Honestly, what's the point of having Senate confirmations:
Independent fact-checks found that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave misleading testimony about vaccines — including saying it’s unclear whether COVID-19 shots saved lives, downplaying his vaccine-related advocacy during the Samoa measles crisis, and describing himself as “not anti-vaccine” despite a long résumé of anti-vaccine claims.
He also overstated supposed conflicts of interest in federal vaccine advisory panels and contradicted well-established scientific consensus — the kind of moment where senators weren’t arguing about policy so much as quietly googling during the hearing.
I agree. When candidates for Senate approval lie in their confirmation testimony, when the lie is exposed, the nomination process ends. If the lie is discovered later, that triggers a new hearing to determine guilt. If guilty, immediate removal from the position to which he/she was appointed. Referral to Senate ethics committee. All in favor, hit the like button. Oh, & let’s extend this to our lying Supreme Court justices. At least put them on notice.
When the stakes are extreme (our children’s life) we are already afraid & concerned. Then, when doubt is constantly layered over the entire process, facts then become doubted, making it impossible to rationally decide.
If I were a new father without a medical background, I’d be checking with everyone I knew. (My children are middle age, no measles. I had measles age 6. Also chicken pox).
I had chicken pox, measles, and mumps literally one after the other. Missed a large portion of the first grade. My adult children had none of those because of vaccinations. I
I had measles in 2nd grade. chicken pox in 3rd grade. I've had every vaccine offered since then. My kids were vaccinated. Grandkids too. Having unvaccinated classmates is a danger to those with underlying conditions or disabilities. My grandson has Muscular Dystrophy. If exposed to these preventable diseases, it could be catastrophic. Vaccination is not necessarily personal. It is an extension of care for the community, not just your own self interest. Herd Immunity, when reached, helps to eliminate the threat of these childhood diseases. And on last bit...I have personal experience with Kennedy. He used to be reliably in favor of healthy food, especially organic. He was a great champion of the Organic Standard. But now, he's gone off the rails. What a disappointment.
He signed off and vouched that Kennedy would not do crazy stuff. Which Kennedy has done and a Cassidy doesn’t call him out for lying under oath. Children are and will die, and Cassidy’s actions will have enabled those deaths.
Kennedy's motivations were laid out plainly and clearly in last year's Frontline exposé. The underlying problem is a lack of science literacy in America, combined with American anti-intellectualism in general. For the well-educated who understand science well, individual cases of science ignorance are a snap to diagnose; the symptoms are very easy to spot.
Perjury is the name of the game and we are its victims.
First it was Amy Connan Bryant, who during her Senate hearings confirming her nomination to the Supreme Court, pledged that she would not support overturning Roe v. Wade. She then joined the other conservative SCOTUS justices in successfully overturning Roe v. Wade.
Next came Brett Kavanaugh, who like Justice Clarence Thomas, categorically denied all allegations of sexual misconduct by three of his victims during his 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearing by the Senate.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is the third nominee to a high-ranking government position who has perjured himself during his Senate confirmation hearing for his appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services. During his confirmation, Kennedy asserted that, although he has a long and lucrative record of vaccine skepticism, he would not do anything to undermine scientifically proven vaccination protocols. Instead, he has actively used the levers of public health to convince the public that those levers cannot be trusted, creating doubt and suspicion about not only vaccines but also every aspect of our public health system.
As the director the center of the country’s public health apparatus, RFK Jr. is directly responsible for guiding vaccine policy. This policy shapes the childhood immunization schedule, sets norms that insurers and schools follow, and communicates risk during outbreaks.
In all three cases, candidates for high-level government appointments lied to the Senate in order to be confirmed. In all three cases, the victims of those lies are the people of the USA. In the case of RFK Jr., a drastic drop in vaccination rates and the ensuing measles outbreaks across the country are the direct result of his policies; the victims are children.
Jon Oliver's "Last Week Tonight" devoted a whole episode to Kennedy's fraudulent and dishonest approach to health. A MUST SEE! I disagree with the idea that he actually believes all the crap he spews.
