins into the food that Americans ate, but they also lacked the power to clean up their own industries.

Yet, lawmakers created these institutions to keep every American safe through the power of the federal government, the one thing that is potent enough to even try to hold food producers to account. Only the federal government possesses the tools of research coordination, national testing standards, recalls, federal lawsuits and public awareness campaigns. Time will tell if we can ever reassert these regulatory bodies’ authority, or re-create them if they are gone. Our health depends on it.

The Dictatorship

Rep. Julia Letlow wins Louisiana GOP Senate primary runoff

Published

5 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Julia Letlow wins Louisiana GOP Senate primary runoff

Jun. 27, 2026, 9:51 PM EDT

Rep. Julia Letlow won Louisiana’s Republican Senate primary runoff Saturday, defeating former Rep. John Fleming.

Her win comes as a victory for President Donald Trump, who has endorsed her repeatedly throughout the race — including before she was even officially running.

Letlow made history in 2021 when she became the first Republican woman to represent Louisiana in Congress. In that special election, she won the seat that her late husband, Luke Letlow, had won prior to dying of complications related to Covid-19 in December 2020.

Letlow had no political experience prior to running for her late husband’s seat. She holds a doctorate in communication from the University of South Florida and worked as an administrator for Tulane University and the University of Louisiana, according to her LinkedIn page. Nonetheless, she won the special election House race with nearly 65% of the vote.

In Congress, she has served on the appropriations and education committees, and has been a reliably MAGA Republican.

Letlow’s win also comes as a rebuke to Fleming, who loaned himself more than $11 million, according to the Federal Election Commission, and tried running for the same seat in 2016 only to finish in fifth place in the nonpartisan primary. (Letlow did not loan her campaign any money, and took in more than $5.35 million compared to Fleming’s more than $12.1 million, FEC filings show.)

Trump has played a key role in the race. In addition to backing Letlow early on, the president also helped tank Republican incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy’s re-election campaign in last month’s primary, based on the senator’s record of bucking his party and voting in favor of Trump’s second impeachment. In the primaryLetlow earned nearly 45% of the vote, giving her a healthy lead over both Fleming, who received about 28% of the vote, and Cassidy, who earned nearly 25%.

Ahead of Saturday’s runoff, polling showed Letlow and Fleming in a close race, with Letlow retaining a small lead in several polls.

Letlow will now proceed to the November general election to face off against the Democratic nominee, farmer Jamie Davis, who came out on top in tonight’s Democratic primary runoff.

The state has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 2008, when Mary Landrieu won her last term in office.

Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.

The Dictatorship

‘Horrifying’: Pulte’s choice for top spy aide stokes fears of Trump vote tampering

Published

5 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

‘Horrifying’: Pulte’s choice for top spy aide stokes fears of Trump vote tampering

Jun. 28, 2026, 1:36 PM EDT

Bill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligencehas stirred fear by choosing as his chief of staff a GOP election lawyer who oversaw a poll watching program that included Jack Posobiec and other conservative conspiracy theorists. The lawyer, Christina Norton, also appears to have no experience working in the intelligence community.

“It is horrifying,” a former senior U.S. intelligence official told MS NOW Saturday. “Not only does Norton have absolutely no background, experience or expertise in national security or intelligence, but her principal qualifications appear to be loyalty to Pulte and an embrace of absurd election-interference conspiracies.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has been a vocal critic of Pulte, also raised concerns about election integrity on Sunday while taking shots at the director of national intelligence and the office itself.

“We should eliminate the DNI, and we should eliminate Pulte from the DNI until that happens,” he said on BLN, adding, “I am concerned that we’re gonna continue to cast doubt on elections in November and erode what has been a 250-year tradition of a peaceful transition of power.”

Pulte’s choice of Norton is also likely to increase concerns among Democrats that President Donald Trump intends to use the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to interfere in the midterm elections. Pulte, a loyalist with no intelligence experience, has used his current position as head of federal mortgage agencies to refer political rivals of the president for federal criminal prosecution.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told MS NOW on Sunday that the choice “just confirms” that the “only job qualification is absolute political loyalty and devotion to Donald Trump.” But he expressed faith in the judicial system during an appearance on “The Weekend,” noting that “right now we have federal courts across the land that are rejecting their various attempts to take over the election process. Nine different federal courts have rejected the claim that the president, by executive order, can compel the states in the union to turn over all of their voter lists to Donald Trump and to the White House.”

The New York Times first reported Norton’s appointment.

The former senior intelligence official, who requested anonymity due to concerns of retaliation, told MS NOW the choice also “signals as clearly as could be that Pulte has been put at ODNI to misuse the awesome power of the U.S. intelligence community to interfere in the upcoming midterm elections.”

Norton, reached by MS NOW by telephone, declined to comment and referred questions to an ODNI spokesperson. The spokesperson declined to comment on Norton but defended Pulte’s tenure.

