RFK deflects Senate Democrats' attacks: 'Bringing this up right now is dishonest'



Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, fought back against Senate Democrats who berated him during his Wednesday confirmation hearing.

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee hurled various accusations at Kennedy, attempting to label him anti-vaccine and overlooking his decades of work addressing the corruption in the health care industry. Despite attempts to assassinate his character, Kennedy stood firm and deflected Democrats' assertions.

'Do you want me to answer? President Trump has asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America healthy again. If we don't solve that problem, we're moving deck chairs around on the Titanic.'

"The first thing I've done every morning for the past 20 years is get on my knees and pray to God that He would put me in a position to end the chronic disease epidemic and to help America's children," Kennedy said during the hearing.

"The U.S. has worse health than any other developed nation," Kennedy added. "And we spend more on health care, at least double, and in some cases triple, as other countries. Last year, we spent $4.8 trillion, not counting the indirect costs of missed work."

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon began by berating Kennedy's past comments about vaccines, referring to a statement that Kennedy made to podcast host Lex Fridman that none of them are "safe and effective." Wyden also accused him of "lying" to people about his views.

"As you know, because it's been repeatedly debunked, that statement that I made on the Lex Fridman podcast was a fragment of the statement," Kennedy said. "I said there are no vaccines that are safe and effective, and I was going to continue, for every person. Every medicine has people who are sensitive to them, including vaccines. He interrupted me at that point."

"I've corrected it many times, including on national TV," Kennedy continued. "You know about this, Senator Wyden, and so bringing this up right now is dishonest."

— (@)

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia similarly attacked Kennedy's character without allowing him to properly respond.

"Will you commit not to fire anyone in the health arena who currently works on protecting Americans?” Warner pressed, hardly allowing RFK to respond.

“I will commit to not firing anybody who is doing their job," Kennedy answered, prompting applause from the gallery.

— (@)

Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada similarly accused Kennedy of simply being a "rubber stamp" for the Trump administration, depriving him of any opportunities to properly answer.

"Do you want me to answer?" Kennedy said. "President Trump has asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America healthy again. If we don't solve that problem, we're moving deck chairs around on the Titanic."

— (@)

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Vaccine censorship? A senator’s autism inquiry sparks media outrage



Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) used the legacy media's airwaves on Sunday to ask a question that polite society forbids.

The topic: vaccines.

“I think they should be questioned,” Mullin declared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

The question: “Why is America highest in autism? What is causing that?”

“Is it our diet?” Mullin continued. “Or is it some of the stuff we’re putting in our children's system?”

The question is important and needs to be asked, Mullin explained, because autism “used to be almost not even heard of.” Just one or two generations ago, autism was rare. Today, it's extremely common.

If a hierarchy of denialism existed, 'anti-vaxxer' sits just behind 'Holocaust denier' and 'election denier.'

In fact, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in the United States has skyrocketed from 0.1–0.4 per 1,000 children in the 1980s — the same decade vaccine manufacturers were immunized from civil liability for vaccine-related injuries and deaths — to 27.6 per 1,000 children in 2020, an exponential increase.

“What is causing that?” Mullin asked again.

“And if it is the vaccines, there’s nothing wrong with actually taking a hard look and finding: Is that what’s causing it?” he continued. “Is it something else that we’re putting in our systems? We do know we’re not as healthy as we should be right now. We’re the most developed country in the world, so all things should be on the table. And if that’s scrutinizing vaccinations, then that is exactly where we need to go.”

Moderator Kristen Welker responded to Mullin's question by repeating scientific dogma.

“I just have to say, no credible expert or study has shown a link between vaccines and autism,” she said.

Anti-vaxxer?

The label “anti-vaxxer” is a modern-day scarlet letter.

In the hierarchy of denialism, “anti-vaxxer” sits just behind “Holocaust denier” and ”election denier.” Each pejorative epithet functions to discredit a person prime facie, a rhetorical move that signals a person is so detached from reality that debating them is pointless.

And unfortunately, Mullin was summarily assigned this scarlet letter after his “Meet the Press” interview.

