To get the votes he needed for confirmation, RFK Jr. promised that he would not change the children’s vaccine schedule.
Now, in his first speech to the Health & Human Services employees (the ones who are still left after he fired thousands of them last weekend), this anti-vax leader of our country’s public health promised that he WOULD investigate the children’s vaccine schedule! “Nothing is going to be off limits!”
And, of course, this statement was made while West Texas is having a measles outbreak among unvaccinated people. 🙄
Last night he posted this: “He who saves his country does not violate any Law.”
That’s quoting Napoleon Bonaparte, who staged a coup and declared himself emperor of France.
Whatever he claims is “saving his country” is, in his eyes, automatically above the law. Just imagine how the right would have been howling if Biden had said something like this! Republicans claim to be the party of “law and order,” but when their cult leader sets that aside, we hear nothing.
Brian Tyler Cohen explains just how dangerous this is:
This is why no qualifications were necessary for this professional wrestling performer to become the Secretary for the Department of Education.
Her job is to dismantle it.
His first task for her: “I want Linda to put herself out of a job,” Trump said.
That’s because our misguided idiot president thinks the Dept. of Education has been infiltrated by “radicals, zealots, and Marxists.” When, really, it’s the radicals and zealots that want to close it.
Whether you call it corruption or conflict of interest, the U.S. government agreeing to spend $400 million on Musk’s Tesla vehicles is clearly inappropriate. All the more since he CLAIMS to be trying to root out corruption! 🙄
“The Trump administration is expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a new State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.
“After reports circulated Wednesday night of the State Department’s intent to purchase Tesla vehicles, the document was edited, at 9:12 p.m., and now says the federal contract is for $400 million worth of “armored electric vehicles,” but the word “Tesla” was removed.”
Google services include the search engine, web browser, email, Google Drive (docs/sheets/forms/etc.), Android, financial services, and more.
But many people are getting tired of the monopoly and the questionable algorithms and privacy, and are considering other free alternatives. I am at the point where I am considering alternatives now, especially free, open-source software.
Below are some reasons why people are ending their relationships with Google and what alternatives they are choosing. (Click the links to read more about them.)
Google donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration, and its CEO, Sundar Pichai, was in attendance at the ceremony with other technocrat wannabes.
Google Calendar also removed Holocaust Remembrance Day, Black History Month, Pride Month, and more from the calendar. And rushed to rename the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps. More examples of bowing to Trump and his right-wing extremists.
Here are just a few recommendations for alternatives.
Web Browsers
Firefox – open source browser that emphasizes privacy along with a high level of customization with extensions and add-ons. Generally considered to be a fast and efficient browser with good memory management.
Brave – faster browser that blocks most ads and trackers, has a built-in VPN, and uses the same open-source Chromium engine as Chrome. It uses “fingerprint randomization,” making your browser appear unique each time you start, so sites can’t link your behavior.
Opera – built-in features include a free VPN, ad blocker, and a focus on privacy and security. It uses less system resources while offering extensive customization options.
DuckDuckGo – does not track your search history, IP address, or any other personal information. Automatically blocks tracking cookies and other trackers.
Search Engines
DuckDuckGo – best for privacy and has a simple interface. DDG lets you search for images, videos, news, maps, and shopping results. DDG also adds more header options depending on the search term, such as Definition, Meanings, Nutrition, and Recipes. While Google tracks your search history and purchase history and bases its ads on that, DDG doesn’t track anything, so the ads are actually based on the search results you are viewing at the time.”Just duck it!” 😀
Brave – often considered one of the most private search engines that offers independent results. Completely open source and now offers a choice of AI-powered or standard web results which are free from bias or political agendas. Brave search engine is powered by its own independent index, free from “big tech,” while DDG’s index is powered by Bing.
Tor – uses relays to protect privacy & anonymity, hiding IP addresses and blocking tracking, and can access the dark web because it can find websites that might be blocked in your region. Monitored more heavily because of the potential for illegal use.
Bing – has more serious and academic results than Chrome, includes AI CoPilot, and is great for searching news, images, videos, and maps
Email
GMX – one of the most secure free email platforms. Offers 65 GB of email storage and attachments up to 50MB. Includes calendars, online office, and some additional cloud storage on top of the email storage.
Protonmail – Offers zero-access encryption: even ProtonMail cannot access the content of your emails. Also zero ads and includes calendar, 1GB mail storage, and 5GB ProtonDrive storage, but only 3 email folders. More storage and apps with a paid subscription.
