Axios PM

November 14, 2024
Good Thursday afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 518 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.
1 big thing: Trump taps RFK Jr. for top health job

President-elect Trump said he'll nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Health and Human Services secretary — putting the prominent vaccine skeptic in charge of the FDA, the CDC and almost 25% of the federal budget.
- Why it matters: It's yet another highly controversial nomination. Republicans are still wrapping their minds around Trump's decisions to nominate Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard to lead the intelligence community.

☀️ Context: RFK Jr. has been vocally anti-vaccine. He accused the FDA of "aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can't be patented by Pharma."
- He has said "entire departments" of the FDA "have to go."
Trump promised before the election to let RFK Jr. "go wild" on federal health agencies. Some people close to the president-elect had said that would likely mean an advisory role, but Trump decided to go further.
- Kennedy would need to be confirmed by the Senate — which could be a tough sell, but Republicans will have to pick their battles.
Go deeper: What a Trump-empowered RFK Jr. could do on health care
2. ⌨️ Our weak passwords
The most common password in the world is "123456," Axios' Angrej Singh writes from a new report by enterprise password manager NordPass.
- "Secret," "password," and "qwerty123" are also near the top of the list globally. In the U.S., "baseball" and "football" are particularly common passwords.
🔓 Common, short passwords are vulnerable to hacking. In six years of analyzing people's habits, NordPass hasn't seen much improvement.
- In addition to using easy-to-crack passwords, researchers found that lots of people use the same or similar passwords at work and in their personal lives — making corporate networks more vulnerable when easily stealable personal passwords get stolen.
3. Catch me up

- 🧅 The Onion acquired Infowars, Alex Jones' far-right conspiracy media platform, at a court-ordered auction. The satirical news site will relaunch a new version of Infowars with Everytown for Gun Safety as its first sponsor. Go deeper.
- 📺 Craig Melvin, who co-hosts the third hour of "Today" on NBC, will take over co-host Hoda Kotb's role when she steps down in January, Go deeper.
- ⚾️ The Tampa Bay Rays will play next season's home games at the Yankees' spring training facility. Tropicana Field, their usual home, was badly damaged by Hurricane Milton. Go deeper.
4. 🎅 1 for the road: Christmas spirit comes early
People are starting to stream holiday music earlier each year, Axios' Analis Bailey reports.
- It's only mid-November, but "Christmas Hits" is already the No. 1 playlist on Spotify, with almost double the streams than this time last year.
- Spotify released its 2024 Spotify Singles Holiday Collection one month earlier than usual this year, accommodating early listeners.
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