June 29, 2023

Challenge RFK Jr. to his face — call him an anti-vaxxer — and see what happens.


I wasn't surprised by the strength of Kennedy's response, because I'd heard him say much the same thing (and more) on the Joe Rogan podcast. I said on June 10th:
Notice the descriptor: "anti-vaccine activist." A lot depends on the strength of that label. If people accept it as a warning — steer clear of this nut — then Biden easily prevails. But if that insult is questioned — what is it they don't want us to look into? — then Biden is caught flatfooted.
On Joe Rogan's podcast, Kennedy expressed his skepticism about the relationship between vaccine manufacturers and the federal government. It isn't the idea that vaccines don't work, but questioning why so many vaccines, why they are mandated, especially for babies, and how the side effects are balanced against the benefits. Right now, we're seeing an avoidance of debating with Kennedy, but will that strategy work? People who lived through the rigors of the coronavirus pandemic may demand that the experts prove they were worthy of the trust and obedience they demanded.

And on June 23rd, after Peter Hotez called RFK Jr. a "vaccine denier," I wrote:

[I]t's not accurate to call him a "vaccine denier." What does that even mean? He doesn't deny that vaccines exist and have an effect. He's concerned about side effects, inadequate testing, and corruption in the relationship between government and the pharmaceutical industry. Are you not concerned about these things? If not, I can call you a "denier." See how glib and infuriating that is?

74 comments:

Limited blogger said...

I'm glad you're on top of this distortion, Ann. Thank you.

Limited blogger said...

Elizabeth Vargas tried to corner Bobby all night. She was not successful.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Is anti-vaxxer as strong a pejorative as anti-trans or Trump-supporter?

The way I look at all three of those is from a highly nuanced perch. ;P

However, if you make me choose by pointing a gun at me in the middle of 5th Av, I would say, as someone who values his own life above all others; there is no worse plague upon the face of the earth, than a Trump supporter. 😉

Limited blogger said...

At one point Bobby said '... Trump likes me!...'

RideSpaceMountain said...

2012 Leftists: Say No To Big Pharma!

2023 Leftists: How dare you malign Pfizer and the CDC you anti-vaxxer bigot!

Same people. Same energy. Different decade.

Original Mike said...

I have to admit, after watching the strong arming and dishonesty from government and medical associations over Covid, I am a lot more receptive to his message. Are there really 72 mandated vaccines now? Wow.

Before I could support Kennedy, however, I will need a similar airing of his climate positions.

gilbar said...

serious question, about these "vaccines"..
Is there any evidence? Any? At ALL? that they do ANY good?
They don't stop you from getting it..
They don't stop you from giving it...
It's True, that IF you get the "vaccine" and the second shot, and the booster, and another booster..
That you PROBABLY won't have a serious case of covid....
BUT! wouldn't THAT be the case if you didn't have any "vaccines", at all??

Have more people died WITH, or WITHOUT the "vaccines"??

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Science has gone from ???, to, we don't have the time!!!

Some variation of 'We are going to die, if we don't do this'. (sound familiar?)

I think it started to happen as climate science went from a field of study to a metaphysical certitude with drop dead deadlines.

For someone to come along with a nuance approach to vaccines, having lived thru the climate histeria, that someone could be made to sound the worse of the heretics.

planetgeo said...

Classic liberals have been cowards in the last few years at least. RFK, Jr. marks the official start of a public pushback by such classic liberals to resist the excesses of the far-left faction that has taken full control of the Democratic Party. As I've said before, I don't think he can successfully win their nomination, but he is definitely going to have a much bigger following and impact than most believe on both the eventual election and the party going forward.

traditionalguy said...

A good trial lawyer’s response. RFKjr humbly presents facts that shift the burden of proof to the other side. I really like him, partly because of his heroic Uncle Jack.

Courage is what courage does.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

My son told me the Rogan podcast was effective, and this impresses me. Maybe the smallpox vaccine eliminates smallpox, with no notable negative effects, but that leaves chicken pox/shingles as a terrible problem, and if no one is looking for problems, the public is encouraged to think: a vaccine is designed to solve one problem, and it solves that problem; case closed.

We have all seen Fauci and other public health officials lie repeatedly during Covid time. They did not seek the truth and then tell it. They pursued their careers. If they make everyone make considerable sacrifices, they can look like they have taken the cautious approach. Supposedly noone can blame them for any deaths that result. They may have done more harm than good. They have oversold the so-called vaccines, including by changing the definition of "vaccine."

Jupiter said...

Polio vaccines have probably killed more kids than they have saved. The Salk vaccine was pretty bad, and killed a lot of kids. The Sabin vaccine was fairly harmless, but polio was pretty much gone in the US by the time it came along, due to the cessation of the massive pesticide spraying campaigns that were the chief cause of infantile paralysis.

In general, most of the diseases that were supposedly "cured" by vaccination were almost gone by the time a "successful" vaccine was developed. In fact, the way you develop a successful vaccine is to keep trying until the disease goes away.

Jupiter said...

If the CDC, the FDA, the AMA and the American Academy of Pediatrics all say he is wrong, that's good enough for me. I don't need to hear his arguments, I'm convinced he's right.