Mediaite accused Mullin of spouting “anti-vaccine talking points.” Left-wing journalist Aaron Rupar claimed Mullin went “full anti-vaxxer.” The Daily Beast accused Mullin of pushing a “bonkers vaccine conspiracy.”

But is this true? Is Mullin against vaccines?

Not according to Welker, who noted in the interview that Mullin has “been on the record saying” that he does “believe vaccines are safe and effective.”

Never once did Mullin question the efficacy of vaccines in the interview. Rather, he asked a basic question inquiring why the United States is experiencing skyrocketing rates of autism while arguing that “all things” should be investigated to understand the worrying trend.

That Mullin is being labeled anti-vax for merely asking a question — the first step of the scientific method, after all — proves Peter Thiel's point that “science” has become overly dogmatic.

“What has become ‘science’ — I’ll use scare quotes around science — is something that is more dogmatic than the Catholic Church was in the 17th century,” Thiel said in a recent interview.

Speaking of the lack of skepticism on vaccines specifically, Thiel added:

I don't particularly think that vaccines lead to autism. If they did, I don't think our science is capable of figuring it out because the results would get suppressed because it would undercut the lobby for vaccinations. There obviously are a lot of good vaccines, too. If there was some truth to it, that would undercut it. I'm pretty sure that question isn’t being investigated. There has been a dramatic increase in autism in recent decades. We don’t have particularly good explanations for it. Surely it’s something we should be thinking about more.

Yeah. So again, I don’t think vaccines lead to autism. I do think it’s the sort of question that it would be healthy if we were allowed to ask a little bit more than we are. And of course, we just went through this crazy exercise with the COVID epidemic where we somehow cut off skepticism so prematurely so many times where not only was the skepticism healthy, but the skeptics were right.

Questions beget questions

Polite society lectures people like Mullin for even raising a question about autism prevalence while uttering the word “vaccine” in the same breath.

But Mullin’s question — what is causing the high prevalence of autism in the U.S. compared to recent history and other developed countries — raises another question: Why don’t we have a satisfactory, science-based answer for the sharp rise in autism?

Today, the rise of autism is attributed to greater societal awareness of autism and improvements in diagnostics. This explanation implies that autism was always prevalent but previously went unrecognized and was misunderstood because of societal and cultural norms.

Like Thiel, I find this explanation unpersuasive. But we owe it to our children and our children's children to find a satisfactory explanation and course-correct if we can.

The journey to finding that answer must include asking difficult questions — not shutting down anyone who dares question the dogmas of “scientific truth.”

‘Voluntarism and choice’: Why RFK Jr. will succeed where Fauci FAILED



The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just wake American citizens up to corruption in the health care industry but to the figureheads intentionally leading them away from the truth, and ultimately, health.

“When I’m looking around in America, I see ordinary Americans becoming very suspicious of the health care industry, very suspicious of vaccines, they feel like there’s not much they can do other than just say no to things, say no to the junk food, say no to the vaxes,” James Poulos of “Zero Hour” tells Sen. Rand Paul.

“The government needs to turn over a new leaf and try being honest. Because of their vast dishonesty, people are hesitant. People don’t believe the government anymore,” Paul responds.

And that distrust is for good reason.


“It appears as if the government perhaps is more concerned with the profit of Pfizer and Moderna than they are actually with the truth,” Paul explains. “There never was proof actually with children or adults that the vaccine stopped transmission, but there was also never any evidence for children that it reduced hospitalization or death.”

“Why? Because no children were going to the hospital or dying to begin with,” he continues. “In fact, when Anthony Fauci was challenged on this, he said, ‘Well, they show that kids will make an antibody if you give them a vaccine,’ and I informed him that I could give your kid a hundred vaccines, they’ll make antibodies every time. It doesn’t mean they need them.”

While the Democrats are now afraid that RFK Jr. will do away with vaccines all together, their fear is misguided — as RFK Jr. does not plan to eradicate vaccines but rather offer families choice.

“This is the problem with these people,” Paul says. “They’re now advocating for things that seem to enrich a billion dollar company but don’t seem to have factual evidence that it’s beneficial to your child. So now people are distrusting them on everything.”

