Tuesday, January 13, 2026
New federal loan limits will worsen America’s nursing shortage and leave patients waiting longer for care
Trump worsens the shortage of nurses
Tens of thousands of nurses have left practice since the pandemic, and many more plan to leave within a few years, according to the 2024 National Nursing Workforce Survey, which reviews the number of registered nurses working in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that there will be an average of 189,100 openings for registered nurses each year through 2032. In addition, there will be a need for approximately 128,400 new nurse practitioners by 2034 – making it the fastest-growing occupation in the country.
The tax and spending package signed into law in July 2025 will take effect on July 1, 2026. Among other things, it will likely make it even harder for people to take out loans and help pay for a graduate nursing degree.
We are nurses and professors who oversee large nursing programs at universities. We believe that new restrictions on how nursing students can take out federal loans to pay for their education are likely to prevent people from pursuing advanced nursing roles.
These new regulations will cause the shortage of practicing nurses to intensify – in turn, worsening the quality of care patients receive.
Clinics may offer fewer appointments, hospitals may be forced to reduce services, and nursing programs may have to accept fewer students. As a result, some patients will wait longer, travel farther, or not see nurses altogether.
Paying for nursing education
Someone can become a registered nurse with an associate or bachelor’s degree. But a graduate-level degree is needed for other nursing roles – including nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists and nurse midwives.
Nursing school costs vary greatly, depending on which degree students are seeking and whether they attend a public or private school. Roughly three-quarters of graduate nursing students rely on student loans and graduate with debt to pay for programs that can range from US$30,000 to $120,000 or more.
We have found that nursing students, unlike medical students, often work while enrolled in their programs, stretching their education over longer periods and accumulating additional costs.
The tax and spending law eliminates several federal grants and loan repayment programs for nurses and aspiring nurse educators – faculty members who teach nursing students in colleges and universities.
The law also sharply restricts how much money graduate nursing students can borrow through federal student loans.
Approximately 59% of 1,550 nurses surveyed in December 2025 said that they are now less likely to pursue a graduate degree with the new borrowing limit changes.
A fractured system
Nurse practitioners provide the majority of primary care in the U.S. – particularly in rural areas and communities with few physicians.
In addition, certified registered nurse anesthetists administer anesthesia for surgeries and procedures in many areas. Meanwhile, certified nurse-midwives deliver babies and provide prenatal and postpartum care, especially in areas where there are few obstetricians.
Long waits for new patient appointments are now common across the country, with national surveys showing that patients often wait weeks to months before they receive medical care.
About a decade ago, new patients could often book appointments within days to a few weeks; but today, there are fewer available medical appointments and medical professionals to treat them. This is particularly true for many medical practices serving women, older adults and rural communities.
One of us – Dr. Montgomery – is a women’s health nurse practitioner who routinely sees patients wait months for new appointments in the mid-Atlantic. These delays translate into postponed cancer screenings, delayed medication management and untreated chronic conditions.
Research consistently shows that nursing shortages are associated with worse patient outcomes, including higher mortality and delayed treatment.
Federal judge grants Rhode Island wind company reprieve from Trump pause
Court rules Trump is wrong on wind - again
By Ariana Figueroa and Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
Judge Royce C. Lamberth rejected the Trump administration’s national security arguments, finding they didn’t provide “a sufficient explanation” for issuing a Dec. 22 stop work order on Revolution Wind, a 65-turbine project already 87% completed. He found the entire 704-megawatt project would be imperiled if he did not order work to resume and issued a preliminary injunction to block the administration’s pause.
Lamberth was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan.
Project developers along with state attorneys general in Rhode Island and Connecticut filed new motions in an existing federal lawsuit in January after the Interior Department last month suspended construction. Four other projects off the coasts of Massachusetts, Virginia and New York were also subject to the stop work order. Rhode Island’s is the first to be overturned.
Construction will resume “as soon as possible,” Meaghan Wims, a spokesperson for Orsted A/S, project co-developer, said in a statement Monday.
COVID continues to exact heavy toll on older US adults
COVID has NOT gone away - it kills 100,000+ Americans every year
.webp)
Using hospitalization data from the COVID-19 Hospitalization
Surveillance Network, which covers approximately 10% of the US population, a
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research team estimated that COVID
caused roughly 43.6 million illnesses, 10 million outpatient visits, 1.1
million hospitalizations, and 101,300 deaths during the 2022–23 respiratory
illness season.