Original Mike said...

Blogger gilbar said..."serious question, about these "vaccines"..
Is there any evidence? Any? At ALL? that they do ANY good?"


I would think small pox, for one. Polio? Measles?

Have to say, I am not well read on the topic and have learned (I hope) to not blithely trust the "experts". But I suspect/hope there is a lot of evidence.

Michael K said...

The Polio vaccine that had some deaths was not Salk and I am unaware of a significant risk. In the 1930s Kohlmer and Brodie both developed vaccines that were withdrawn after some children contracted polio.

I agree with RFK Jr about chickenbox vaccine. My kids went to "chickenpox parties" or contracted it normally. My wife did not and contracted chickenpox at age 16 and was critically ill for several weeks. I have not seen a study of shingles after chickenpox vaccine but it is the same virus.

Saint Croix said...

What's interesting about our modern political fights is that it's a battle of conformity vs. non-conformity.

Or a mob vs the individual.

Kennedy represents non-conformity, and the individual.

The left is currently filled with people who demand conformity.

"Conform or be cast out!" as Rush would say. Not that one, the other one! (Subdivisions)

The left -- especially the young left -- is filled with people who think they know everything. That is because they were indoctrinated in a one-party state. The more schooling you've had, the more indoctrinated you are.

Kennedy is a classic liberal (i.e. non-conformist) who believes in the individual vs the mob.

Woke mob are the bad guys, and your one-party state is going to crack the fuck up

Gusty Winds said...

I watched this exchange earlier today. Notice how the dingbat interview doesn't absorb or comprehend A THING he is saying. Or, at least she's pretending not to, because that's what the DNC pays her to do.

The things he presents are profound...and she says, "members of your own family disagree with you". Then RFK is the only Kennedy who isn't a paid shill.

Nothing RFK Jr. says here is unreasonable. God help the patients of that physician that read the scripted question which ended with some bullshit like "how can we convince you to return to science?

The cocktail injected into American babies is crazy. RFK's point about the ridiculousness of giving a one-day old infant a Hepatitis B vaccine is obvious. Except to college educated white women.

The FDA and the CDC LIE to us all. The food pyramid. Oxycontin. mRNA shots.

Gusty Winds said...

Add physicians to the list of professionals that have lost the public's trust in the last few years.

Journalists
Teachers
Professors and Administrators
Physicians and Administrators

Gusty Winds said...

Funny how they can't find autistic kids in the Amish community.

Sydney said...

He was quite good in that segment. I am old enough to remember when we started mandating children get receive every new vaccine that came along. Here is what I clearly remember:

1)Hepatitis B was given to infants to try to reduce the incidence of future liver cancer because hepatitis B increases your risk of liver cancer and there were a lot of baby boomer age people who were hepB positive due to the loosening of sexual mores and increase in IV drug use. I do not know if it has been long enough to measure whether or not expectations have been met. I would say, no. Certainly, there was no way to test the validity of that hope before approval and mandates were made.

2) Chickenpox vaccines were promoted as a way to reduce parental absences from work. Fewer kids with chickenpox means fewer parents calling off work. I doubt any real economic advantage was derived from chickenpox vaccine, though. I am not aware of any studies that confirmed it, but admittedly have not looked.

3) Gardasil (Human papilloma virus vaccine) isn't required for school in most places, although I recall a push for mandates by the pharmaceutical company. It probably does reduce the number of abnormal paps and cervical cancer, though it is still too early for solid data. Again, the approval is based on hopes, not data. And giving it to boys to protect girls is another theoretical hope, not based on data.

4) Hepatitis A vaccine - given just in case. This disease is usually not fatal in a healthy person with a normal liver. And not all that common in a developed country like the US but it is part of the childhood vaccination schedule.

5) Meningitis - At first this was recommended for people who would be at high risk for meningitis - like military recruits who would be living in a barracks. Then it got expanded to people who would be living in a dorm. Now high schools mandate it. It can be a deadly disease but even before mandated vaccines, it was rare. The push for mandates came from pharmaceutical industry funded activists.
Then, the pharmaceutical industry came up with another meningitis vaccine that targeted a specific type meningitis called meningitis B. I remember that there was an intense debate within the organization that sets the childhood vaccine recommendations because this type of meningitis is even rarer and it was felt that the expense of the vaccine was not worth the population benefit. The pharmaceutical industry funded a very successful campaign using survivors who lost limbs because of sepsis from meningitis B. It was approved, although with a caveat that it should be with "Shared Decision Making."

6) Pneumococcal vaccine - This was sold as a way to reduce ear infections, and again, reduce the rate of parental work absences, thus benefiting the economy. Bonus - it was also promoted as a way to reduce the incidence of pneumonia in elderly people (protect the grandparents!), even though elderly people have their own pneumonia vaccine. Double Bonus - they then turned around and persuaded the FDA to approve it for elderly people as well since it is slightly different than the traditional geriatric pneumonia vaccine. They recently came out with a new and improved version and were able to do the same thing. The first iteration did not, in fact, result in fewer cases of pneumonia when given to old people than the previous vaccine - not even when it was given as a booster to the old one. It is too soon for data on the newest one, but it is recommended anyway.

