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'You Will Have Blood On Your Hands': Cassidy Ripped For RFK Jr. Vote

'You Will Have Blood On Your Hands': Cassidy Ripped For RFK Jr. Vote

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a physician with a record of working to help the uninsured and underinsured, on Tuesday voted in committee to confirm anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to become President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, an attorney and not a physician, has never managed an enterprise anywhere near the scale of the $1.6 trillion department that encompasses over a dozen vital agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The final floor vote on Kennedy’s HHS nomination is expected to come next week.

Directly or indirectly, HHS’s decisions touch every human being in the United States.

Senator Cassidy had hinted, some believed, as The New York Times had reported, that he would vote against confirming Kennedy, after he posted a biblical passage on courage to social media this weekend:



Cassidy’s vote has been seen as pivotal for Kennedy’s confirmation.

Kennedy has been labeled a conspiracy theorist who “continues to push the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism,” the BBC reported. He has said: “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.” He also has spent years advocating against vaccines, and has a financial interest in having vaccines perceived as dangerous, and has a financial stake in anti-vaccine lawsuits.

“Kennedy has not only gained a public following for his outlandish claims, he has also made a lot of money broadcasting them. And he could stand to make more from his anti-vaccine crusade as America’s top health official — the kind of brazen self-dealing that’s become all but normalized in Trump’s America,” Vox‘s Dylan Scott reported.

Despite Kennedy’s history, however, Senator Cassidy on Tuesday told Americans that if confirmed, RFK Jr. and he “will meet regularly,” and the HHS Secretary would meet quarterly with the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. And he said Kennedy committed to giving the HELP Committee 30-day notice if he wants to change vaccine monitoring programs.

“These commitments, and my expectation that we can have a great working relationship to make America healthy again, is the basis of my support,” Cassidy announced (video below).

On social media media Cassidy added: “I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning. I want to thank VP JD specifically for his honest counsel. With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes.”

Backlash against Cassidy has been swift.

“Having very intense conversations with a liar is not a good way to discover the truth,” wroteThe Atlantic’s James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds.

“You are a coward,” charged Fred Wellman, an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, and is now a political consultant and the host of the podcast “On Democracy.” “What did they threaten you with? This Administration never keeps promises. Why are you such a spineless fraud? Just disgraceful. You’ve gotten your footnote in the history books as a weak man who surrendered when challenged. Nobody remembers the cowards.”

“Our Republican Party has fully turned into the soulless United Russia party and act identical to the communist politburo,” observed Olga Lautman, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and an expert on Russian intelligence.

“Rarely does somebody get to flush two essential oaths, Hippocratic and Constitutional, down the toilet at once. May history remember you for this accomplishment,” noted former Obama and Biden administrations official Jesse Lee.

“You’re a doctor who just voted for an anti-vax conspiracy theorist. You’ve made children less safe. You’ve made Americans less safe. This is your legacy,” declared political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen.

“Disgusting. I feel for anyone who had him as a Doctor—or a Senator. Kennedy is the most unqualified, disqualified, radical and ridiculous nominee for this role in history. Anyone who votes for him has no integrity,” wrote veterans’ activist Paul Reickhoff.

“You are a moral coward. When children die because they are unvaccinated for measles and polio, you will bear responsibility. When people die from a pandemic because the CDC has been hollowed out, you will have blood on your hands. Shame,” saidThe Atlantic’s Dr. Norman Ornstein, a political scientist and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

Watch the video below or at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Poll: Americans Don't Trust Trump, Oz Or RFK Jr. To Protect Public Health

Poll: Americans Don't Trust Trump, Oz Or RFK Jr. To Protect Public Health

Donald Trump and his picks to lead American health care policy do not have the support of the public, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The Axios/Ipsos American Health Index poll shows that only 32 percent of Americans trust Trump on health issues. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, fares even worse with only 30 percent. And only 23 percent of Americans trust Mehmet Oz, Trump’s choice to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Trump’s picks to lead the National Institutes of Health, Jay Bhattacharya, and the FDA, Marty Makary, fare even worse with support levels of 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively. But it’s likely that many Americans have no idea who those two people are, and that’s why they don’t trust them.

By contrast, Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, enjoys 45 percent trust. Trust is even higher for existing health agencies, with 66 percent of Americans trusting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 62 percent backing the National Institutes of Health.

His years of attacking the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, certainly doesn’t help Trump’s trustworthiness on health care. Since he began his political career in 2015, Trump has pushed for repealing the program while offering nothing (to this day) to replace it. Trump backed legislation in 2017 that would have left millions of Americans without coverage and was thwarted by a unified Democratic Party and three breakaway Republican senators.

The history of his nominees on health issues also brings significant negatives to the table.

Kennedy has peddled debunked conspiracy theories on a host of medical issues, most notably his false assertion that childhood vaccination is connected to autism. Oz, a failed Senate candidate and former TV host, has been criticized for peddling dubious pills and supporting the privatization of Medicare.

Bhattacharya is an economist at Stanford University who proposed largely allowing COVID-19 to spread—despite the virus’ significant public health risk—while Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, opposed mandatory vaccination, even though vaccination was ultimately key to restoring normalcy across the world.

Arguably, the biggest failure that Trump is associated with in his first presidential term was related to health care. On his watch, over 396,800 Americans died from COVID-19—following months of Trump repeatedly misinforming the public on the severity of the virus and denying states the resources they needed to fight infections.