“There probably are vaccines that your kids should probably take, and it still should be your choice. I’m a big person on voluntarism and choice, but at the same time, people are suspecting everything the government tells them, because we’ve had such a spate of dishonesty,” he adds.

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VAERS chart shows a shocking result of COVID vaccines



For the longest time, anyone – including medical professionals and scientists – who dared to challenge the effectiveness of the COVID vaccine was censored, silenced, and banished to the realm of crazy anti-vaxxers.

However, now the tides are turning as more and more evidence surfaces about the reality of the rapidly developed COVID vaccine. The same companies that once shoved the vaccine down our throats, swearing that it was 100% safe and effective, are now backtracking.

“Last week we talked about the Pfizer scientists admitting the heart disease coming from the vaccine. This week the biggest study so far ever done on the global safety of the vaccine has just been released, and [the CDC] too is now admitting to severe illness, death, and lingering long symptoms,” says Pat Gray.

No longer can these companies deny that the vaccine is “causing problems neurologically … blood problems, and heart-related conditions.”

“I've got a chart here that's going to blow your mind, Pat,” says Keith Malinak before displaying the following data from VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System), managed by the CDC and the FDA.

“These are VAERS’ reported deaths by vaccine between the years 1988 and 2021 … over thirty years of data,” says Keith. “All of the deaths from vaccines (not the COVID one) are on the left,” while the COVID vaccine “accounts for half the deaths” even though by 2021, it had only been in circulation for one year.

What’s perhaps most upsetting is that despite this data, the CDC continues to tell people “to go get it,” says Pat.

To hear more, watch the clip below.


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Journalist rips tennis legend Novak Djokovic as 'anti-vax posterboy' — then gets blasted right back by Djokovic's wife for 'hatred and bullying'



A tennis journalist ripped Novak Djokovic as an "anti-vax posterboy" soon after the superstar player captured his fourth-straight Wimbledon singles title Sunday — after which Djokovic's wife hopped on Twitter to defend her husband and blast Ben Rothenberg for "hatred and bullying."

What's the background?

Djokovic was deported from Australia earlier this year due to his unvaccinated status, ESPN said, preventing him from competing in the Australian Open, a tournament he's won a record nine times.

The Serbian player had been granted a vaccine exemption by Tennis Australia, the country's governing body for the sport, and the the Victoria state government also approved his exemption. But the national government and the Australian Border Force overruled Djokovic's exemption and refused to sponsor his visa — and he was stopped at the Australian border and held in a room guarded by police after landing in Melbourne.

Following his Wimbledon victory Sunday, Djokovic said he won't get the COVID-19 vaccination that will allow him to enter the U.S. and play in the U.S. Open tournament, scheduled to begin at the end of August.

"I'm not vaccinated, and I'm not planning to get vaccinated, so the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card or whatever you call it to enter United States or exemption," Djokovic said, according to ESPN. "I don't know. I don't think exemption is realistically possible. If that is possibility, I don't know what exemption would be about. I don't know. I don't have much answers there."

'Anti-vax posterboy'

With that, Rothenberg — senior editor of Racquet magazine — called Djokovic an "anti-vax posterboy."

\u201cUnless there is a swift change in US immigration law, #Wimbledon will be Djokovic\u2019s last Grand Slam event of the year.\n\nUS requires vaccination for foreigners to enter, and Djokovic has firmly said he has ruled out getting vaccinated, entrenching himself as an anti-vax posterboy.\u201d
— Ben Rothenberg (@Ben Rothenberg) 1657471718

"Unless there is a swift change in US immigration law, #Wimbledon will be Djokovic’s last Grand Slam event of the year," Rothenberg tweeted. "US requires vaccination for foreigners to enter, and Djokovic has firmly said he has ruled out getting vaccinated, entrenching himself as an anti-vax posterboy."

Uh-oh

Well, Djokovic's wife didn't take kindly to the slight and hopped on Twitter to hit back at Rothenberg.

"Excuse me," Jelena Djokovic told the journalist. "Just making sure that it is noted that YOU tagged him as antivax poster boy for whatever reason you have. He simply responded [to] what HIS body choice is."