So, RFK Junior is onto something, IMHO

MadisonMan said...

I hope that's a temporary voice problem.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It’s so funny that when it comes to the inside of our body, the most diverse entity known, we want an impossible uniformity of opinion.

What the fuck is wrong with us?

Gusty Winds said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gusty Winds said...

For those of us (30% of America) who refused the mRNA shots, we were called anti-vaxxers.

That was never true.

We were just good bullshit detectors.

Can you request "pure blood" when you go to the hospital? Readering claimed last week to have have had five COVID shots, and heading for a sixth. I think it was a lie, but point is:

Do you want that blood if you're in the hospital??

Sydney said...

Kennedy argued that the FDA approves vaccines before they have placebo-controlled trials proving their safety. The moderator told him he was wrong because the FDA mentions on its website that they do consider these trials in the approval process. It is true that the FDA website mentions Phase III trials, but it isn't clear that these need to be completed for FDA approval. (see here.

The newest pneumonia vaccine, Prevnar 20, was approved in June 2021. The FDA document on their decision only mentions postmarketing VAERS reporting. I did a quick PubMed search for studies on safety and could not find any that compared it to placebo, only studies that compared it to other pneumonia vaccines.

I am suspecting that Kennedy was right and the moderator was wrong.

Butkus51 said...

hell, what do I know, I'm just a Nazi

or so Ive been told

Deep State Reformer said...

Kennedy makes a strong defense of his views however his raspy voice makes it hard right even impossible to hear. That's what will kill his campaign. Like Nixon's
Five o'clock shadow & flop sweat did in the 1960 TV debates. Unlike that though the raspiness comes across all audio media presentations.

Aggie said...

There are a few studies that have shown that the reduction in communicated disease across a society correlates with improvements in nutrition, going back to the early 1900s. Good nutrition is the biggest contributor to public health, out there, because nourishment supports strong immune systems in otherwise healthy people.

Whenever I hear the 'denier' pejorative being used, that's enough for me to shut down. I've heard all I need to. Anybody that is willing to smear another with an association to holocaust denialism, which is truly a very small, extreme fringe of nuts similar to flat-earthers, is just an unserious, lazy person that does not want other views aired. I'll take another path, one that doesn't involve coddling lesser tyrants.

The other side issue affecting the integrity of this discussion, is the ever-shifting definition of 'vaccine' We saw this time, and time again during the COVID crisis, seemingly biweekly updates on the CDC site on definitions with correlative updates to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It used to be that a vaccine was a concoction of dead pathogens designed to stimulate an immune response and prevent one from catching the disease. By the end of the COVID pandemic, stuff that would normally be called a therapeutic was now being touted as a 'vaccine', even though it didn't confer immunity, didn't prevent one from catching the disease, and didn't prevent the unfortunate infected from passing the disease to others. That's some vaccine ya got there. But sure - no need for comprehensive testing, just slide it in there on an Emergency Use Authorization and then start jabbing kids with it. Who needs testing? RFKJr is dead right, and it's driving monied interests crazy, but they're still feeling pretty secure if you ask me.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Ann said...
"People who lived through the rigors of the coronavirus pandemic may demand that the experts prove they were worthy of the trust and obedience they demanded."

Well said.

Tom T. said...

Ann, he's a vaccine denier, and you're playing games to avoid acknowledging it. If he's just "questioning why so many vaccines," then why isn't he satisfied with the obvious answer - "because that's how many dangerous infectious diseases a child is likely to face"? You're not engaging with what he means. Precisely which vaccines would he eliminate? One commenter here is willing to let his kids take their chances with polio; are you? What other vaccines would you take off the list and why?

Same questions as to "why administer them to babies?" Given the ghastly rates of infant mortality in pre-modern societies, it's hard to imagine that this question is asked in good faith. If you're genuinely curious, though, the obvious question is "what precisely is his proposed alternative?" What is his preferred schedule, and why exactly does he think it's better?

Notice that RFKJ never answers these questions. That's by design, because he doesn't actually care. He's not genuinely asking about the number and the schedule of childhood vaccines, because he never identifies why he thinks they're wrong. He's a charlatan who's trying to discredit vaccines in general by sowing vague, free-floating doubts through "just asking questions."

Caroline said...

@Original Mike: listen to Jordan Peterson's interview of RFK Jr...Peterson pushes him on climate and gender orthodoxy. Sadly, RFk Jr reserves none of his skepticism toward 'experts," nor does he call out the Big Climate grifters like he relentlessly hammers Big Pharma or Big Oil. And really, doesn't he have a financial interest in keeping the environment scary? Anyway, I was very, very disappointed. A lib through and through.

MikeR said...

He did a great job. It was clear that those questioning him were caught completely flatfooted.

MikeR said...

Part of it struck me as similar to climate issues: The questioner demands that we accept something because "all scientists" agree, and the "denier" responds correctly that almost all scientists don't really know anything about it. The consensus is based on a much smaller number of scientists working on very particular issues, and it could be that they get some of those issues wrong. Not all, but it isn't "denial" to insist that the entire picture be as accurate as possible.