An ancient way to avoid many of the obstacles blocking humans from truly listening to each other has been summarized by Marshall Rosenberg. Initially he called it Nonviolent Communication. Later, to accentuate the positive, he began calling it Compassionate Communication. The 4 steps, abbreviated as OFNR, are listed on a cheat sheet here:
You’ll recognize the key points of this approach because we’ve all accidentally had such discussions, but just couldn’t identify what worked, so that sort of friendly conversation isn’t easy to have again.
I used the 4 steps to write this request to an impatient friend who dismisses me as a conspiracy theorist:
OBSERVATION: "You and I both care about life on Earth, and we agree that humanity has some work ahead to protect our future. Even so, we disagree about something that seems ridiculous to you but in my mind is a real threat.
FEELINGS: "My love for my kids and grandkids motivates me to bring up vaccination hazards with you even though you and I firmly disagree and most likely won’t change.”
NEEDS: "I feel as compelled to discuss this as you felt when you encouraged all our friends and neighbors to write to our Senators about the hazards of glyphosate herbicide (which I agree with you about).”
REQUEST: "The pro-vax message is everywhere in the media and we also hear it from our family physicians and our public health department. My minority view might annoy you, but I dare to ask because I once was in favor of vaccines. Then, a relative’s reaction after some shots led me to read up on the topic, and I changed my mind.
Not that I think you should or would change your mind, but it's possible you have rarely, if ever, heard the other side expressed in a calm and tolerant way. My request: Although the easiest thing is to dismiss cautious people like me, are you willing to spend a few minutes skimming info that changed my mind?"
If the answer is yes, scroll past my essay to the 103 items at the end (many were written by MDs):
that have schizophrenia just need to eat a Keto diet. 🧐 I wonder how many scientific studies were done to reach that conclusion. I wish I had that information while working with individuals with schizophrenia. It would have stopped a lot of suffering.
Honestly, what's the point of having Senate confirmations:
Independent fact-checks found that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave misleading testimony about vaccines — including saying it’s unclear whether COVID-19 shots saved lives, downplaying his vaccine-related advocacy during the Samoa measles crisis, and describing himself as “not anti-vaccine” despite a long résumé of anti-vaccine claims.
He also overstated supposed conflicts of interest in federal vaccine advisory panels and contradicted well-established scientific consensus — the kind of moment where senators weren’t arguing about policy so much as quietly googling during the hearing.
I agree. When candidates for Senate approval lie in their confirmation testimony, when the lie is exposed, the nomination process ends. If the lie is discovered later, that triggers a new hearing to determine guilt. If guilty, immediate removal from the position to which he/she was appointed. Referral to Senate ethics committee. All in favor, hit the like button. Oh, & let’s extend this to our lying Supreme Court justices. At least put them on notice.
Also this:
https://open.substack.com/pub/jaywilson1/p/im-not-dead-yet?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
When the stakes are extreme (our children’s life) we are already afraid & concerned. Then, when doubt is constantly layered over the entire process, facts then become doubted, making it impossible to rationally decide.
If I were a new father without a medical background, I’d be checking with everyone I knew. (My children are middle age, no measles. I had measles age 6. Also chicken pox).
I had chicken pox, measles, and mumps literally one after the other. Missed a large portion of the first grade. My adult children had none of those because of vaccinations. I
Neither one has Autism.
Me too in 2nd grade. No question that my girls were vaccinated.
I had measles in 2nd grade. chicken pox in 3rd grade. I've had every vaccine offered since then. My kids were vaccinated. Grandkids too. Having unvaccinated classmates is a danger to those with underlying conditions or disabilities. My grandson has Muscular Dystrophy. If exposed to these preventable diseases, it could be catastrophic. Vaccination is not necessarily personal. It is an extension of care for the community, not just your own self interest. Herd Immunity, when reached, helps to eliminate the threat of these childhood diseases. And on last bit...I have personal experience with Kennedy. He used to be reliably in favor of healthy food, especially organic. He was a great champion of the Organic Standard. But now, he's gone off the rails. What a disappointment.
@SenBillCassidy
He signed off and vouched that Kennedy would not do crazy stuff. Which Kennedy has done and a Cassidy doesn’t call him out for lying under oath. Children are and will die, and Cassidy’s actions will have enabled those deaths.