A few minutes later, Rothenberg tried to explain himself: "I understand that it's his choice, but I also am saying that his decision to be so firmly against the vaccines that it limits his ability to play tournaments has made him, unwittingly or not, into a huge icon of the anti-vax movement. I saw this very clearly during Australia."

Mrs. Djokovic wasn't buying it: "You are creating a very judgmental narrative that fits your agenda. He is simply choosing what’s best for his body. If he is not playing because of making that choice, he is fine with it."

"I can accept judgmental," Rothenberg replied. "I believe every citizen, especially public figures, had a duty to act responsibly with public health actions and messaging during the pandemic, and as someone who has covered Novak as the influential champion he is, he repeatedly disappointed me deeply."

Jelena Djokovic finished up things by calling out Rothenberg with sarcasm: "Thank you for sharing your beliefs. I hope you don’t get judged for them. Or become a poster boy for hatred and bullying. You never know. You are also influential figure, please don’t continuously disappoint. Unless that’s your role."

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.

Gov. Gavin Newsom blasts 'extremists' pushing for his recall, says they're 'partisan,' 'anti-mask,' 'anti-vax,' and 'pro-Trump'



Far-left California Gov. Gavin Newsom ripped "extremists" he said are behind his recall effort, characterizing them as "partisan" supporters of former President Donald Trump who are against face masks and vaccines to combat COVID-19.

What are the details?

"I am not going to take this recall attempt lying down," Newsom declared in a political campaign email, according to National Public Radio. "And let's call it what it is: it's a partisan, Republican recall — backed by the [Republican National Committee], anti-mask and anti-vax extremists, and pro-Trump forces who want to overturn the last election and have opposed much of what we have done to fight the pandemic."

The Democratic governor also punched back at the recall effort Monday on Twitter:

I won’t be distracted by this partisan, Republican recall -- but I will fight it.There is too much at stake.Get… https://t.co/9NhCalrp7K
— Gavin Newsom (@Gavin Newsom)1615821011.0

"I won't be distracted by this partisan, Republican recall — but I will fight it," he wrote. "There is too much at stake."

Newsom added in the tweet that "getting Californians vaccinated, our economy safely reopened, and our kids back in school are simply too important to risk."

His tweet also pointed to a "Stop the Republican Recall" website, which argues that "Q-Anon conspiracy theorists and anti-immigrant" activists are behind the recall efforts as well.

More from NPR:

The governor's remarks come just two days before a deadline to submit the nearly 1.5 million signatures required to trigger a recall election. (The only requirement to get the question on the ballot is to obtain the signatures of 12% of voters in the last election for the office.)

That is a milestone the RecallGavin2020 Committee said it surpassed on Wednesday. In a statement, the group's chairman, Orrin Heatlie said more than 2 million signatures had been collected and "1,871,573 signatures have been pre verified internally through an outside third party vendor."

If the signatures are validated, Californians will likely be asked to vote on keeping or removing Newsom late this year, with a simple majority needed for the recall.

It would be only the second gubernatorial recall in the state's history. But it is the sixth such campaign against Newsom since he was reelected in a landslide victory in 2018. The others have failed to reach the signature threshold.

The outlet also said a group of national Democrats rallied around Newsom, including U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), as well as independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont).

"Right-wing Republicans in CA are trying to recall Gavin Newsom for the crime of telling people to wear masks and for listening to scientists during COVID," Sanders said in a statement, NPR reported. "Extremist Republicans have done enough to undermine democracy already. We must all unite to oppose the recall in California."

Padilla said, "The same Republicans who refused to hold Donald Trump accountable for the deadly insurrection of January 6th are now trying to hold Governor Newsom accountable for the failures of Donald Trump," the outlet added.

More than just the GOP want Newsom out

Ana Kasparian — a far-left co-host of progressive political channel "The Young Turks" — earlier this month said she joined the recall effort: "I'm a native Angeleno, I was born and raised in California, I love my state, I love the people in this state. But it is an absolute wasteland right now. Every freeway bridge is full of people living in tents. There's excrement on our sidewalks. It's unsafe. Crime has gone up. And when it comes to coronavirus, I mean, the fish rots from the head down."