Maynard said...

If Trump or any Republican was forcing vaccines on children, the media would have taken a completely different view of what Bobby Jr. is saying.

Instead, they have to defend their party.

Yancey Ward said...

I will probably end up voting for Kennedy in the Tennessee primary since it is probably the best use of my vote in this state. I won't vote for him the general election, but I would much prefer him to be President than Joe Shit For Brains- Kennedy would be a 3 magnitude improvement over Biden.

Yancey Ward said...

The Kennedy/Rogan podcast is the only one I have watched in its entirety. I didn't watch last night's town hall, but I did go through the transcript this morning. Kennedy had decent answers to pretty much every question, and faced down the hostility in a pretty effective way. There is no way Kennedy will be allowed to debate whoever the Democrats decide to put up as a candidate when Biden is forced to withdraw.

Amadeus 48 said...

Re: shingles and chicken pox. Of, course unvaccinated kids who got chicken pox (like me in the 1950s) also get shingles later on. RFK ignores that side of the equation. So, chicken pox and shingles or no chicken pox and shingles. Seems like an easy choice.

On this topic, RFK is another demagogic lawyer playing on fear.

Gusty Winds said...

Tom T said...Same questions as to "why administer them to babies?"

Ok Mr. T. Like RFK said. Hepatitis B is transferred via sexual activity or needle use. Why give it to and infant seems a reasonable question.

Unless, of course, those infants are hanging around woke, pedophile Democrats. Then I can see the need.

Original Mike said...

@Caroline: That's disappointing. Thanks for the referral, I'll look up the interview.

traditionalguy said...

Bobby, as his friends call him is a nearly perfect moderate with a lifetime of experience In environmental law fighting the Big Biggies in Pharma bio experiments in drugs and vaccines and Archer Daniels Midland bio experiments in modified farm seed and chemicals.

The anti vaccine brand is used on him for bringing up the autism epidemic that correlated with mandated child vaccines that contain a type of mercury.

Incidentally the Salk Vaccine was safe. The scandals of deaths came from a single manufacturer in California among the many the Government required do the production. His competitors then worked hard to have his vaccine branded unsafe so they could make a fortune selling their patented one. Meanwhile Salk was giving his away. Salk was a rare true hero in the medical science business. Polio had been destroying 50,000 young American lives every summer. Polio’s mistake was in attacking FDR, who then donated the money for the research that chose the good Dr. Salk whose skill stopped it.

Gusty Winds said...

My 21-year-old son is somewhere on the autism spectrum. He was a normal, boisterous kid until he was about 12. I had him skiing down black diamond runs in Breckenridge, CO when he was 9 years old, and I would have to yell at him to slow down, and stay the fuck out of the woods. He was fearless, creative, and funny.

Then he started to change. Sensitivity to clothing. Became isolated more and more. No interest in alcohol or drugs (which is good). Took him to a neuropsychologist when he was 17. They said, "well he's right on the border, but we're not going to diagnose him". Great.

If you're Generation X, you know a lot of people with Generation Z autistic kids. I'm not saying I KNOW its the vaccines. But the lack of curiosity and search for the truth in infuriating. The public schools insisted my son get pumped full of Ritalin too. I hated it. Ironically, the neuropsychologist says..."he's definitely not ADHD"...he doesn't need the Ritalin. You should have seen the look on my ex's face. She was the one that INSISTED we listen to the EXPERTS at the public school.

There is a link between the vaccine schedule for children and the autism increase. And it's a crapshoot. Majority are probably not affected. But when you get to 1 in 100, or 1 in 34, nobody wants to ask "what the fuck happened"?

And outside the nuclear family, educators and doctors are supposed to be the ones who ask these questions. They're the assholes that want to shut down anyone who asks. Like that dipshit physician that stood up and asked RFK Jr. the question.

Trust me. There is also a community of kids that live on-line who are gamers, autistic, and struggle with gender identity. And the medical and education establishments approach is "let's make money off this bullshit"!

Gusty Winds said...

If you party, you know that if you drink a bunch of beers, and then smoke pot, you'll get the spins, and your night is over. But if you smoke pot early, and then start drinking, you're fine. You can smoke pot and drink all night. It's how you administer the cocktail.

Have you looked at the current CDC vaccine schedule for today's kids? It's insane, especially with the addition of mRNA COVID shots. Heroine addicts poke themselves with less needles.

EVERYONE in Gen X knows friends who have Gen Z children with autism. And you know multiple couples. My generation's lack of curiosity, while building McMansions, is one of my biggest disappointments. And now, our Gen X college educated women, and people like Tom T above, want to call anyone who asks questions a "denier".

So we're going to let them do this to our grandkids too??? Jesus. My Grandpa landed on Omaha Beach. Yeah he was lucky to survive, but he did it for me when he was 23.

I don't know what else to say, but it's just fucking gross. God Bless JFK Jr. for having the balls to speak the truth. Even if the goldfish like attention span of modern America doesn't even know how to listen.

hpudding said...

