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.”
Many people have begun looking for alternatives to Meta, especially Facebook. Below are some reasons why people are looking for something else, followed by some non-Meta and non-X platforms and apps that can replace or partially replace Facebook and/or Instagram.
Reasons for Leaving
1 – Privacy concerns: There have been some high-profile scandals and revelations about how user data is collected, stored, and shared, which have led to mistrust. There have been court cases regarding the sale of private Facebook information to Cambridge Analytica and similar companies. There have been some exposés that document Facebook is spying on you and profiling you. Even your private messages. In October 2024, Facebook began reviving their facial recognition system. Many people are now looking for platforms that emphasize transparency, data protection, and user control. It is understood that anything posted over the Internet cannot be be guaranteed private, but some platforms are much better at trying to protect your privacy.
2 – Tired of ads: Ads are so prevalent on Facebook that many people are really tired of them. Ads can become overwhelming to people and clutter up their feeds.
3 – Algorithm issues: Many people are tired of being fed information and posts based not on their friends and preferences, but by a nebulous algorithm that is controlled by Meta and is considered to be manipulative. Researchers also say that Twitter changed its algorithm to promote Elon Musk and Republican posts leading up to the election. And now that Meta has removed fact-checking, misinformation and disinformation will spread even more quickly.
4 – AI Issues: Facebook and Instagram have announced that they will be adding thousands of AI “users” in the attempt to create more engagement. “The AI characters will be created by users through Meta’s AI studio, with the idea being that you can interact with them almost like you would with a real human on the website. They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform… that’s where we see all of this going.” Most people I know on Facebook are there to connect with actual people.
5 – Conflict: Another problem is the generation of weird hostilities and the amplification of divisive narratives that happens on Facebook. It likely happens everywhere, but Facebook seems to encourage it. Facebook used to be a place for staying in touch with family and friends, but in recent years it has become just as much a place for combativeness, arguing, ads, and misinformation. As one online comment said, “Facebook has become a place for cowardly, agenda driven people & merchants to hide behind, chest beat, recruit, & troll for targets & victims.”
6 – Supporting Mark Zuckerberg: He stole the idea for Facebook from his friends and took full ownership of it. Early on in Facebook’s history, he covertly attempted to benefit from selling personal data without people’s consent. He uses the Facebook algorithm to control what people see and hear, and it is broadly accepted that his decisions about Facebook have focused on what would make him richer. “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” He’s already a billionaire over 200 times. Many people no longer want to help make him richer by participating in Facebook. And he’s using his fortune to support Trump and maneuver himself to be part of the power behind the throne, one of the major players in the oligarchy.
“Summing up ‘The Facebook Files,’ the Wall StreetJournal notes: ‘Facebook’s own research lays out in detail how its rules favor elites; its platforms have negative effects on teen mental health; its algorithm fosters discord; and that drug cartels and human traffickers use its services openly.’ The newspaper adds, ‘The documents show that Facebook has often made minimal or ineffectual efforts to address the issues and plays them down in public.’
“The repeated pattern the documents show is that, in an attempt to assuage public anger, Facebook would make periodic gestures at reform, mainly by conducting internal research into the impact it was having on its users. The researchers would come back with extremely negative reports and suggestions for wholesale reform. Zuckerberg and other top executives would then reject those recommendations because they would dampen the company’s growth.” – The Nation
Seen mostly as an alternative to X, which has its own issues and reasons for leaving it, Bluesky is a decentralized social network that allows you to have more control over what you see and prioritize your specific interests rather than having a “rage-baiting” algorithm do it for you. It’s a kind of micro-blogging platform with posts limited to 300 characters. It is more focused on privacy and relies more on community moderation than a single company (or CEO). The blocking function actually works. There are no ads and a chat function is built in. Its number of users has soared, especially since the 2024 presidential election. Bluesky is also widely seen as an environment of accountability, diversity, and empathy that prioritizes free speech and democratic values over corporate interests.
Discord is a great replacement for Facebook Groups. It is an excellent platform for real-time and asynchronous communication with people in communities of shared interest including text, voice, and video chat. Private direct messaging is also available. You can create channels for different topics and easily share content like images, videos, and links. It is considered a more dynamic and interactive platform compared to traditional chat methods, with the ability to build customized communities around specific hobbies or topics.