Yahoo mail – 1 TB of free email/attachment storage. Lets you make 3 free disposable email addresses that redirect to your mail account without revealing your actual address. Attachments are organized and easier to find.
Outlook.com (was HotMail) – integrates with other Microsoft products.
Online Office
GMX – free open-source platform compatible with Word/Excel/PowerPoint that is totally cloud-based and connected with GMX email.
OpenOffice – free open-source platform compatible with Word/Excel/PowerPoint and more. Must be downloaded to use.
LibreOffice – free open-source platform compatible with Word/Excel/PowerPoint and Access. Online version is available, but they emphasize downloading the free app and using it on your computer.
File Storage
Mega – 20 GB for free with no file size limit. Privacy encryption means even THEY cannot give you your password. Don’t lose it! Free version may have slower download speeds.
Internxt – 10 GB for free. Separate area for photos. Free version may have slower download speeds.
pCloud – 10 GB for free. Share files with others using links. Free version may have slower download speeds.
OneDrive – 5 GB of cloud storage, 15 GB of mailbox storage. Interfaces with other Microsoft products. Free version may have slower download speeds.
Maps
OpenStreetMap – privacy-focused and open data and community contributions makes it a more flexible and customizable platform. It’s open-source, created by volunteers, and is constantly updated. Also customizable and includes data about roads, buildings, trails, points of interest, and more.
Maps.me – for offline navigation, turn-by-turn directions, and finding points of interest, especially when traveling without cell service. Open source on GitHub. Allows custom labeling and following trails for hiking & biking.
MapQuest – online mapping service that includes routes, traffic, accident rerouting, parking, and gas prices, with a progress bar, ETA, and compass.
MapBox – makes beautiful customized maps. Can save maps offline. Offers real-time data on traffic, weather, and other location-based information. The free tier includes 50,000 map loads per month.
News Apps
While Google News is pretty reliable and unbiased, if you’re trying to get away from everything Google, here are some other free aggregator options:
AP News – if you had to just pick one news source that is the most reliable, fact-based, and unbiased, that would be AP News!
BBC News – another reliable, fact-based news source that focuses on
Flipboard – has a magazine-style layout with diverse sources and you can personalize it based on your interests
Digg – a social news aggregator where users can submit stories and up/downvote them, which results in the main feed focusing on popular and trending stories that may not be covered by mainstream media
SmartNews – focuses on top trending stories around the world. Less customization is available, but you can choose topics and publishers
Thursday night, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Russell Vought to lead the U.S. Office of Management & Budget. He was one of the primary architects of Project 2025, and he is now in charge of White House budget!
If you haven’t been paying attention, “Project 2025 is a White Christian Nationalist federal policy agenda and blueprint for a radical restructuring of the executive branch authored and published by former Trump administration officials in partnership with The Heritage Foundation, a longstanding conservative think tank that opposes abortion and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrants’ rights, and racial equity. Project 2025’s largest publication, ‘Mandate For Leadership,’ is a 900-page manual for reorganizing the entire federal government agency by agency to serve a conservative agenda.
“Project 2025 includes a long list of extreme policy recommendations touching on nearly every aspect of American life, from immigration and abortion rights, to free speech and racial justice. A number of its recommendations rely on support from the executive branch and from Congress. Many other initiatives are outright unconstitutional.”
Democrat senators called Vought “Trump’s most dangerous nominee” because he helped craft this radical agenda and now will be in a place to control and implement it.
Democracy Forward read through it and broke it all down in May 2024, well before the election. Here is their explanation:
“What we discovered was a systemic, ruthless plan to undermine the quality of life of millions of Americans, remove critical protections and dismantle programs for communities across the nation, and prioritize special interests and ideological extremism over people.
From attacking overtime pay, student loans, and reproductive rights, to allowing more discrimination, pollution, and price gouging, those behind Project 2025 are preparing to go to incredible lengths to create a country only for some, not for all of us. Project 2025 is among the most profound threats to the American people.
If these plans are enacted, even without congressional approval, 4.3 million people could lose overtime protections, 40 million people could have their food assistance reduced, 220,000 American jobs could be lost, and much, much, more. The stakes are higher than ever for democracy and for people.
These threats aren’t hypothetical. These are their real plans.
The Heritage Foundation and the 100+ organizations that make up the Project 2025 Advisory Board have mapped out exactly how they will achieve their extreme ends. They aim to carry out many of the most troubling proposals through an anti-democratic president and political loyalists installed in the executive branch, without waiting for congressional action. And, while many of these plans are unlawful, winning in court is not guaranteed given that the same far-right movement that is behind Project 2025 has shaped our current court system.”