I’m going to go out on a limb and deduce that he’d obfuscating or distorting on this one also. There is not a single drug including vaccines in America that is legally commercialized without a prescriber’s insert, and if he can find a single one that does not have a section analyzing safety then he should be able to say which.

Here’s a common one for TDaP. Section 6 for “Adverse Reactions” is safety - including post-marketing as well as investigational:

https://www.fda.gov/media/119862/download

It even has other sections for preclinical tox, too. Standard stuff.

So the guy’s lying again. As far as this “long-term” stuff, that’s post-marketing - he’s not defining a duration prior to approval that he thinks they should be held up for during however “long” a “term” he has in mind, which he doesn’t say. Sounds like more sneaky political lawyering. And yet, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the manufacturers also doing that same post-marketing pharmacovigilance with vaccines as they do with their other drugs.

He has a point with opioids. (A strong one). He may even have one with Vioxx.

But on his favorite prop for sensationalizing, the vaccines, he’s still not proving his case and just going off of fearmongering half-truths at best.

And if he truly thinks FDA has been a captured regulator he needs to explain how. I’d even steel man his “argument” and propose that maybe he’s talking about PDUFA, But no one’s ever alleged what he has with that before and allows approval timelines to be improved significantly without biasing the reviews.

Joe Bar said...

I said this before: Anyone who wants to counter RFKjr's arguments is going to have to become him. He has spent decades studying this issue, and is in the middle of everything surrounding it. No one has that kind of time, or dedication.

The only option is to deny him a platform, and they "mainstream media" is doing a good job of that.

Again, I remain unconvinced, by either side, but RFKjr has an effective argument!

Eva Marie said...

I’m starting to agree that the medical community shouldn’t be debating RFKJR. They’re coming off as fools. “How can we help you to come to the side of science?” The doc actually thought that was a clever “gotcha” question. Thanks for posting this.

gilbar said...

Original Mike said...
Blogger gilbar said..."serious question, about these "vaccines"..

I would think small pox, for one. Polio? Measles?

Mike? did you Ever, Think about WHY i put "vaccines" in "quotes"??
You're mentioning vaccines.. I'm asking about these "vaccines"
Do you NOT see that i'm ONLY asking about covid "vaccines" ?? Of COURSE you do

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Gusty - for what it is worth (and I enjoy reading your posts) I have an 18 Year old nephew with severe autism. He was born with autism. We all saw it very early when he was an infant. He didn't make eye contact, he was stiff and strange - didn't giggle or show emotion like most babies. He was diagnosed at age 4. He did have many of the normal childhood vaccines. but again - he was born with it. His mother is not bothered by the early childhood vaccine schedule. I don't think he had any covid vaccines. all just anecdotal fyi.

I have no answers as to why he has severe autism. Although I describe his behavior as - similar what used to be called "retardation" ( a word we cannot use now at all - and I only use it as a descriptive. Not something I say to anyone out loud. I'd be shunned!)
He will never participate in society in any normal way. He requires non-stop supervision.
My sister-in-law has a difficult and stressful life.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The hivemind obedient rigidity of the modern left is... sad.

Mutaman said...

Keith Woods
@KeithWoodsYT
·
2h
"It says a lot about the state of conservatism that all a leftist like RFK jr. had to do to get support from many of their top influencers was be a vaccine skeptic and lift weights with his shirt off"

And Althouse.

PS RFK Jr just came out against assault weapons and in favor of affirmative action.

Michael K said...

I pretty much agree with Sydney. Vaccines were life savers 100 years ago but they have proliferated beyond any reasonable state. My mother had a tracheotomy on a kitchen table when she was 2 years old. That was 1900 and she had diphtheria. Those days are long gone.

I don't trust Big Pharma anymore.

Gusty Winds said...

Amadeus 48 said...
Re: shingles and chicken pox. Of, course unvaccinated kids who got chicken pox (like me in the 1950s) also get shingles later on. RFK ignores that side of the equation.

He doesn't ignore it. I had Chicken Pox too in 4th grade. Like 1979. Got shingles in 2011, but it was mild. Hurt like a bitch, but it was mild. And my life was stressed at the time which is a shingles trigger.

The prerequisite to shingles IS the Chicken Pox. Leftover crap. If the Chicken Pox vaccine prevents Chicken Pox, why the fuck would you still be susceptible, at a higher rate, to Shingles? Just like mRNA COVID shots. Now we know, the more shots you have, the GREATER your chances are of catching COVID. But.."they say"...you won't be as sick after promising 100% protection.

Bullshit. Start smoking cigarettes if you haven't already. Drink beer. Both are safer, and the risks are known. And they're not recommended or mandated. Unless you're Irish of course....

Gusty Winds said...

Blogger Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker said...
Gusty - for what it is worth (and I enjoy reading your posts) I have an 18 Year old nephew with severe autism.

Read your whole comment. Like your posts too. Autism is a spectrum. Like bad behavior. I'm somewhere on that spectrum.

It doesn't always start at birth. It can develop, or rear it's head at puberty. By then, they've had the full cocktail.