This new poll from Axios/Ipsos shows that Trump’s narrow election win has not given him any kind of boost on the key issue of public health, and the low quality of his nominees isn’t helping.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

RFK Jr. and Sean Hannity

Fox Promotes RFK Jr -- Whose Lunacy Could Exact A Terrible Cost

Fox News irresponsibly championed notorious anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s potential role overseeing federal health policy in a second Trump administration. In the final days of the presidential campaign, the dire impact he could have on the American public has now come fully into view.

Fox hosts have spent the last 18 months building up in the minds of their audience members a wackadoo conspiracy theorist who has blamed self-described “cognitive problems” on having a literal worm in his brain as part of a play to return Donald Trump to the White House. The network promoted Kennedy as a potential spoiler in the Democratic presidential primary, then lavished him with praise when he ended his independent candidacy and endorsed Trump.

The network’s hosts even touted Kennedy’s health views as, in Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt’s words, “music to every mom’s ears,” while hiding from viewers his disturbing record of spreading unfounded claims falsely linking childhood vaccinations and autism and his attacks on the COVID-19 vaccine as “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” Kennedy’s advocacy reportedly helped drive down vaccination rates in American Samoa, triggering “one of the worst measles outbreaks in recent memory.”

Trump and Kennedy have both said in recent days that Kennedy will play a major part in a potential second Trump administration. Trump has said that Kennedy will be permitted to “go wild on health” and “go wild on the medicines,” while Kennedy has alleged the former president “has promised” him oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services and agencies under its purview, which include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

Kennedy’s public statements — and those of other Republican leaders about his potential role — suggest that the consequences could prove disastrous.

  • Kennedy’s “rising influence was reflected” in an appearance by Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick, who said on CNN he had come to doubt the safety of vaccines following a conversation with Kennedy and that he approved of Kennedy getting access to federal data about vaccines and making recommendations. Jerome M. Adams, who served as U.S. surgeon general under Trump, said in response, “It’s hard to implement your other political priorities if you’re busy dealing with a measles or polio outbreak.”
  • Kennedy said on social media: “On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.” Water fluoridation, which federal officials endorsed more than 70 years ago, strengthens teeth and reduces cavities, according to the CDC. A federal agency said earlier this year that there is “moderate confidence” in a link between fluoride levels double the recommended limit in drinking water and lower IQ in children.
  • Trump told a reporter on Tuesday that advising water systems to remove fluoride “sounds okay to me” and that he is open to banning vaccines.
  • Kennedy has reportedly recommended Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo to the Trump transition team as a potential candidate for HHS secretary. Lapado has fought with federal regulators over the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine and earned notoriety for spreading health misinformation and for his fringe associations.
  • Charlene Bollinger, a longtime Kennedy friend who recently said she is working with him to advise the Trump transition team, is a fringe commentator who describes cancer as “just an imbalance” and whose social media account endorsed threads praising Adolf Hitler and pushing claims about a “Jew World Order.”
  • Kennedy recently appeared in a pro-Trump ad for a group that works to oppose in vitro fertilization, which it has labeled “evil” and “immoral.”

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

RFK Jr.

RFK Jr. Appears In Trump Ad For Catholic Group That Calls IVF 'Evil'

Anti-vaccine commentator and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who former President Donald Trump said will have a “big role in healthcare” if Trump wins, recently appeared in an ad for CatholicVote urging people to support the Republican nominee. RFK Jr. was helping a group that works to oppose IVF, which it has labeled “evil” and “immoral.”

CatholicVote is a conservative organization that is supporting Trump. The organization’s president has appeared in right-wing media outlets, including Fox News, Newsmax, and Steve Bannon’s program. The group also posts media content that attacks Democrats and IVF.

It released an October 24 video featuring Kennedy, who stated that “President Trump has promised to take bold action on our economy, on the border, and on restoring children’s health” and said, “I hope you’ll join me in supporting Donald Trump.”

In addition to supporting Trump, CatholicVote also works to end IVF. It has a supposed explainer page on its website that criticizes IVF as unethical. It writes:

At first glance, IVF seems innocuous – simply a procedure to help parents conceive a child. However, the morality and ethics of the procedure begin before the embryos are created.

To help stimulate egg production, women have to take various steps to increase the fertility of their eggs and facilitate ovulation. During retrieval, eggs are removed from the ovaries with a suctioning device or needle that harvests more than one egg at a time, with no guarantee that any of the eggs will be healthy or able to be used to create embryos.

For men, the process is different. Sperm can be collected at any time and even frozen for use at a later date and is often collected through unorthodox means.

The page adds: “During fertilization and implantation, embryos that are considered to be unviable are either ‘discarded,’ used for scientific research, or frozen indefinitely. These standard practices violate the dignity of the human person, whose life begins at conception.”

The group then urges readers to reconsider IVF.

CatholicVote also shares numerous anti-IVF materials on its website, including “Catholic Woman Who Struggled With Infertility for Years: IVF Is Not the Answer” and “Lila Rose Praises Decision of Alabama Judge to Affirm Life at Fertilization.”

In one piece, CatholicVote attacked former first lady Michelle Obama for promoting and using IVF. One section of the piece was titled “Suffering leads to evil means to create God’s children.” The piece added: “IVF is an immoral process which treats humans like chattel and often ends in their deaths. It is therefore important that pro-life advocates be ready to articulately and compassionately stand against Obama’s contribution to the anti-life problem which IVF represents.”

As a candidate, Kennedy made contradictory remarks about abortion. And while saying he is not against IVF, he claimed that there are more important factors to consider regarding “the alarming decline in fertility” and that “this issue is so much bigger than IVF.” He also picked running mate Nicole Shanahan, who called IVF “one of the biggest lies that’s being told about women’s health today.”

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

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