This man has no place in U.S. public health. He has claimed that he has no intention of dismantling the childhood vaccination program, but it’s so much more than that!
They seriously want to put someone in charge of the country’s public health who does not believe the scientists, the experts, and doesn’t believe that vaccines are safe and effective! Even though experts across the board have dismissed his claims.
There are so many things wrong with this! Here are some of the problems, just on the subject of health and medicine:
He still claims that vaccines cause autism.
He claimed that the COVID-19 virus was genetically engineered to target white people and to spare Jewish and Chinese people.
He promoted using ivermectin as a treatment for COVID and enriched himself through that.
He perpetuated myths about vaccination with “an utter disregard for the evidence”.
He claims that fluoride in American drinking water is causing arthritis, bone cancer, and much more, even though the very low levels of fluoride have not been associated with any of that.
He has made MILLIONS of dollars from supporting anti-vax propaganda by helping sue companies that make vaccines.
He made roughly $10 MILLION just this year used his work for an anti-vaccine nonprofit and he only left that position to try to become HHS Secretary.
He has written books that have spread falsehoods about vaccine safety and other health issues.
While ignoring mainstream science, he cited flawed or tangential research to make his points, such as suggesting Black people may need different vaccines than whites.
During the COVID pandemic, he made numerous public statements about “chemtrails,” saying that the world is being poisoned with evil chemicals from jet planes.
Since 2015 he has been an anti-vaccine activist.
He has rejected established science showing H.I.V. causes AIDS.
He claimed without evidence that chemicals in drinking water were altering children’s gender and sexual identities.
Like so many in Trump’s administration, he is making money from his role. He has already made over $100,000 just from the MAHA merchandise (Make America Healthy Again).
He has also received substantial support from activists who have spread misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines.
In 2019, he helped spread misinformation about the safety of the measles vaccine to people in Samoa, which led to dozens of children’s deaths.
When confronted about his disinformation, he always backtracks and says he’s not “condemning it outright, but just saying they should be looked into.” That’s a form of sealioning, where someone harasses or trolls people by making wild claims or relentlessly asking basic or unrelated questions and then, when confronted about it, says: “I’m just asking a question.”
He repeatedly asked for evidence that vaccines are safe, and then when he saw it, he dismissed it.
“He ignores science. He cherry-picks sometimes fraudulent studies. Sometimes he takes well-done studies and takes little pieces of them out of context.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren, during RFK’s hearing, pointed out these various things that he could do while Secretary of the $1.7 trillion Department of Health & Human Services:
He could appoint people to the CDC vaccine panel who share his anti-vax views and let them do his dirty work.
He could tell the CDC vaccine panel to remove a particular vaccine from the vaccine schedule.
He could remove vaccines from special compensation programs, which would open up manufacturers to mass torts.
He could make more injuries eligible for compensation even if there’s no causal evidence.
He could change vaccine court processes to make it easier to bring junk lawsuits.
He could turn over FDA data to his friends at the law firm, and they could use it however it benefitted them.
He could change vaccine labelling.
He could change vaccine information rules.
He could change which claims are compensated in the vaccine injury compensation program.
A letter was delivered to the U.S. Senate in the attempt to build support for RFK, Jr., an incredible danger to American public health. It was called “Doctors for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”. The letter said it was sent by physicians who supported him as the next Secretary of Health & Human Services.
The problem? Many of the names were of doctors who have had their licenses revoked, suspended, or faced other discipline. At least 75 were nurses, not doctors, and more than 90 of the “signers” did not have any medical credentials at all.
“The AP found that in addition to the physicians who had faced disciplinary action, many of the nearly 800 signers are not doctors. The letter with the names of those who signed was provided to the AP by Sen. Ron Johnson’s office after he entered it into the Congressional Record on Wednesday during the first of Kennedy’s two confirmation hearings.”
Trump’s insipid tariffs are being imposed today: 25% for Canada and Mexico and 10% for China.
The pledge to lower the cost of living for everyday Americans — the reason so many people voted for him — is thrown out the window. These tariffs will have the exact opposite response.
AP News breaks down some of the products that will be the first affected (resulting in a higher cost for Americans to purchase).
Better start stocking up, especially on food items, since deporting migrants will certainly raise food prices.
“U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately. 🤬
“A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all agency staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and ‘await further guidance.’
“Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as brewing threats from around the world. It also comes as health authorities around the world are monitoring bird flu outbreaks among U.S. livestock.
“The memo also says CDC staff are not allowed to visit WHO offices.”
