Short Takes – 12-11-24

What ‘really’ worries the head of the Space Development Agency. BreakingDefense.com article. Pull quote: ““[We] also need a robust industrial base that can create software, test software, get the software ready to go and build that capability up right now,” Tournear elaborated. “Our industrial base relies a lot on on foreign entities to write our software. It’s one of the things that we’ve kind of said we were worried about that at the Space Development Agency. We want our flight software and our satellites to be written in the US, because that’s one of the supply chain interdiction things that I’m worried about. So that’s been a bottleneck.””

Progress on inflation stalled in November as prices rose. WashingtonPost.com article. Pull quote: “The Federal Reserve is in a difficult spot, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. For the past six months, core inflation has appeared stuck at an elevated level. Meanwhile, the incoming administration is expected to pursue new policies that could spur even more inflation, which the central bank is hoping to extinguish without putting the economy into a recession.”

Long List of Tasks Awaits New CDC Director, Experts Say. MedPageToday.com article. Pull quote: “However, Antos said, "Reorganizations take time -- more than 2 years, and often more than 4. They can also be reversed to some extent by the next administration. It's unclear whether Weldon and [Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's nominee to head HHS] will be willing to fight for a long time with outside groups (patients, pharma, the rest of the health sector) to make more than cosmetic changes to CDC."”

California Child May Have Bird Flu After Drinking Raw Milk. MedPageToday.com article. Pull quote: “The patient experienced fever and vomiting after drinking raw milk and has since recovered, according to an announcement by Marin County Public Healthopens in a new tab or window. Officials said that the risk to the public remains low, as there was no evidence of person-to person transmission between the child and her family members.”