RJK Jr's point is the LONG TERM effects are unknown, and unstudied. Some people smoke their entire lives and never get cancer. Some get it who never smoked. So I'm not claiming it's about ALL. But obviously, the vaccine schedule affects some kids differently that others.

What happens to our children's children? Does the shit they put in their bodies affect the sperm and the egg? Drug abuse can do that. A woman can affect her baby's health by her behavior while pregnant. Right?

All RFK Jr is saying, and I agree, is for God's Sake, ask the fucking questions...and find out the truth.

Gusty Winds said...

At the moment I'm RFK Jr #1. Trump #2 (mRNA is his Achilles heel); DeSantis #3.

If I was DeSantis is would hop on the RFK Jr train. If Trump defends mRNA...to try and get crossover votes, he alienates his "unvaccinated" base. MAGA is the most "unvaccinated".

But DeSantis has Paul Ryan and Karl Rove advising him. Those guys are fuckheads.

RFK Jr. is doing this on his own. Like Trump did in 2016.

Smilin' Jack said...

Before the vaccine there were MASH tents in Central Park. Now they’re gone. Of course, correlation does not imply causation...

traditionalguy said...

If anyone has not heard about it, folks dealing with autism in a child need to see “ My Name is Temple Grandin”. It’s an HBO movie available on Prime Video . You won’t regret it. It’s one of a very few movies that have made me cry.

Aggie said...

@Mutaman

OhMyGod, the man has ideas that are outside of the approved, prescribed positions listed by the Democrat and Republican Party Platforms. He's talking outside the lines! Heretic! Apostate! Bring the purifying flames!

Just kidding, I don't care if he has his own ideas, I think it's pretty refreshing to actually hear a candidate speak his mind, open his mouth and have something coherent and constructive fall out, instead of gibberish or proto-tweets. You? RFKJr is unlikely to get my vote, but he's managed to get some of my attention. Its too bad that most of what he says is toward refuting the propaganda. But that's other people, being unserious.

Tom T. said...

I describe his behavior as - similar what used to be called "retardation"

I've seen charts showing a decline in diagnoses of mental retardation in children over the past few decades, correlating smoothly with the rise in diagnoses of autism. In my view, that's why it looks like we've had an explosion of autism - because doctors are assigning that label to kids that used to get called retarded.

the autism epidemic that correlated with mandated child vaccines that contain a type of mercury.

Long since disproven. There's been no mercury in vaccines for over 20 years, and autism rates haven't dropped.

There is a link between the vaccine schedule for children and the autism increase.

But that's just it. If RFKJ could identify some actual basis for thinning that, he'd be worth listening to, but he can't. There's no science, no theory, not even a hint of a story as to how a vaccine could cause autism. He might as well blame computers, or Thai food, or magic. He offers nothing but empty suspicion, and he does it just to make people distrust vaccines.

They give the Hep B vaccine to babies because they can catch it from their mother in the first few days after birth. Apparently it's not always easy to tell whether a pregnant woman has the disease, so they vaccinate all babies just in case.

I'm sorry about your kid. That must have been hell to go through. Part of the reason RFKJ raises such anger in me is because from where I sit, he's exploiting the pain that people like you have gone through.

Mark said...

"The left -- especially the young left -- is filled with people who think they know everything."

Have you read thus thread or blog before?

Hilarious that you have and don't see the huge contingent of old right men who exhibit this exact behavior.

But of course you don't call out what's right in front of you on this thread.

walter said...

Tom T. said...
Ann, he's a vaccine denier, and you're playing games to avoid acknowledging it. If he's just "questioning why so many vaccines," then why isn't he satisfied with the obvious answer - "because that's how many dangerous infectious diseases a child is likely to face"? You're not engaging with what he means.
--
You're not engaging with the lack of study preceding mass polypharmcy upon a developimg immune system. You might have also been cool with the mix N match strategy of experimental Covid jabs.
More is better!!
And jabb those preggers before the horse leaves the barn!
Science.

walter said...

HBTFH,
Any jabs at birth? Momma take meds in pregnancy?

Anna Keppa said...

Jupiter said...
"Polio vaccines have probably killed more kids than they have saved. The Salk vaccine was pretty bad, and killed a lot of kids. The Sabin vaccine was fairly harmless, but polio was pretty much gone in the US by the time it came along, due to the cessation of the massive pesticide spraying campaigns that were the chief cause of infantile paralysis."


OK, I'll bite: how did pesticide spraying CAUSE polio? Are you saying polio did not exist until "pesticide spraying"?

STAND AND DELIVER!

Tina Trent said...

Gardasil is now being given to boys too because we are seeing such a big jump in penis cancer, throat cancer, anal cancer, and for girls, of course cervical cancer, and the connection between HPV and those cancers is not disputed. The dispute is whether Hardship can prevent all strains of HPV and whether it is given early enough, before any sexual activity occurs.

Kennedy refuses to talk about anything except vaccines because he is a leftist. Peterson tried to pry some real answers from him on other existential issues, and he didn't just refuse to answer them: he played the "great unifier" card to sleazily refuse to answer them. And his record of abusing women is now coming to light -- Maureen Call what's Post column today offers a good summary. Try to read it without gagging.

