RFK repudiates the notion that he's anti-vaccine: 'I'm for safe vaccines and robust science'



Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rejects the notion that he is an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.

"I urge people to listen to what I actually say instead of listening to the litany of derisive sound bites that the mainstream media offers to mischaracterize and distort my positions on the whole range of issues," Kennedy told the New York Post.

"I am not and have never been anti-vaccine. I've always said that I'm for safe vaccines and robust science and for regulatory agencies that are free from conflicts of interest and financial entanglements with the pharmaceutical industry. In terms of being a conspiracy theorist, tell me where I got it wrong. Show me something I've said that you believe to be factually wrong or unsupported by evidence," he said, according to the outlet.

Kennedy said he is against the concept of a central bank digital currency and would not support increasing the tax burden borne by Americans.

"I will make sure that we have policies that support bitcoin and the freedom to transact and that allow individuals to manage their own bitcoin wallets, nodes, and passwords. I will allow only the narrowest controls that are necessary to prevent money laundering. I oppose central bank digital currencies because they are instruments of control and oppression, and are certain to be abused," he said, according to the outlet.

Kennedy is challenging President Joe Biden in the Democratic presidential primary, but polling indicates that Biden holds a decisive lead. Marianne Williamson is also vying for the Democratic nomination.

On the other side of the aisle, former President Donald Trump enjoys a large lead over the sizeable field of rival Republican presidential hopefuls.

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Pro-vaccine couple creates Halloween tombstones marking demise of anti-vaccine beliefs — and display is vandalized



A suburban Chicago couple took it upon themselves to make fun of anti-vaccine beliefs by creating Halloween tombstones dedicated to the deaths of six of them, WLS-TV reported.

What are the details?

Juanita and Ted Sigg of Park Ridge placed six wooden tombstones on their front lawn emblazoned with the following statements, the station said:

  • "I did my own research."
  • "I'd rather die than comply."
  • "Proudly anti-vax."
  • "Ivermectin believer."
  • "Yes honey I am wearing my mask."
  • "COVID — no problem."

Image source: WLS-TV video screenshot

The idea came from the internet, WLS said, and turned into a family fun project.

"One thing led to another," Ted Sigg told the station. "The family kept throwing things out, and I ended up making six of them."

Juanita Sigg added to WLS that she doesn't "know if we were really trying to make a statement; it sounded funny so we did it. Most people have stopped and talked and liked it."

Image source: WLS-TV video screenshot

But she also told the station that one person she encountered "didn't like it at all."

Vandalized

WLS said the Siggs' display was up for less than six hours before each tombstone was spray-painted with a blue X through each saying.

Image source: WLS-TV video screenshot

"Right up the street there are signs that say, 'Unmask the children, keep my school unmasked,'" Ted Sigg told the station. "We all have a right to express our opinion. It doesn't mean we have the right to destroy someone else's opinion."

What happened next?

The Siggs filed a police report and placed a new set of security cameras pointed right at the tombstones, WLS reported, adding that the couple hopes the added surveillance will discourage any future vandals.

The couple also repainted their signs and put them back up on the lawn, the station said.

Image source: WLS-TV video screenshot

And while the Siggs told WLS they intended the display to be more fun than serious, they told the station they do hope it encourages people to get vaccinated.

"If there [is] vandalism again, we thought about putting 'free speech' on one and setting it in there," Juanita Sigg noted the station.

Anti-vaccine protesters shut down Georgia vaccination clinic with bullying, harassment of health care workers



A Georgia vaccination site reportedly had to close its doors after anti-vaccine protesters took to the mobile venue and began bullying health care workers, the Washington Post reported.

What are the details?

The report cited Kathleen Toomey, Georgia's Department of Public Health commissioner, who said that the hostility toward first responders and health care workers was way out of bounds for interfering with those working "tirelessly to keep people alive."

During the clinic, protesters reportedly swarmed the north Georgia site and began harassing and bullying members of the vaccination team.

"This is wrong," Toomey said during a Monday news conference. "This is absolutely wrong. These people are giving their lives to help others and to help us in the state. We in Georgia can do better."

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, health care workers were "yelled at, threatened, and demeaned by some of the very members of the public they were trying to help."

A spokesperson for Toomey told the outlet, "Aside from feeling threatened themselves, staff realized no one would want to come to that location for a vaccination under those circumstances, so they packed up and left."

"It comes with the territory of someone in my position, but it shouldn't be happening to those nurses who are working in the field to try to keep this state safe," Toomey added during the Monday news conference. "We should be thanking these individuals for trying to get lifesaving vaccines to our state."

According to the Macon Telegraph, about 43% of Georgians are fully vaccinated, and 50% have received at least one shot of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccination.

The disturbing report comes as the state faces a dangerous COVID-19 surge driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.

According to a report from the New York Times, the state has seen a 35% increase in cases reported over the past 14 days.

What else is there to know about all this?

The Times reported that this was not the first time that angry protesters took out their frustrations on state health care workers.

"In one south Georgia county, the anti-vaxxers tracked down public health employees through social media and harangued them with messages of hostility and misinformation about vaccines," the outlet said.

Last week, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) issued an order deploying more than 100 National Guardsmen to area hospitals across the state in order to support the staff as they assist the public in trying to quash the alarming surge in coronavirus cases.