The rhetorical foolishness continues as the reality becomes even more problematic, because a manufacturing cartel throttles baby formula supply no less troubling than the difference between crude oil and gasoline prices.
“Pallets of baby formula at the border” is the most craven of claims because of the US legal obligation to supply it, something that should be obvious to a legislator.
Baby formula supply now has a strange juxtaposition to the ending of Roe V. Wade, because a GOP leader invokes QAnon tropes.
Elise Stefanik (R-NY) decided that “pedo” is a GQP slur useful for anything amorally cynical to project on her opposition since the GOP has the oligopoly on child sex trafficking. Several GOP pols have manipulated the discourse of “protecting” children to mean silence about actual crimes against minors.
It took scant time for Republicans to gleefully seize on the moniker as their own, triumphantly elevating it as a brand worthy of celebration. “I am ultra MAGA, and I’m proud of it,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the No. 3 House Republican, after a reporter Wednesday noted that she was “being called ultra MAGA.”
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Parents and caregivers looking for baby formula are facing increasingly dire shortages owing to supply chain challenges and a massive recall.
- 29% of baby formula inventory was out of stock nationally the week of March 13, up from 18% when the year started and 3% a year earlier, according to data analyzed for Axios by consumer product data analytics firm Datasembly.
Why it matters: About 3 in 4 babies are fed formula by six months old as a complete or partial substitute for human milk.
What they're saying: “The out-of-stocks we’re seeing here are moving very quickly and affecting many shoppers,” Datasembly CEO Ben Reich tells Axios.
- "Infant formula manufacturers are actively working with suppliers, distributors, retailers and state agencies to ensure availability and access to infant formula products, to quickly address the needs of babies everywhere," the Infant Nutrition Council of America said in a statement.
Between the lines: Production problems or distribution issues — depending on whom you ask — started the shortages in 2021. But a sweeping recall of Abbott Nutrition products has exacerbated the situation.
- The FDA last week warned Americans not to use recalled Similac, Alimentum or EleCare powdered infant formulas made at Abbott’s Sturgis, Michigan, plant after the agency found evidence of a food-borne pathogen there.
- At least four babies have reportedly gotten ill after they consumed the products, the FDA says.
The other side: Abbott said in a statement that the FDA's testing and its own testing "have not found any Cronobacter Sakazakii or Salmonella in any of our ... distributed products."
- "We hope that these findings give parents, caregivers and our other stakeholders renewed confidence in our products," Abbott said. "That said, we will continue to enhance our manufacturing and quality processes to ensure that our products remain free of Cronobacter Sakazakii and Salmonella.
Of note: Before the recall, manufacturers were blaming retailers for failing to adequately distribute the product, while retailers were blaming producers for not making enough, the Wall Street Journal reported in January.
- The FDA says it's "intensified" its ongoing effort to ensure adequate supplies, "reaching out to infant formula manufacturers and their trade groups" to ensure adequate supplies and will "consider all tools available to support the supply of infant formula products."
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Last Wednesday, during a speech on the economy, President Biden coined a new phrase — “ultra MAGA.”
“Let me tell you about this ultra MAGA agenda,” Biden said, using former president Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan — “Make America Great Again” — as a pejorative. “It’s extreme, as most MAGA things are.”
Then, in the subsequent days, Biden and his team continued to hammer Republicans in aggressive terms, attacking them as “MAGA” and “ultra MAGA.” Biden even dismissed his predecessor at one point as “the great MAGA king.”
It took scant time for Republicans to gleefully seize on the moniker as their own, triumphantly elevating it as a brand worthy of celebration. “I am ultra MAGA, and I’m proud of it,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the No. 3 House Republican, after a reporter Wednesday noted that she was “being called ultra MAGA.”
[...]
Trump himself “absolutely loved” the great MAGA king meme and has privately mocked Biden and his fellow Democrats as bad branders who do not understand the art of marketing, said a person briefed on his thinking, speaking anonymously to share private details.
Trump and his fellow Republicans’ embrace of “ultra MAGA” reflects the former president’s skill at co-opting would-be insults or even random phrases. In 2016, for instance, when Hillary Clinton, then the Democratic nominee for president, said that half of Trump supporters belonged in what she termed a “basket of deplorables,” Trump and his base quickly embraced the term, turning it into a rallying cry.
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“Theocratic dictatorships do not lie only in the distant past,” @MargaretAtwood writes. “There are a number of them on the planet today. What is to prevent the United States from becoming one of them?”