Crackpots

The Washington Post reports: A Senate panel voted Tuesday to narrowly advance the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee the nation’s health agencies. Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist seeking to run the Department of Health and Human Services, has been the focus of an intense lobbying campaign, with public health leaders calling him a …

Mediaite reports: A woman who worked with the anti-vaccine nonprofit run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused him of sexual misconduct and was paid a nearly $1 million settlement as part of a nondisclosure agreement in late 2020, multiple sources told Mediaite. In recent days, Kennedy admitted under questioning from Senate Democrats to two misconduct claims against him, which he …

The Associated Press reports: Samoa’s top health official on Monday denounced as “a complete lie” remarks that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made during his bid to become U.S. health secretary, rejecting his claim that some who died in the country’s 2019 measles epidemic didn’t have the disease. “We don’t know what was killing them,” Kennedy said during tense U.S. Senate …

The Associated Press reports: A letter submitted to the U.S. Senate that states it was sent by physicians in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services includes the names of doctors who have had their licenses revoked, suspended or faced other discipline, The Associated Press has found. The letter was meant to lend …

Bernie Sanders: “There have been, as I understand it, dozens of studies done all over the world that make it very clear that vaccines do not cause autism. Now, you just said, if I heard correctly, well, if the evidence is there. The evidence is there! That’s it. Vaccines do not cause autism. Do you agree with that?” Robert Kennedy: …

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, …

“There are those that say, ‘They [Democrats] must’ve done it on purpose.’ I won’t go that far, but if they didn’t do it on purpose, I think they certainly facilitated it. And my heart goes out to all the other residents. “You meet people all the time who’ve lost their homes. And you talk and commiserate and buck each other …

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 …

“I know they were messing with the water, letting reserves go for one reason or another. They’ve been doing that a while. California has a lot of problems that sort of baffle the mind as far as why they do things. “And then in the events like this, you sort of look, well, is it on purpose? Which, it’s an …

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 …