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. 🙄
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.
“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.”
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.”
“President Biden is bequeathing his successor a nation that by many measures is in good shape, even if voters remain unconvinced.”
“To hear President-elect Donald J. Trump tell it, he is about to take over a nation ravaged by crisis, a desolate hellscape of crime, chaos and economic hardship. “Our Country is a disaster, a laughing stock all over the World!” he declared on social media last week.”
“By many traditional metrics, the America that Mr. Trump will inherit from President Biden when he takes the oath for a second time, two weeks from Monday, is actually in better shape than that bequeathed to any newly elected president since George W. Bush came into office in 2001.”
“Several officials in Lincoln County, Oregon have received an anonymous letter urging people to report “brown folks” they suspect are undocumented immigrants, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
“The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office recently learned about a letter being circulated throughout Lincoln County which encourages community members to track and report information regarding people of color, specifically community members that are believed to be undocumented,” the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook.”