Mastodon is a decentralized network with no single owner. It allows you to join independent servers that have their own custom moderation policies. Mastodon uses community-based moderation, where you choose the server you want. Each server can limit or filter out undesirable types of content, enabling you to find communities that align with your values. Each server can also set the character limit for posts, which defaults to 500. No central company collects user data.
Vero – https://vero.co/ (Mobile, with desktop in beta) Not Open Source
Vero is seen as more of a replacement for Instagram, allowing you to share original content with your community, like photos, links, videos, music, and more. The biggest selling points are the lack of ads and algorithms. Also, Vero supports high-resolution images and won’t crop the photos you upload, like Instagram sometimes does. Their goal is as follows: “In a world over-run with fakes, deep fakes, trolls, and bots, we commit to truth, transparency, and meaningful connections.” Vero recently added a “Discovery” page that allows you to explore new photographers and content creators or be discovered yourself.
Telegram is more of an instant messaging program that is especially popular in India. It is very private and anonymous if you like, and doesn’t even show your phone number to people you talk to, which is different from Facebook that collects just so much information. You can also create groups for discussions and chats have no limits on size of media or characters. “Secret” chats are even an option, so no eavesdropping is possible and the chats are not stored on their servers. On the negative side, there is minimal moderation and the absence of strict oversight makes it a safe space for criminals and scammers.
Reddit is a social media platform that offers a wide range of communities focused on specific interests like almost any hobby, interest, or profession. It is more text focused than media focused, with its most popular functions being entertainment, news, and discussion. It focuses heavily on user-submitted content and the upvote/downvote system helps highlight the most relevant and valuable content. Many subreddits aggregate news stories and provide detailed analysis from various viewpoints.
MeWe is a decentralized social network with no ads, targeting, or newsfeed manipulation. It is advertised as the most private social network with safeguards in place to protect your information. It also has interest groups you can join, based on your passions and interests. You also have complete control over who sees your posts and who can contact you. I have seen some articles saying it is more of a right-wing extremist site, group with Parler and TruthSocial.
Moving Forward
To see when your Facebook account was created, type “your information” in the search box in the top left, then click “access your information.” In the left sidebar, click on “personal information.” I’ve been on Facebook since July 15, 2005. That’s almost 20 years. Given all the issues above and my general feeling of a need to move on, I think I’ll be leaving Facebook soon. I’ve already started building a profile on Bluesky.
To download your Facebook data, go to your Facebook settings, click “See more in Accounts Center” then click “Your Information and permissions”. Select “Download your information” and click the “Download or transfer information” button to choose which data you want to download and initiate the process; you can select specific categories like posts (which includes photos), messages, and more, and you can choose the date range, including “All time”.
Issue an executive order to make it easier to fire career civil servants.
Issue an executive order “to censor, limit, categorize, or impede” people’s speech and ban federal money from being spent on any efforts related to combating misinformation or disinformation.
Remove Biden’s limits on the use of A.I.
“Delay” the ban on TikTok.
Remove the environmental protections that limit commercial fishing.
“Your head will spin when you see what’s going to happen,” Trump has said about his “day one” actions.
“Trump is planning to issue dozens of executive actions — more than 100 just on Day 1, at least in his own telling — within his first week in office, sources familiar with his plans told CNN.”
It’s not about “indoctrination.” It’s about teaching things SHE doesn’t approve of.
“Sanders’ proposal to fire professors over ‘indoctrination’ drew criticism from civil liberties and faculty groups. Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, called it a ‘grossly hypocritical false narrative.’
“Sanders is doing a disservice to Arkansas students by suggesting she will deny due process for faculty with ideas she disagrees with,” Wolfson said. ‘Maligning a system that is an engine of innovation and bedrock of our democracy hurts Arkansas students.'”
The incoming Trump team has begun questioning the loyalty of career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council. These are career employees. They are being asked about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions, and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered “incriminating” by Trump!
Just like he promised and just like Project 2025 advocated, they plan on replacing most of the career folks with loyalist sycophants.
“Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, in recent days publicly signaled his intention to get rid of all nonpolitical appointees and career intelligence officials serving on the NSC by Inauguration Day to ensure the council is staffed with those who support Trump’s agenda.”
Trump won’t rule out military action against Greenland and Panama.
A reporter asked if Trump would rule out “military or economic coercion” to put the US in charge of Greenland and Panama.
He said, “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But, I can say this, we need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military. I’m not going to commit to that now … it might be that you’ll have to do something,” Trump continued.
He added: “The Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China, China, and we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn’t give it to China, and they’ve abused it.”