Tina Trent said...

Damn Amazon pad is changing words I corrected previously again, though some of them are funny. Sorry.

iowan2 said...

I rarely watch videos. When I do, my prejudice against videos is reinforced.I've scrolled past this many times since you posted it.

I'm glad my local channel dropped from my streaming service, so I had a few minutes to watch this.

The challenge has been laid down.

To me the most eye opening revelation is the response by the moderator and the DR, 'asking' the question (more of a speech). Both are so entrenched in their ,uniformed opinions, they exhibited hysterical deafness to the statements of fact laid out by Kennedy.

The second most eye opening is the hepatitis B vaccine being administered to new borns.
With a vector of unprotected sex and dirty needles, spreading Hepatitis B the risk dwarfs the benefit.

The third most eye opening. the moderator and Dr. being blind to the entire covid debacle precipitated under the watchful eyes of FDA, CDC, and host of other governemt agencies that lied daily. With that history so fresh, how can you today, NOT question every conclusion the govt is pushing?

Tom T. said...

The second most eye opening is the hepatitis B vaccine being administered to new borns.
With a vector of unprotected sex and dirty needles, spreading Hepatitis B the risk dwarfs the benefit.


What's the risk? How is it caused by the vaccine?

Hep B can be transmitted from mother to child in the first few days of life.

iowan2 said...

I didn't read any comments before my comment. Now I have scanned some.

Confirmation bias is strong. If you don't see yourself, you're not trying.

Some pro vaccines, other have discovered question that might be asked.

To me, the issue is the "mandated" vaccines. The govt should exercise due diligence on efficacy and safety. Then the parents should be able to make informed decisions, without retribution.

As anyone talked to the primary care Dr, about covid? I have talked to several DR. and their nurses. To a person, they stopped recommending boosters after the 3rd dose. UNLESS comorbidities were in play.

The blanket recommendation across entire populations for any vaccine big pharma can imagine, is the tell, we are being marketed to. Not being medically treated.

Testing mothers before birth is more efficient than vaccinating new borns

Sydney said...

Tom T said:
“They give the Hep B vaccine to babies because they can catch it from their mother in the first few days after birth. Apparently it's not always easy to tell whether a pregnant woman has the disease, so they vaccinate all babies just in case.”

That is not why they give it to babies. The vaccine doesn’t treat the infection. In the US, pregnant women are screened for hepatitis B . It is not difficult to detect unless she is in the very early stages of infection. The vaccine can reduce the post birth transmission from a mother, but this was not the argument used to get it approved . Babies can get it from their moms in utero as well as during birth. Transmission to the baby is prevented by treating the mom with antivirals while pregnant if she has an acute infection and giving the baby an infusion of antibodies at birth.

Mark said...

"Vaccines were life savers 100 years ago but they have proliferated beyond any reasonable state."

So our resident Doctor thinks that anything beyond Diptheria, Pertussis, and smallpox vaccines are too much.

No tetanus shots for you! Dr Mike doesn't approve.

Chuck said...

At 2:40 of the video, RFKJr mentions when he "agreed to go on Trump's Vaccine Safety Commission."

That's weird.

There never was a "Trump Vaccine Safety Commission." And that fact was even discussed in the Comments pages of the Althouse Blog.

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2017/01/president-elect-trump-has-some-doubts.html

During the Trump transition in January of 2017, Kennedy ostentatiously went to Trump Tower to have a meeting with Trump. Clearly, Trump and Kennedy were sympatico from the days when Kennedy was ranting about vaccines causing autism, and Trump was coyly/vaguely/consfusedly saying many of the same things. (My personal presumption was that by then, Trump's son Barron was confirmed to be on the autism spectrum and Trump was consumed with rage and confusion about it. But however it came about, Trump had been saying some remarkably dumb and provocative things about vaccines and autism, when they were subjects that a real estate developer would seemingly have no interest in. Trump additionally shares an unusually close relationship with professional golf star Ernie Els, who is the parent of a severely autistic son, and is a major fundraiser for autism awareness and research funding.)

Kennedy came out of the meeting, met with the assembled press in the lobby of Trump Tower and announced plans to have him co-chair a Trump Vaccine Safety Commission. At that time, Trump was still somewhat surrounded by competent Republican leaders who immediately tried to quash the Kennedy suggestion. Clearly what had happened was that Kennedy spoke with Trump, and got from Trump some sort of enthusiastic commitment to something before Trump talked with any of his aides.

The story was widely covered at the time; here are links to a representative sample:

C-SPAN video of Kennedy at Trump Tower

The journal "Nature" immediately criticizing the then-apparent commission proposal.

The Trump team communications pros deny that there was going to be a vaccine commission.

So yeah it is profoundly weird to have RFKJr talking about being on a Trump Vaccine Commission when there never was such a commission. But it is easy to see how RFKJr and Trump feel connected. Their reckless personal lives; their wealthy existences in New York; their shared damaged psyches; their vaccine/autism connections.