In the following season, COVID-related illnesses declined to
roughly 33 million, outpatient visits fell to 7.7 million, and hospitalizations
dropped to 879,100. But the number of deaths in the 2023–24 respiratory
season—an estimated 100,800—remained essentially the same.
Adults 65 years and older shouldered a disproportionate
share of the burden. Although they make up less than 20% of the US population,
older adults accounted for nearly half (47.5%) of all COVID illnesses, roughly
two-thirds (67.5%) of hospitalizations, and over 80% of deaths (81.3%) during
the study period. On average, approximately 1 in 100 adults aged 65 years and
older were hospitalized for COVID each year.
Monday, January 12, 2026
January 6, 2021—and the Presidency that Followed—did Not have to Be
The New York Times’ Silencing of Mental Health Experts
Dr. Bandy X. Lee
The New
York Times Editorial Board published an exceptional,
big-picture view of the current presidency with the image
that follows.
This has been the perspective of mental health experts from the beginning, as we concern ourselves with underlying dangerousness or unfitness, far before consideration of political affiliation or societal rank. Medical facts are facts, which this article does an admirable job in presenting.
However, it should go further and acknowledge, however
inconvenient, its contribution to our current predicament. The editorial notes
about January 6, 2021:
It was a day that should live in infamy. Instead, it was the
day President Trump’s second term began to take shape.
I would go further back: the true day of infamy occurred
when the same Times Editorial Board—unfortunately—caused us to
go from being the number one topic of national conversation to being blacked
out of all major media. With this, the nation went from a true possibility of
addressing a mental health crisis with a mental health intervention, to the
current dystopian distortion of reality itself.
This took a concerted effort, defying public demand and
reversing the uncommon openness toward the subject of mental health that the
media displayed—when I was invited onto all the major network
and cable news programs and interviewing fifteen hours a day, week after week.
This astonishing absence of stigma reversed course, once the American
Psychiatric Association (APA), under the “leadership” of past president Jeffrey
Lieberman, aggressively spread disinformation about us.
This was partly in response to an earlier January 6—when
the Guardian invited me to contribute a piece and published it
in 2018—which, like all other articles by or about us at the time, became the
number one article read that day, week, and weekend. I explained:
The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President [keeps] within the letter of the Goldwater rule…. the personal health of a public figure is her private affair—until, that is, it becomes a threat to public health.
We were at the height of public demand, with my book being
an instant and unprecedented New York Times bestseller of its
kind. I was eventually invited to meet with more than fifty U.S. Congress
members, who stated that they depended on us to “educate the public medically,”
so that they could “intervene politically”—and indeed a Congressional bill was
rapidly gaining ground. This bill would have created an “other body” that
included psychiatrists, to replace the cabinet for implementing the
Twenty-Fifth Amendment, a provision for a president who is unable to perform
the duties of office.
To this day I am convinced that, without the intervention of
the APA and the Times, we would have succeeded in having a
rational, mental health intervention for a mental health problem. And instead
of becoming the most bewildering “Banana Republic” the world has seen, we would
have been globally praised for handling a difficult situation, setting
standards for other nations.
What is it that Trump wants to steal from Greenland?
The Danish territory holds significant stores of oil, gas and minerals. But regulations and the extreme environment have kept the vast majority in the ground.
Even before U.S. forces seized Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump reiterated his long-stated desire to take control of Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory.
“We need Greenland for national security,” Trump said publicly last month.
Those comments took on new urgency after the military intervention in Venezuela. Within a day, Trump was again speaking of seizing control of Greenland. Now European leaders appear to be taking the president’s comments seriously.
The leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement saying that security in the Arctic should be achieved through cooperation by NATO allies, and reiterating the territory’s sovereignty.
“Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement said. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
Despite that statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the administration was currently discussing how it might buy Greenland. In response to a question about military involvement, Leavitt said, “all options are always on the table.”
While Trump last month stressed that his interest in the Arctic island was driven by security, “not minerals,” members of his administration had previously listed Greenland’s mineral wealth as a reason to gain control.
Microplastics Burrow Into Blood Vessels and Fuel Heart Disease
Appears to be worse in men
By University of California
- Riverside
“Our findings fit into a broader pattern seen in
cardiovascular research, where males and females often respond differently,”
said lead researcher Changcheng Zhou, a professor of biomedical sciences in the
UCR School of Medicine. “Although the precise mechanism isn’t yet known,
factors like sex chromosomes and hormones, particularly the protective effects
of estrogen, may play a role.”