“Acting Director Pulte and his team are focused on carrying out President Trump’s national security priorities while faithfully executing ODNI’s statutory mission,” the spokesperson told MS NOW. “We are leading the Intelligence Community to provide President Trump with elite, apolitical intelligence that keeps America safe.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., appearing on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday, said his objection to Pulte is “that he used personal information to target a political enemy of the president,” a reference to New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“You should not be using the force of government to crash upon somebody just because the person in charge does not like them or finds them inconvenient. The fact that Bill did that is disqualifying for someone to be the director of national intelligence,” Cassidy said.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Friday that Congress would ensure that the ODNI under Pulte will “report on legitimate foreign threats to elections, not Donald Trump’s imaginary ones.”

Himes warned that, “Trump was explicit when he appointed Bill Pulte to a job he had no qualifications for that he had elections in mind.”

Trump has said in interviews with the news media that he would like to see Pulte shrink the size of the ODNI and investigate election fraud. Pulte’s predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, participated in investigations in Georgia and Puerto Rico to find proof of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Democrats and some former intelligence officials say they worry that Pulte may try to falsely claim that his office has found evidence that foreign governments are secretly funding Democratic candidates in the midterms.

Pulte could falsely claim foreign actors have hacked U.S. voting machines, they say, and altered vote totals in favor of Democrats during the midterms. Or Trump could instruct Pulte to be present if FBI agents seize ballots and election records in November as they did earlier this year in Fulton County, Georgia.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned in a statement on Friday that Pulte should not use his position to spread Trump’s false election conspiracy theories.

“The mission of ODNI is to identify and counter foreign threats, not to import election denialism into the Intelligence Community,” Warner said. “Americans have every reason to fear that this administration is once again eroding the wall between our intelligence agencies and domestic elections.”

David Rohde is the senior national security reporter for MS NOW and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. Previously he was the senior executive editor for national security and law for NBC News.

The Dictatorship

In Springfield, Ohio, Trump’s rhetoric becomes a grim reality

Published

5 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

In Springfield, Ohio, Trump’s rhetoric becomes a grim reality

Jun. 27, 2026, 4:07 PM EDT

Having lived with Donald Trump’s infamous and baseless insult against them — “they’re eating the dogs … they’re eating the cats” — Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are bracing for a far bigger injury.

More than 10,000 Haitians across Ohio and hundreds of thousands more around the country who had Temporary Protected Status now face the imminent prospect of deportation. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can halt those legal protections for Haitians and Syrians and resume forcing them to leave.

Justice Samuel Alito’s opinionfor the court’s Republican-appointed majority curbed the power of courts to review government decisions to terminate protections under the TPS program.

“They side with him on everything that he says or everything that he does, which means there is no check and balance,” said Viles Dorsainvil, a Haitian TPS holder and executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, a town Trump catapulted into a maelstrom of misinformation about immigrants when he was running to retake the White House in 2024.

“The president has that freeway in front of him to do whatever he wants to do, unfortunately, and most of the time to a minority group of people,” added Dorsainvil, who has lived in the United States since 2020.

In a country rife with political and economic instability, Haitians returning from the U.S. are in danger of being killed or kidnapped, said Dorsainvil’s colleague at the Haitian Support Center, Rose Thamar Joseph.

“There is this perception in Haiti that if you are living here in the United States, you have money, so you are living your good life, so sending people back to Haiti will put them in real danger,” Joseph said.

Staying in the U.S. without legal status creates a different crisis.

“We received calls this morning from people saying that, unfortunately, starting on July 1, they won’t be able to go to work anymore,” Joseph said Friday.

Joseph predicted that families would be separated during the deportation process.

“We know that there will be separation,” she said. “A lot of those parents with TPS … they have kids who were born in the United States, so we know that it will happen, not for everybody, not for all the families, but it will happen,” she said.

The oncoming nightmare for the Haitian community in Springfield was, in many ways, predictable after Trump notoriously targeted them on the debate stage against then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the fall of 2024.

“They are eating the dogs. The people that came in, they are eating the cats. They’re eating – they are eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said without a shred of evidence, greatly amplifying an unfounded rumor that had been confined to smaller corners of social media.

That rhetoric continued Trump’s track record of racist languageparticularly when it comes to immigration, including during his first White House stint when he referred during his first to Haiti and other majority non-white nations as “shithole” countries.

Dorsainvil argued that the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday proved his beliefs are institutionalized, calling it “a validation of all those bad rhetorics of the president against us.”

Asked by MS NOW if those with TPS should expect to be deported, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said, “Well, of course. If you no longer have status in this country, then you’re supposed to be deported.”

Miller, the architect of the administration’s immigration policy, went on to single out the Haitian population by name.

But the outcry against the court’s ruling blurs party lines in Ohio.

“Changing the immigration status of these individuals is not in the best interest of the United States nor Ohio,” Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said.

Springfield’s Republican mayorRob Rue, has denounced Trump’s misinformation about his community as dangerous from the start.

“Many of the individuals affected by this decision are our neighbors, coworkers, business owners, taxpayers, and parents,” Rue said in a statement after the ruling came down. “They contribute to our local economy, support our schools, strengthen our neighborhoods, and have become part of the fabric of Springfield.”

Alex Tabet is a reporter for MS NOW.