Covidiots

ABC News reports: Chairman Bill Cassidy, a Republican, kicked off Thursday’s hearing by saying he agrees with Kennedy’s view on the need to tackle ultra-processed food and its impact on Americans’ health. But he quickly admitted he has some concerns about his nomination. “It’s no secret I have some reservations about your past positions on vaccines and COVID issues,” the …

The New York Times reports: In a tense exchange with Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. displayed a surprising lack of familiarity with Medicare and Medicaid, the government programs responsible for covering more than 150 million Americans. At times, Mr. Kennedy seemed to confuse the two programs. Medicare is a federal program that provides coverage to …

The New York Times reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose antipathy toward vaccines has raised alarms among health experts and galvanized the “medical freedom” movement, will testify Wednesday at the first of two Senate committee hearings as he seeks to become the nation’s health secretary. Until now, Mr. Kennedy has had only closed-door meetings with senators. His appearance Wednesday before …

“The two candidates I helped elect, Senator Raphael Warnock and Senator Jon Ossoff, please know I will be watching your votes very closely. I will make it my personal mission that you lose your seats in the Senate if you vote against the future health of America’s children. “And more than that, I also want to say to Senators Mitch …

Mother Jones reports: In the early 2010s, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went through a contentious divorce with his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy. It was ugly. Richardson had found a diary RFK Jr. kept that chronicled multiple extramarital affairs he had engaged in—possibly numbering in the dozens—and she was enraged and tormented by his infidelity. She was drinking and racked …

The New York Times reports: Caroline Kennedy wrote a letter to key senators on Tuesday, calling her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a “predator” who is addicted to the attention he gets from airing dangerous views on vaccinations. She called on lawmakers to reject his nomination. She cited his lack of experience, misinformed views on vaccines and personal attributes. In …

From the New York Post editorial board: On Thursday, Senate hearings begin on RFK Jr.’s nomination as secretary for Health and Human Services. But nothing has changed about Kennedy from last spring. He’s still a radical left lunatic who is anti-energy, a “big time” taxer and completely incoherent about our nation’s health. No Republican can vote for this guy. No …

From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: Most troubling is his long record of anti-vaccine advocacy. In the past he has claimed that the measles vaccine causes autism despite reams of studies that have found no causative link, and that the polio vaccine might have killed many more than the actual virus. Deadly infectious diseases disappeared because of better hygiene, …

Fox News reports: President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to reinstate service members booted from the military for declining to get COVID-19 vaccine jabs, according to the White House. Those reinstated will be returned to their prior rank, and be provided back pay and benefits. The White House fact sheet indicates that just 43 of the over 8,000 …

The Washington Post reports: The CIA said Saturday that it now favors a Chinese laboratory leak as the mostly likely origin of the coronavirus pandemic, the latest development in the still-simmering debate over the virus and the nation’s response. Several other intelligence agencies continue to favor the natural-origin theory, and there is no evidence SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the pandemic, …

The Daily Beast reports: President Donald Trump has decided to put all federal health agencies on hold until his Department of Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gets his confirmation hearing. The Washington Post reported that dozens of current staffers have been instructed to halt all external communications, including health advisories, social media posts, publishing of …

Reuters reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. played an instrumental role in organizing mass litigation against drugmaker Merck over its Gardasil vaccine, a strategy that faces its first test in a Los Angeles court next week, according to two attorneys close to the case and court filings. Kennedy awaits confirmation as U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary. The role would …

The New York Times reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s health agencies, formally asked the Food and Drug Administration to revoke the authorization of all Covid vaccines during a deadly phase of the pandemic when thousands of Americans were still dying every week. Mr. Kennedy filed a petition with the F.D.A. in …

Radiology Business reports: President-elect Donald J. Trump first announced his HHS selection in November, with Kennedy slated to serve as the commander in chief’s principal advisor on all health matters. However, the Committee to Protect Health Care, a national advocacy organization, is now pushing lawmakers to derail his confirmation. The group had garnered signatures from more than 19,000 physicians as …

Mediaite reports: Mel Gibson told Joe Rogan that several of his friends were cured of stage 4 cancer with alternative medicines like the drug ivermectin, typically used to treat parasitic infections in humans and large animals. At one point in their lengthy conversation, the two talked about medicine and the healthcare industry, which prompted Gibson to tell a personal story. …

“Are your friends in LA not reacting to danger in an expected way? Are they almost in a trance? Multiple confirmations independently that suggest that this is the case, including from a therapist who says her patients are not reacting normally. “Could a mood stabilizer of some kind be in what was sprayed, or do weather manipulation waves entrain human …

The Guardian reports: State legislation to ban what some lawmakers call chemtrails has been pushed forward in Tennessee and, most recently, Florida. Meanwhile, Robert F Kennedy, who has expressed interest in the conspiracy theory on social media and his podcast, is set to be at the heart of Donald Trump’s new administration following his nomination as health secretary. Believers of …

NBC News reports: Del Bigtree, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement, brought in a record windfall last year for the nonprofit group he founded, according to the latest tax filings. The Informed Consent Action Network, known as ICAN, reported $23 million in revenue for 2023, a 74% increase from the previous year. The group spent nearly $17 million on …

New Orleans’ NPR affiliate reports: A group of high-level managers at the Louisiana Department of Health walked into a Nov. 14 meeting in Baton Rouge expecting to talk about outreach and community events. Instead, they were told by an assistant secretary in the department and another official that department leadership had a new policy: Advertising or otherwise promoting the COVID, …

The journal Science reports: A 2020 paper that sparked widespread enthusiasm for hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment was retracted today, following years of campaigning by scientists who alleged the research contained major scientific flaws and may have breached ethics regulations. The paper was pulled because of ethical concerns and methodological problems, according to a retraction notice. The paper in the …