Clear It With Sidney

The best of the week’s news by Lindsay Beyerstein

August 2025

August 8, 2025

Sidney's Picks: Kennedy Kills mRNA Vaccine Program

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GCU Capital News Service, Creative Commons.

The Best of the Week’s News

Antivax HHS Secretary kills nearly half-billion dollars worth of contracts for developing mRNA vaccines, technology that has saved millions of lives. (NYT)
McCarthy Redux: Pro-Trump group wages war on “subversive” federal workers. (Reuters)
How three simple labor laws helped organizers make inroads at Amazon and Uber in Canada. (On Labor)
The Veterans Administration terminates most of its union contracts as part of Trump’s push to outlaw most federal collective bargaining. (GovExec)
Rep. Corey Mills is a bigger scumbag than George Santos, and that’s saying something. (NYT)
The official death toll of the LA fires was 30, but the true toll may exceed 400. (WaPo)

August 1, 2025

Sidney's Picks: DOJ "Overlooked" Critical Whistleblower Complaint About Bove

Photo credit:

Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons

The Best of the Week’s News:

The Justice Department “overlooked” a critical whistleblower complaint against Emil Bove III for two months before his judicial confirmation. (NYT)
A judge blocks Kristi Noem’s bid to eject 60,000 migrants, citing secretary’s potential racial animus. (AP)
How Trump freed a triple murderer in a Venezuelan prisoner exchange. (El Pais)
The Smithsonian censors references to Trump’s impeachments in exhibit. (WaPo)
Scientists document the irreversible consequences of mass starvation in Gaza. (Wired)