Of interest to long time Althouse readers are the comments at the first link, the January 12,2017 Althouse blog post.

The Crack Emcee said...

Before the pandemic, Robert F Kennedy Jr was linked in the public media sphere with the quack, Andrew Wakefield, Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, and Robert De Niro. They had almost been quieted, when the pandemic hit and everyone went to doing something else, like Robert De Niro becoming a foul-mouthed critic of Donald Trump, and Jim Carrey becoming a political cartoonist. (Both eventually featured As Trump attack dogs on Saturday Night Live).Andrew Wakefield now dates supermodel Elle Macpherson. Robert Kennedy Jr though, he polished up his act and now he's going solo, entering the void created by the dupliciousness of Dr Fauci.

It's still not a good look

Rusty said...

gilbar said...
"serious question, about these "vaccines"..
Is there any evidence? Any? At ALL? that they do ANY good?
They don't stop you from getting it..
They don't stop you from giving it...
It's True, that IF you get the "vaccine" and the second shot, and the booster, and another booster..
That you PROBABLY won't have a serious case of covid....
BUT! wouldn't THAT be the case if you didn't have any "vaccines", at all??

Have more people died WITH, or WITHOUT the "vaccines"??"

I'll tell you what my cardiologist told me.
For someone with my co-morbidities'. AF, overweight and 70, it's a no-brainer. Take the shot(s). But if someone shows up under 35 and in good health it's a waste of a vaccine. I got the proscribed 4 shots and got Covid anyway. Albeit a very mild case. For that I thank the vaccines. Our government created a crisis where none existed.

Gospace said...

Apparently something was going on with the covid vaccines that wasn't kosher. I've seen the reports in various spots- but not the MSM- over the last few days, and today it appears in: https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/ay-firmative-friday-june-30-2023 Seems the reported death rate from the "vaccine" is lower then it should have been because most of the shots were saline solution with no extra added ingredients like mRNA.

It's numbers- it's always the numbers, and always is. And we knew from the Diamond Princess and the USS Theodore Roosevelt debacle that the dreaded covid wasn't as deadly or dangerous as portrayed.

Rusty said...
I got the proscribed 4 shots and got Covid anyway. Albeit a very mild case. For that I thank the vaccines.


A classic case of delusional thinking. There is no known way for any vaccine to lessen symptoms of any disease. That's not how vaccines work. They either stop it or they don't. When my unvaccinated wife and my unvaccinated self got it it was when the variant running around was advertised as being as infectious as measles. And I got it first, my wife a day later, mine having come from a twice vaccinated 30 year younger acquaintance who came down with symptoms the day after our meeting. All 3 of us had exactly the same symptoms in exactly the same progression, but his symptoms- 30 years younger and twice vaxxed- lasted 2 days longer, since he had symptoms the day before I did, and was done with symptoms the day after me. Plus- he was asymptomatic and infectious, and another example of only the vaccinated being asymptomatic and infectious. So really he was sick one more day then that. At least one more day...

Now- did the ivermectin and azithromycin and other stuff my wife and took help at all? Quite honestly, no way to tell. Since we're both over 65- automatically in the danger range for because of age, I can say with 100% certainty it didn't hurt. Since we live in the Dictatorship of New York under Dictator Hochul our doctor couldn't prescribe such things. We had laid in a supply from a mail order overseas pharmacy with a good internet reputation.

Gospace said...

Reading through the comments I see polio is brought up.

There are some interesting things about polio. It seems not to be a problem in countries or areas where kids, infants and toddlers, play in the dirt. Becomes a problem when babies and toddlers are kept super clean- compared to historical cleanliness standards.

There is no question in my mind that the polio vaccine is responsible for the end of polio as a problem in the USA. Apparently though, the polio virus itself is still around, surviving in the very dirt of the Earth.

One theory surmises that when infants and toddlers get polio it presents as a minor fever, maybe with other minor symptoms, that no one goes to the doctor for. Get it later in life, as a teen, paralysis and other serious symptoms arise.

The polio vaccine and polio infection develop the same antibodies. Because the vaccine is torn up polio viruses.

Amish don’t vaccinate. I’ve never heard of any Amish with polio. Amish kids- and judging from my neighbors- Mennonite kids are out playing in the dirt as soon as they can crawl.

What would be revealed if we tested a large sample of Amish kids ranging from, oh, let’s say 5-14 years old for polio antibodies. Would they have them? I suspect the answer would be yes, but cannot prove it nor do the study myself. The interesting thing is- the entire health establishment isn’t asking this question.

Amish don’t get vaccinated. And don’t visit modern doctors for much at all. But they are part of the larger community and if someone were to approach them and ask, and explain why, getting those samples wouldn’t be all that difficult. Because you would be telling them “Your approach to raising children seems to be better than ours.” Flattery gets you everywhere.

Question: Do you think anyone in the health hierarchy actually would want to know this?

Mark said...

"It seems not to be a problem in countries or areas where kids, infants and toddlers, play in the dirt."

Why did Afghanistan have such a residual polio problem then, other than the low vaccination rate?

There is no way kids haven't played in the dirt there.