Microplastics Found Throughout the Body and Environment
Microplastics have become nearly impossible to avoid. They
are present in food, drinking water, and the air, and have even been detected
inside the human body. Recent studies involving people have found microplastics
embedded in atherosclerotic plaques and have linked higher concentrations to an
increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Until now, however, it was
unclear whether these particles actively damage arteries or simply accompany
disease.
“It’s nearly impossible to avoid microplastics completely,”
Zhou said. “Still, the best strategy is to reduce exposure by limiting plastic
use in food and water containers, reducing single-use plastics, and avoiding
highly-processed foods. There are currently no effective ways to remove
microplastics from the body, so minimizing exposure and maintaining overall
cardiovascular health — through diet, exercise, and managing risk factors —
remains essential.”
How to avoid seeing disturbing content on social media and protect your peace of mind
Besides throwing your devices into the ocean
Social media platforms are designed to maximize engagement, not protect your peace of mind. The major platforms have also reduced their content moderation efforts over the past year or so. That means upsetting content can reach you even when you never chose to watch it.
You do not have to watch every piece of content that crosses your screen, however. Protecting your own mental state is not avoidance or denial. As a researcher who studies ways to counteract the negative effects of social media on mental health and well-being, I believe it’s a way of safeguarding the bandwidth you need to stay engaged, compassionate and effective.
Sunday, January 11, 2026
No, Trump Did Not End Taxes on Social Security
Don't be gullible - Trump is lying. AGAIN.
Martin
Burns and Mary Liz
Burns
We felt exactly like Murray when both
Trump and Vance claimed once again that they ended taxes on Social Security.
Time after time, fact-checkers and news outlets have pointed
out that contrary to Trump and Vance’s claims, the “One Big Beautiful Bill”
(OBBB) did not eliminate taxes on Social Security. Most recently, Factcheck.org on December 18 reported that:
Trump called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act he signed in July “perhaps the most sweeping legislation ever passed in Congress” and touted provisions that include “no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors.” (As we have said, fewer seniors would pay taxes on Social Security benefits, but millions of Americans would still have to pay.)
The Constitution Prohibits Trump’s War on Rhode Island and other Blue States
Trump intends to punish all who voted against him
It’s not just Minnesota. Trump is also stopping billions in
funding for social services in Colorado, Illinois, New York, and California.
Why? Could it be because all of them are led by Democrats
and inhabited by voters who overwhelmingly rejected Trump in 2024?
It’s not the first time Trump has openly penalized “blue”
states. What’s new is how blatant his vindictiveness toward blue states has
become.
Two weeks ago Trump used the first veto of his second term to kill a pipeline project that had achieved bipartisan congressional support, to provide clean drinking water to Colorado’s parched eastern plains.
Trump’s
action enraged Republican congresswoman and formerly dedicated Trumper Lauren
Boebert, who stated: “Nothing says America First like denying clean drinking
water to 50,000 people in southeast Colorado, many of whom voted for him in all
three elections.”
Trump’s blatant lawlessness will haunt America and the world for a long, long time.
From Jan. 6th to Maduro Kidnapping, the Threat Trump Poses Is Existential
Robert Reich for Inequality Media
 |
| Trump sees the world as belonging to him, Putin and China. "Xi" refers to Xi Jinping, China's leader |
They threaten what we mean by civilization.
The moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the
stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we’d be
permanently immersed in a brutish war in which only the fittest and most
powerful could survive.
This principle lies at the center of America’s founding
documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of
Rights. It’s also the core of the post- World War II international order
championed by the United States, including the UN Charter — emphasizing
multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and
the rule of law.
But it’s a fragile principle, easily violated by those who
would exploit their power. Maintaining the principle requires that the powerful
have enough integrity to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the
rest of us hold them accountable if they don’t.
Every time people or corporations or countries that are
richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are not, the fabric of
civilization frays. If such aggression is not contained, the fabric unravels.
If not stopped, the world can descend into chaos and war. It has happened
before.
We now inhabit a society and world grown vastly more
unequal. Political and economic power are more concentrated than ever before.
This invites the powerful to exploit the weaker because the powerful feel
omnipotent.
Every time people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are not, the fabric of civilization frays. If such aggression is not contained, the fabric unravels. If not stopped, the world can descend into chaos and war. It has happened before.
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