Ps Cassidy is a medical doctor. He took an oath!
Website https://www.cassidy.senate.gov
Contact 455 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5824 Contact
GOP Senate Louisiana (2015-Present)
House LA District 6 (2009-2015)
Kennedy's motivations were laid out plainly and clearly in last year's Frontline exposé. The underlying problem is a lack of science literacy in America, combined with American anti-intellectualism in general. For the well-educated who understand science well, individual cases of science ignorance are a snap to diagnose; the symptoms are very easy to spot.
Perjury is the name of the game and we are its victims.
First it was Amy Connan Bryant, who during her Senate hearings confirming her nomination to the Supreme Court, pledged that she would not support overturning Roe v. Wade. She then joined the other conservative SCOTUS justices in successfully overturning Roe v. Wade.
Next came Brett Kavanaugh, who like Justice Clarence Thomas, categorically denied all allegations of sexual misconduct by three of his victims during his 2018 Supreme Court confirmation hearing by the Senate.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is the third nominee to a high-ranking government position who has perjured himself during his Senate confirmation hearing for his appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services. During his confirmation, Kennedy asserted that, although he has a long and lucrative record of vaccine skepticism, he would not do anything to undermine scientifically proven vaccination protocols. Instead, he has actively used the levers of public health to convince the public that those levers cannot be trusted, creating doubt and suspicion about not only vaccines but also every aspect of our public health system.
As the director the center of the country’s public health apparatus, RFK Jr. is directly responsible for guiding vaccine policy. This policy shapes the childhood immunization schedule, sets norms that insurers and schools follow, and communicates risk during outbreaks.
In all three cases, candidates for high-level government appointments lied to the Senate in order to be confirmed. In all three cases, the victims of those lies are the people of the USA. In the case of RFK Jr., a drastic drop in vaccination rates and the ensuing measles outbreaks across the country are the direct result of his policies; the victims are children.
Jon Oliver's "Last Week Tonight" devoted a whole episode to Kennedy's fraudulent and dishonest approach to health. A MUST SEE! I disagree with the idea that he actually believes all the crap he spews.
An ancient way to avoid many of the obstacles blocking humans from truly listening to each other has been summarized by Marshall Rosenberg. Initially he called it Nonviolent Communication. Later, to accentuate the positive, he began calling it Compassionate Communication. The 4 steps, abbreviated as OFNR, are listed on a cheat sheet here:
www.growingedgesnm.com/uploads/9/7/5/0/97506900/nvc_cheat_sheet.pdf
You’ll recognize the key points of this approach because we’ve all accidentally had such discussions, but just couldn’t identify what worked, so that sort of friendly conversation isn’t easy to have again.
I used the 4 steps to write this request to an impatient friend who dismisses me as a conspiracy theorist:
OBSERVATION: "You and I both care about life on Earth, and we agree that humanity has some work ahead to protect our future. Even so, we disagree about something that seems ridiculous to you but in my mind is a real threat.
FEELINGS: "My love for my kids and grandkids motivates me to bring up vaccination hazards with you even though you and I firmly disagree and most likely won’t change.”
NEEDS: "I feel as compelled to discuss this as you felt when you encouraged all our friends and neighbors to write to our Senators about the hazards of glyphosate herbicide (which I agree with you about).”
REQUEST: "The pro-vax message is everywhere in the media and we also hear it from our family physicians and our public health department. My minority view might annoy you, but I dare to ask because I once was in favor of vaccines. Then, a relative’s reaction after some shots led me to read up on the topic, and I changed my mind.
Not that I think you should or would change your mind, but it's possible you have rarely, if ever, heard the other side expressed in a calm and tolerant way. My request: Although the easiest thing is to dismiss cautious people like me, are you willing to spend a few minutes skimming info that changed my mind?"
If the answer is yes, scroll past my essay to the 103 items at the end (many were written by MDs):
https://laurenayers.substack.com/p/why-does-yolo-county-public-health
Those
that have schizophrenia just need to eat a Keto diet. 🧐 I wonder how many scientific studies were done to reach that conclusion. I wish I had that information while working with individuals with schizophrenia. It would have stopped a lot of suffering.